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re Bank of America's SafePass Security: strike out
From: Dave Farber <dfarber () me com>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 09:07:36 -0400
Begin forwarded message:
From: Simon Coles <simonc () amphora-research com> Date: April 27, 2010 3:30:31 AM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Re: [IP] Bank of America's SafePass Security: strike out
[For IP if you wish] We have a Bank of America account for our US company, which has employees in the US but we do the bookkeeping from the UK. One day we went to pay our US employees, only to find we couldn't until we signed up for a SafePass card. But we couldn't sign up for a card, the web site just wouldn't work - the "Submit" button (if I recall correctly) just wouldn't appear. After many long conversations with their help desk (who blamed our computers, referred us to different departments etc.) we finally accessed the BofA web site from a web proxy in one of our US offices, and it worked just fine... The BofA web site is generally fine when we're outside the US. Except when you are trying to order a SafePass card when it just fails silently. And this restriction isn't published, there are no error messages shown, and the customer support team are unaware of this. Why they put this restriction in, I don't know - we can't be the only ones wanting to access our bank account from outside the US. Simon On 26 Apr 2010, at 22:42, Dave Farber wrote:Begin forwarded message:From: Joel M Snyder <Joel.Snyder () Opus1 COM> Date: April 26, 2010 4:46:59 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Subject: Bank of America's SafePass Security: strike out[For IP if you wish] Bank of America lets their patrons sign up for "SafePass," which is a credit-card-sized one-time password device. You MUST sign up for SafePass for certain transactions (like large transfers) but it is optional for most customers. I signed up. Much to my woe. The sign-up fee for the card is $20. I got my card, and it's physically defective: no number shows up when you push the button. To get this problem remedied, Bank of America has me in an infinite loop. The phone people cannot send me a new card (why? I don't know). So I am supposed to do this through the web site. However, once you have signed up for SafePass, you must use your SafePass to make any changes to SafePass (including getting a replacement card, and let's not even start on whether or not it's going to cost me another $20 to get a replacement for the first defective card). So I was transferred from customer service agent to customer service agent, and each one assured me that they need to get this card activated. Some thought that if they activate it on their end, through the miracle of the ether, this will suddenly cause numbers to show up on my display here. (Attempting to explain that this could not work turned out to be a losing battle). I went through supervisors. I went through supervisors to supervisors. In the end, the "solution" that they came up with--after 55 minutes on the phone, mind you--is that I should order a new card (not a replacement, which I cannot do, because the current card cannot be activated, but a new card, as if I need two of these things). They agreed to make a $20 credit on my account, and this will then add up to solution required. And all this because I was trying to do "the right thing..." jms -- Joel M Snyder, 1404 East Lind Road, Tucson, AZ, 85719 Senior Partner, Opus One Phone: +1 520 324 0494 jms () Opus1 COM http://www.opus1.com/jms -- Joel M Snyder, 1404 East Lind Road, Tucson, AZ, 85719 Senior Partner, Opus One Phone: +1 520 324 0494 jms () Opus1 COM http://www.opus1.com/jmsArchives-- Simon J. Coles Amphora Research Systems Blog: http://elnblog.com Email: simonc () amphora-research com Web site: http://www.amphora-research.com/ Phone (Europe): +44 (0)845 2300160 x2001 Phone (USA): +1 800-221-3916 x2001
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- re Bank of America's SafePass Security: strike out Dave Farber (Apr 27)