On Thursday, September 15, 2016 at 2:38:40 PM UTC-4, T wrote:
On 09/15/2016 07:55 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
debit card

Use a credit card instead. "Debit cards" do not have the
consumer fraud protection that credit cards do.

The ones I have, I often over pay, so that I am spending my
own money and not borrowing it from someone else. That
is when I am forced to use a credit card, as in Amazon.com.

You know, this really has nothing to do with debit cards vs. credit
cards. (Yes, I know all the differences and I use one vs. the other
depending on the situation.)

This whole back and forth started when mako said "that's why I prefer
the convenience of cash". The convenience of a credit card or debit card
vs. *cash*. That's the comparison we're making here.

If we limit the discussion to that, I'd have a hard time being convinced
that cash is more convenient in any situation where both a card and a cash
option exists.

Just as an aside, you can trust me when I say that I know quite a lot
about fraud. My daughter has been a victim of identity theft. Cell
phone accounts have been opened in her name and cable TV accounts have
been been opened in her name. Trust me, you learn an awful lot while
trying to fix those types of issues.

In one case we never got a bill and only found out about the theft when her
credit report showed that her "Comcast Detroit" account had been sent
to a collection agency. She lives no where near Michigan. It was up to
her to prove that she did not live at the address of the account at the
time of the theft. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find out when and
where the theft occurred when you never got a bill, never got a letter
from a collection agency, never got anything expect an email from Credit
Karma about a change in your credit report - "One account has been sent
to a collection agency." When you call Comcast they want an account number
or phone number or address for the account - none of which you have - before
they will give you any information. The irony here is palatable. They won't
share any information in order to protect their customers against fraud
when it was technically one of their own customers that committed the fraud.

She ended up finding out the name of the collection agency and talking
them into giving her *something* that she could use to get Comcast to
release the information she needed to prove her own innocence. How do you
provide proof that you didn't live at a certain address at a certain time
if the company that wants the proof won't tell you what you need to know
in order to fulfill their request? It was maddening.