By Chill35 on

I opened an account with them last night and they sent me an automated reply email saying I have to frikin fax them a page with my credit card pencil-printed on it, because they've been victim to too much credit card fraud, "sorry for the inconvenience", blabla.

I spoke about this with other people I know today : legit cies never do that : you are NOT required to send your credit card info by phone, mail or fax. Secure connections and encryption are there to protect the user, they (cies) should not protect themselves against you, it's the other way around !!! I "know" that DreamHost is legit, but still it's a pain in the ass, and I don't want to make an exception for them, and fax them my credit card number, to that fax line, when I don't know which twit will pick up the page on the other end.

The amount is ridiculously low (I got some major discount).

Can I put some money on a PayPal account with my credit card and then pay them with PayPal...? I have never used Pay Pal. Is it easy ?

I needed to vent.

.... and the amount was less than 30 dollars!!! Geez

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Comments

US421’s picture

US421 commented

PayPal does make it real easy for you to part with your money, but I do not know if they work with Dreamhost. They sound like nitwits, and I would not fax them my info either.

newdru’s picture

newdru commented

I was just doing some research on paypal and from what i can gather, there has been some question about how ethical they are.

do a search on the web and you'll find that they are not regulated like a bank though they do everything a bank does. Basically they are under less legal scrutiny and they don't have to comply with the same strict legal standards that banks do.

One thing that popped up on the search was that some insiders that used to work at the company said the company periodically randomly freezes accounts so they can collect interest on the held funds. Not because there is any reason to freeze the accounts. I also think you have less recourse in the event your account is compromised and funds are stolen and that you are more liable in the event that someone cracks your account and uses it to buy stuff with. They probably sell your info to advertisers as well (although i'm not sure about that one).

All in all, paypal is cheaper and easier than setting up a merchant account which is why it's so popular. But as often is the case, these folks aren't really always looking out for your best interests. They're mostly interested in making lots of money which isn't a bad thing if they can do it in a reasonable manner. Likewise, most consumers are mostly concerned about finding the quickest, easiest and cheapest service possible, so they don't read the fine print or terms or care if they'r getting bent over backwards in the long run cause they haven't reached the long run yet.

The other poster mentioned the example of a waiter/waitress. In theory it doesn't matter whether you credit card is encrypted or not. Once you info lives on the backend, anybody can do anything they want with it. And in that regard, it's probably less safe from an insider that works there and has access to it than any outsider would or even while it's being transferred over the net!

That said. I feel for you. It's a pain in the arse to have to jump through these hoops only to know that your info really isn't safe once it gets where it needs to get anyway.

Best bet is to just pay cash with everything (if it were only that simple) :-)

robertdouglass’s picture

robertdouglass commented

... I suppose you never hand your credit card to the waiter or waitress at a restaurant, either?

when I don't know which twit will pick up the page on the other end.

- Robert Douglass

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Lullabot | My Drupal book | My Digg stories

Chill35’s picture

Chill35 commented

Actually and that is off-topic RobertDouglass, if it wouldn't be for my credit card I wouldn't have bought the book you co-authored. I use my credit card only when I have to, that is I use it when I buy stuff through Amazon or Chapters Indigo. I don't use my credit card when I go to restaurants because I use cash or a debit card then. But cash mostly.

Think about it. You're told by a cie that they have been the victims of "too much credit card fraud" AND they ask you to fax them your credit card number, and they are in Los Angeles and you are in Montreal. How re-assuring LOL...

I like to think that when I use my credit card with Amazon, my number is encrypted in their super-secure database and not just anyone over there can take a look at it.

I will use Paypal.

robertdouglass’s picture

robertdouglass commented

I had never heard of Chapters Indigo, btw. Thanks for the tip.

- Robert Douglass

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Lullabot | My Drupal book | My Digg RSS feed

green monkey’s picture

green monkey commented

I just saw this post - I had to ask a customer to do this fax thing and it cost me 2 days of wait time- I felt like a knuckle head .. "do you have a crayon or pencil"

your privacy issues are right on base, well at least in my book - it just happens to be the personal website I'm working on tonight - basic slogan "Sharing Your Personal Information: It's Your Choice"

it was "why be upset, you gave them the information"

during my research - there are way to many websites with lose security - some result in "class action" legal action that never seems to reach the newspapers - others are just FTC fines. The sad part is that it seems that the problems goes on and on until - the group is big enough to require attention and who knows who gets to vote on that - just another rant :-)