The Robbery & Corporate Response Part 1

Then there is the response we got from all the companies we have had to deal with over this robbery.

1. American Express. Even before we heard about our house being robbed, basically the night after we left, the night we told Cox to reduce the internet speed because we would be gone, I get two emails from the AMEX website saying I requested a new password. That was strange because I did not. So I went to our online account and I can’t get on. Account locked due to too many tries on the password. so I go though the procedure to get a password sent. This is not just a simple thing but requires having the full credit card number and zip code. So I call AMEX fraud and some women in India starts telling me how I have no idea what I am doing and she is sure there is nothing wrong. I then demand someone in the US to talk to and I get hung up on. So I call back and I keep asking for someone in the US and I finally get some guy that at least is civil who then gets someone from fraud on the line. He listens to what I have to say and then says well it much have been some mistake, that someone must have a user name similar to mine and requested a new password he did it on the wrong account. just a simple mistake. He of course ignores the fact that you have to have the card to get the password sent.

Morning comes and I find out that our house was robbed and one of the two credit / debit card taken, was the one for that AMEX account. I later find out that one of the files scattered on my office floor is the file for that card. And that that card is used to buy gas three times. So I call AMEX again. This time I am told that since the card was not authorized at the gas station, there is no crime. But then they find out that they did let two payments through but they can’t tell me where the card was used. They have to protect the privacy of the station. But they will tell the police. Except by the time the police get it together to go to the station, it is two weeks and the only one with a tape, keeps it for only 10 days and besides the guy that makes the backup is on vacation and frankly why should the gas station care, they got their money.

I had originally asked if AMEX had the IP address of the person trying to get into my account and AMEX told me they do not have that information. I have that information on my website, so why would they not have it.

So let me count the ways American Express could have helped catch the robbers. First by taking my call seriously about someone trying to get into my account and giving me the IP address or acting on it themselves to find where it was from because bottom line, once I am reimbursed by them, they are the victims of the crime. Second, they could have given me the address of the stations and I would have acted faster than the police to get any tapes out of them. if not I would have contacted chevron to get involved, the press the radio stations, the mayor of El Cajon and Chula Vista. And Third, AMEX could set standards that require anyone taking their cards to have proper ID or else a high quality image be taken of the person using the card that is never removed from the server and is available to AMEX and the police. Why is it California requires you to demand an ID when you use a credit card but not at a fuel pump? That might be why most stolen credit cards are used to buy gas.

Next there is Tivo…