[Asterisk-Users] OT: Toll Free

[Joe Greco]

> Joe Greco wrote:
> *snipped
> > We did have one bad experience with them, where they shut down our service
> > when they couldn't bill our credit card, because the card was renewed with 
> > a new expiration.  They got huffy on the phone with me when I was able to
> > tell them the new expiration but not the CVV2, since they had called me,
> > I was out and about, and the card was at home, filed away.  It wasn't like
> > the account number had changed, and they had been successfully billing the
> > card for two years, so you'd THINK that they could have just taken the new
> > expiration and ran with it.  (Things like this REALLY ANNOY ME...)
> *snipped
> 
> ecommerce accounts nowdays are very picky in the info they 
> require and cvv/2 is one of them 'since you didn't do a physical 
> swipe'.
> 
> so no they 'couldn't just run with it', they are required to pass 
> that info through.
> 
> maybe you should research vice 'think'ing before you slam people 
> in open forums.


We'd been a customer for two years.

Can you please answer the following:

1) Was it appropriate to shut off the service BEFORE we were even contacted
   for updated information?  Use really simple words like "yes" or "no"
   because I have a hard time understanding complex concepts like why it's
   safer to immediately screw with a longtime customer's service than to say 
   "well, let's call them first and let them know we have to shut them off 
   tomorrow if they don't update their info with us".

2) Was it appropriate for them to insist that they ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY
   had to have the CVV2 before they could turn the account back on?  Or
   would it maybe have been appropriate to say "Well, we understand you
   don't have the card on you right now, we'll turn you back on until you
   get back in the office."

It's not like extending credit for ONE WHOLE DAY on an account that
generated a monthly bill of less than $50 would have ruined them.  "Oh my
god, we gave this guy a day of flexibility and he turned out to be a
deadbeat, NOW WE'RE OUT TWO WHOLE DOLLARS!  We're bankrupt!"

I mean, really.  They do have an internal credit limit on their accounts,
and they could have chosn to crank down their liability to something like
twenty bucks until they got the data.  They're not charging credit cards for
each call, so THERE'S NO CREDIT CARD COMPANY INVOLVED to do what I've just
suggested.  All they needed to do was to NOT turn off the account instantly,
and take a very small risk that a longtime customer was going to suddenly
turn deadbeat.

You can consider THIS a slam.  What I posted originally was NOT meant as 
a slam, but rather a warning about the inflexibility of a vendor who I was
otherwise giving fairly high praise to.  If you don't like hearing the bad
along with the good, I suggest procmail, because when people ask for
recommendations and I provide one, I'm going to relay an accurate accounting
of my experiences.

Gads.  People who can't think really bother me.

... JG
-- 
Joe Greco - sol.net Network Services - Milwaukee, WI - http://www.sol.net
"We call it the 'one bite at the apple' rule. Give me one chance [and] then I
won't contact you again." - Direct Marketing Ass'n position on e-mail spam(CNN)
With 24 million small businesses in the US alone, that's way too many apples.