Local IHOP requires ID for credit cards.

 credit cards, irritations  No Responses »
May 042010
 

This weekend I went out to eat at a local IHOP. Upon lining up to pay I realized the manager behind the counter was asking everyone who was paying with a credit card for identification. When I reached the register I realized there was a sign that stated their policy of requiring ID credit cards transactions and this policy has been in effect for close to a decade. I didn’t refuse to show ID or anything as I pick my fights and there was quite a long line.

The sign states “AS OF DEC. 1, 2001 NO VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS, DISCOVER, DEBIT OR ANY OTHER CREDIT CARD TRANSACTIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED WITHOUT THE PROPER IDENTIFICATION”. In the past I wrote a post entitled “Top Five Credit Card Myths” and the ID requirement was myth #1. Check out that post if you want to see the sections of the merchant agreement that state ID is not required.

The policy at this IHOP clearly goes against the merchant agreement with Visa, Mastercard, etc. To add that they even state in the next part of the sign “SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE, WE ARE JUST FOLLOWING CREDIT CARD COMPANY PROCEDURES”. No, you’re not! Also if anyone called their bank or credit card company they would inform you that a merchant can ask for ID (or anything else) but cannot make it a condition of acceptance.

Normally if it’s a mom and pop shop instituting a minimum charge or ID requirement I wouldn’t care but IHOP is suppose to be a national franchise. This policy is clearly a local one put in place by either the uninformed franchisee or manager. The part where the sign says they are following credit card company procedures is the part that bothers me the most because it probably leads some people to believe the ID requirement is true. I use to work in a business that took credit cards and people would be fuming when I didn’t ask for identification even if their signature was similar to the one on the back of their card.

 Posted by dan at 4:09 pm

Oursourced American Express customer service is the worst.

 irritations, personal insights  No Responses »
May 032010
 

I’ve been trying to order American Express gift cards off their website and I keep running into a problem where my orders are denied because I am supposedly exceeding the quantity or dollar values. The problem is I am not since you’re allowed $5,000 in gift card purchases every 14 days. The last time I had a successful gift card order was almost a month ago on April 6th, 2010.

You get an e-mail from American Express stating your order was denied and why. You are also given a number to call for American Express Gift Card services.

The frustration starts when you call American Express Gift Card customer service. I’ve had repeated calls about several orders and I get increasingly annoyed each time. First I’ll tell them that my order was denied for going over purchaser limits and I believe this is in error. They will ask for the order number and then put me on hold to do “research”. After a couple minutes they will come back on the phone and repeat what I just said to them in that I was over purchaser limits. I have to then explain to them why I’m not over the purchaser limits and they usually agree after using math to figure out my last successful order was more than 14 days ago.

Here’s where it gets really frustrating and 2 or 3 of the customer service reps have tried to pull this one. They will tell me to call my bank and get the issue fixed with them. This is clearly not the issue at all because the charges do go through and it’s the gift card services department at Amex that denies the order, not anyone else. The biggest frustrating factor is that the CSR simply doesn’t know how to solve the issue so they are trying to get you off the phone.

The biggest issue lies in the fact that these agents that you are able to talk to on the phone have no ability whatsoever to approve or deny gift card orders. The last person I spoke to the on phone finally admitted this, they are simply there to take orders and whatnot. There is also no way to contact the back end which approves/cancels orders.

So I think I give up.

 Posted by dan at 3:34 pm

JP Morgan Chase closes all my credit cards!

 irritations  4 Responses »
Apr 192010
 

In a astounding show of incompetence Chase closes all of my credit cards due to new hard inquiries on my credit report and the addition of another credit card account at American Express. The additional American Express account also now classified me as “having too many accounts and available credit”.

What’s truly annoying is Chase closed all my accounts without warning. I even had a credit balance on one of my cards. I know that Chase is trying to reduce consumer lending risk but if they can seriously profile me as one than something is wrong with their evaluation methods.

I’ve never paid late, had a payment bounce and pay my cards in full each and every month. Although I’m not an extremely profitable customer that pays interest out the ass I am definitely an extremely low risk customer.

What makes the experience worse is the conversation with the “account managers” at Chase who I truly hope are low level employees. They would make statements like “well, your credit history is kinda short”. Well, that makes sense since I’m 22 years old and I’ve only been legally able to obtain credit 4 years ago! Yes I’m young but it’s experiences like that make individuals bitter enough to never do business with Chase again.

I will update if there is any more news.

 Posted by dan at 6:22 pm

Airline and Flying Etiquette

 irritations  No Responses »
Feb 192010
 

We live in a civilized society right? So why is it when that the hassles of flying with security, baggage, etc. always have to be accompanied with frustrations of fellow travelers? I’ll give most people the benefit of the doubt in that they just don’t know proper etiquette to follow when flying. I’ll discuss a few of the common issues I always find irritating when travelling.

Don’t crowd the boarding gate. Time after time you always see people who know they aren’t boarding yet crowd around the gate and block the path for everyone else. You think you’re gonna get to your destination faster but you’re actually slowing everyone down.

The overhead compartment is a shared space. This means don’t put your jacket up there taking up space until other passengers have stowed their carry on baggage. Recently I went on a flight to Chicago and since the weather was rather cold everyone wore a winter jacket onboard. Despite numerous announcements by the flight attendants people stowed their big winter jackets in the overhead as soon as they boarded leaving most other passengers without overhead space.

Don’t carry on baggage you can’t lift over your head. Countless times I’ve been on flights where an individual has brought on a carry on that is too heavy for them to lift into the overhead. They then require assistance from another passenger or the flight crew to stow their baggage and will probably require it again when deplaning. This slows everyone else down considerably on big flights.

Be mindful of your feet! Generally I don’t mind when people take off their shoes if they keep their feet on the ground or away from me. However if you take off your shoes please don’t put your feet up or put one leg up on your knee so I can see the sole of your feet.

 Posted by dan at 3:44 pm
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