Saturday December 1, 2007
No Sign
Today I ran a couple errands, which included stopping by Border’s for some possible Christmas gifts. I did wind up finding something to purchase, so I took it to the register.
I paid with a credit card, and after ringing the item up and swiping my card, the employee put my receipt and book in a bag and handed it to me. I didn’t have to sign anything, and they didn’t check for ID.
In holidays past I used to notice the opposite trend—more stores would make you show ID and compare the signatures. Sure these things could be faked, but it makes it more of a hassle for someone to get away with fraud in person. But, not having to sign or verify that the card is mine in any way just seems like a bad idea. How easy would it be for someone to just grab a random card and go on a huge shopping spree? Of course, if you had access to a card you could just shop online and get it shipped to you, but I’ve never experienced this “ease of payment” in-store before.
Have any of you? Do you think it’s a good idea?
Posted at 3:46 PM |
The signatureless transaction only applies if it’s under $25. In CA especially, the credit card law is set up so that we are entitled to dispute any transaction but at the cost of having to regularly check our statements for fraud. IIRC from my retail days, stores aren’t actually supposed to deny you a transaction over I.D. or signatures.
1 | Posted by: Vanilla Spice on December 01, 2007 @ 7:53 PMAhh, well my purchase was indeed less than $25, but I swear I’ve made lots of similar purchases and had to sign.
I worked in retail for a bit, and IIRC, I was told to deny transactions if the ID didn’t match the credit card—the only exception being if it was the store card, and then a spouse could sign their name on the back instead. But then, that was a decade ago.
So, what’s the point of asking for ID then if they can’t deny you? Just for the appearance of security? Lame.
2 | Posted by: Jennifer
on December 01, 2007 @ 8:45 PM
Yeah a lot of places don’t have you sign under $25 I guess it is just easier for the shops to do this. I personally like not having to sign, and when my credit card was stolen somebody made a fake id to match my name anyway so checking id’s is a bit pointless to me!
3 | Posted by: Lisa on December 02, 2007 @ 10:55 PM
