Sometimes I don't understand "company policy"

[kranky]

Most times when I'm told "it's company policy" I can at least understand their position even if I disagree. Yesterday's experience... not so much.

Found a Visa gift card in my desk that I remember partially using in January, and figured I better use it up before fees start kicking in. I call the number on the back to find out the remaining balance. I am asked to enter the 16-digit number on the front of the card, which I do twice and each time told I mis-entered it. The computer sends me to an live offshore CSR.

The CSR asks me for a different 19-digit number on the back of the card and then asks how she can help me. I only want to know the remaining balance. CSR asks what the original amount of the gift card was. I say I'm not sure, it's not printed on the card anywhere, it just says "Visa gift card".

The CSR says she cannot (i.e. will not) tell me the remaining balance unless I can tell her what the original gift card amount was. I question this. CSR is apologetic but firm.

I said "OK, then I'm going to guess $50". The CSR says, "That is correct, the remaining balance is $38.49."

If I had stolen or found the card, I could have simply called back multiple times with different guesses ($25, $50, $100, $200, $500) until I guessed right. Or I could simply try to spend the card and when the merchant runs the card, it will reveal the remaining balance.

Anyone have a guess as to why they require the initial gift card balance just to tell you how much is left? I'd really like to understand what the reasoning is.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Just another obstacle for theives.

 

[slayer202]

haha that's ridiculous.

dealing with customer service is one of the most unpleasant experiences in life.

 

[WilliamM2]

No idea, but I've always checked the balances online. No issues.

 

[Homerboy]

I don't get how that protects against thievery or anything for that matter.
Usually when I have a GC of any shape, and I don't know the balance, I just use it and if I have to pony in more money then I do so. Heck I just used one I found the other day for a restaurant -- remaining balance? $.89.

 

[balloonshark]

I briefly worked in a contracted call center answering the phone for a company that dealt with people sending and receiving money. We had a ton of rules that the customers had to follow and if they asked why we had to say "it is for security reasons".

You should actually be glad they have a little extra security. Wherever there is money there is fraud. We were actually forbidden from using the word fraud. If you insisted on speaking with "customer service" we had to transfer you to someone who worked for the main company. We also sent suspicious callers to customer service.

P.S. I just had a rebate card that was about to start getting $2 a month taken from its balance. I used it to buy an amazon email gift card and it worked great. You might be able to do the same with ebay, etc. through paypal.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I don't get how that protects against thievery or anything for that matter.

It doesn't "protect" against thieves, it just is a little "f u" to thieves.

Usually when I have a GC of any shape, and I don't know the balance, I just use it and if I have to pony in more money then I do so. Heck I just used one I found the other day for a restaurant -- remaining balance? $.89.

Exactly. If stealing shit ends up costing you money, why do it?

 

[Exterous]

I said "OK, then I'm going to guess $50". The CSR says, "That is correct, the remaining balance is $38.49."

Well at least it sounds like you found someone willing to work within the system to help you out

 

[Jeraden]

I miss the old days when rebates always came in the form of checks. A credit card with $10 on it is just a hassle to use. Either you end up with some super small balance on it, or you have to hope wherever you are going allows you to split up payment among multiple cards. Now I just immediately go to amazon and buy an amazon gift card with any rebate cards I get. I figure I'll spend money on amazon eventually anyways.

 

[Newell Steamer]

Let's see,..
1) we have an ATOT poster
2) we have a gift card
3) we have an "issue"

Yup, it all checks out.

 

[Gunbuster]

Call? I always use the website they list on the cards...

 

[lxskllr]

That's the "We hope you give up, and give us free money" policy.

 

[SparkyJJO]

With one of those gift cards I usually do one of two things anymore:

1) buy myself an Amazon gift card
2) have the teller at my bank just cash it out and put it into my checking (only works on cards over $10 it seems)

I rarely ever use them directly. If I do, I write the current balance on it with a sharpie so I always know.

 

[rudeguy]

OP: a lot of the time the company is following a law or regulation. Or its based on them. Account verification is very important with phone calls since you could have read a number wrong or the phone derp could type in a number wrong. They have to at least try to verify.

Now if that place had to deal with anything like CPNI, the rules are nuts. Call your phone company and ask about a call on your bill. You'll have to give them everything except your shoe size

 

[Cuda1447]

I'm fairly convinced large businesses are just a clusterfuck of stupid. Not to thread hijack, but let me give you the latest adventure I've had to deal with.

I have T-Mobile. Bought a Nexus 5 through google player store about a year and a hafl ago. After I purchased it I called T-Mobile and added the insurance/warranty on the phone. They didn't carry the phone in the store at the time. The rep knew this and added the package for me, explained deductibles for damage etc.

Fast forward 15 months, my phone is randomly rebooting. I'm pretty certain this is a manufacturer defect with the power button, something I can't get worked out so I call t-mobile. I want to do an exchange (which is free since there is no physical damage to the phone). The first call they say the IMEI # is weird and say they have to connect me to LG to do the exchange. I talk to LG and they say the phone is over a year old and can't exchange it. Alright great, call T-Mobile back. This time after talking to three different people over the course of an hour, I find out the phone isn't covered since I didn't buy it at a t-mobile store. I explain this was never explained and the rep obviously added the warranty coverage on, knowing the situation and not telling me that it wouldn't be covered. They give me the option of doing an insurance claim through assurant instead, which would cost me $150. I tell them no way. I stand firm, asking for supervisor after supervisor. This was not my mistake and I will not pay for it.

Over the course of a few hours I get various terrible solutions. They will refund the cost of the insurance, as if that's doing me a favor. I tell them if I have car insurance, get in a car accident, the insurance company can't just be like "oh sorry, we don't cover mustangs, but here is your premiums back". That's BS. They offer to downgrade me to a Nexus 4, refurbished. Tell them no. They offer to give me a $50 credit, but I still have to buy a new phone. Lastly they offered to give me a credit on a new phone, which would have still cost me over 400 bucks. All terrible solutions and I stand my ground. The next day I call back to have another go at it. Finally I get through to someone who is willing to credit me $150 so that I can do the insurance claim through assurant. They agree.

Pefect. Next I go to assurants website and file a claim. Two days later I check the status as I haven't heard anything back yet and I see my claim is denied. What now. So I call them. Apparently they won't cover the phone if it is a mechanical defect!!! So they tell me to call T-Mobile. I tell them they won't cover it. Then they tell me to call LG. I tell them its over a year. Then they tell me that they won't cover it as they don't cover defects. So what do I do... I sigh. I said... ok, fine. I dropped the phone. After 5 minutes on hold they come back asking for indicated damage on the phone. I'm like... are you shitting me? I'll take a hammer to the phone if you want, what the fuck.


Seriously. Incompetent bullshit. Terrible companies. Terrible employees. And ripoff products.

So in my situation my phone isn't covered by anyone, anywhere under any circumstance, technically. Even though they've allowed me to pay 8 bucks a month for over a year.

 

[who?]

They're trying to make it harder for people who copied down the card numbers in the store.