16 January 07 - 16:51T-Mobile won't take my money
So I activated a T-Mobile To Go cell phone (a pre-paid cell phone plan) last week. Happy with the coverage I was seeing in my daily travels, I went online to add money to the account. One of the required fields in the order system was a phone number where I could be reached for the next hour, in case there were issues adding the money to the account. I finish with the form and continue on my merry way for the evening.
About 45 minutes later I receive a call from a T-Mobile call center saying I have been selected for a "random security screen". At first the lady on the other end of the phone attempted to tell me that the check was to make sure that I had permission to add money to the phone's account. I of course pointed out that I would be perfectly fine with random people adding money to my phone's account. She went on to explain that the security screen was actually to verify that I was authorized to use the credit card information I provided. She asked for social security number, which I declined to provide. She then asked if she could call up my card issuer in a conference call to verify my identity with them. It was at this point that I asked for her supervisor.
Nate came on the line and explained that they would not process my credit card order without verifying my identity. His repeated the request for a social security number. I said I wouldn't provide that, at which point he suggested calling my bank and having me verify my identity with the bank. So he called up my bank and we had a little chat. Problem 1: I did not initiate the call to my bank and thus can not be sure that they are indeed my bank. Problem 2: A third party (Nate the T-Mobile guy) was on the phone with me and I should not answer security questions so long as a third party is on the line. At a dead end with the agenda of Nate, I move on to finding out what the hell this is all actually about.
It turns out, that the call center that called me is actually run by Vesta Corporation and that the "random security screen" is actually a guaranteed screen for all users of T-Mobile To Go and will happen within the first few uses of a credit card number to add money to an account. This security check will occur if you attempt to add money over the phone, on their website, or through the automated system on the cellphone itself. Nate further claimed that adding money to an account at a T-Mobile corporate store would require me to show a photo id if using a credit card.
I ended up going into a 7-11, purchased my refill cards, and in about five minutes completed the process of adding those refill cards to my phone. My card issuer does believe that the check being asked for is not acceptable by Mastercard and I did initiate complaints with Mastercard directly and through my card issuer. Not that I expect much to come of it. I have never heard back from any of my complaints about stores requiring photo ids for use of a credit card.
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