On Sun, 02 Oct 2011 12:42:44 -0400, Kurt Ullman wrote:

In article ,
" wrote:



Too vigilant? I don't think so, at all. They're pretty damned lax, as far as
I'm concerned. What's your beef?

" stopped to get gas and my card won't work."

I've done that. Second card. Once it did **** me off because we were moving,
so had both vehicles (both being filled simultaneously rang the chime). This
sort of thing can usually be avoided by calling them first, warning them that
there may be "unusual" charges.

"It says we put a fraud stop on it. I can unfreeze it if you would
like."
(Some various id confirming hooha).

Perfectly acceptable.

"So why did you freeze my card?"
"You are in Florida."
"What else.?"
"Nothing else. You live in Indiana and you were using
your card more than the algorithm thought you should in FL."

Again, this can be avoided. It would be nice if they told people what the
alarms were, or even just told them that if there was going to be
"strangeness" in their habits, to give a call.

BTW, I was in FL two weeks ago. No problems. ...wasn't Miami, though.

"Anything on there besides hotels, gas, and eating establishments."
"No, but the algorithm noted you were in FL using a lot and that is not
usual."
"So the algorithm picked up I was in FL this year, but neglected to
note the other 10 years I have used the card in FL right after
Christmas?"
"Er, yeah."
"And did it take into account the gas, hotels and other stuff I bought
over 3 days in KY, TN, and GA on the way down?"
"Err, no."

Happened the next year. Same place, same time. I have started to call
them whenever I am going to be out of IN for any reason.

You're learning. ;-)

I found it especially interesting two years hence when I was in FL,
told them I was going to be in FL, but someone in CA got almost $3000 in
charges before I caught them.

Um, CA FL ;-)

They do have a *lot* of problems in S. FL.