Questions Surround Some 8,000 Macy’s Debit Cards That Got Charged Repeatedly
Written by Fred J. AunJanuary 3rd, 2009
When Macy's distributed a very cryptic statement on December 23 saying that "some" debit card customers had been charged "multiple" debits for single transactions, it went virtually unnoticed.
But questions quickly surfaced. For example, retailers have specific systems designed to catch multiple identical transactions from the same account. Why, then, didn't the Macy's system catch anything until some accounts were charged two and even three times? One Macy's manager familiar with the incident said it involved a Macy's payment processor and that the connection with the processor "was experiencing a slowdown that day due to traffic or systems issues. When that slowdown occurred, that's when the double charges occurred."
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2 Comments | Read Questions Surround Some 8,000 Macy’s Debit Cards That Got Charged Repeatedly
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Our Comment SPAM system is getting very aggressive these days and has been blocking legitimate comments. If you post a comment and don't see it appear within 2 hours or so, can you please send a heads-up to customer-service@storefrontbacktalk.com? Ideally, please include the time you posted the comment. That will allow us to try and hunt for it. Thanks! P.S. We're working on fixing the system, but we don't want to lose any valuable comments in the meantime.
-Christine
January 8th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Evan, being the cynical person you are, I’m surprised that you didn’t speculate whether it was 1 p.m. Central to 2:45 Eastern (making the actual time an hour longer that it would first appear).
January 8th, 2009 at 10:51 am
If consumers had the Visa debit card that my company represents, they would NEVER experience any breach. We have the only card of any kind that can be ‘turned on’ and ‘turned off.’ My Visa debit card is always OFF (or disabled) until I turn it on — all via my cell phone. Even if you had my card number and PIN, you could never access the funds on my debit card. As a matter of fact, I was in a very long line at a Macy’s counter when the salesperson swiped my card that I had authorized for one transaction only. There was a problem with an incorrect price, and she asked me if I wanted the item anyway. I quickly agreed (with the long line), and she swiped my card again. Of course, it was denied and a message instantly appeared on my cell phone screen advising me of the attempt on my card. I simply called the programmed number in my cell phone, and turned my card ‘on’ in seconds, and the authorized purchase was completed. Everyone in line wanted to know how to obtain such a secure debit card — Please go to my website: securityassured.us and apply!