Tracking down the source of online purchases

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Tony Wasserman <tonyw () acm org>
Date: September 23, 2008 1:10:16 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Tracking down the source of online purchases
Reply-To: tonyw () acm org

Dave:

For IP if you think that it is relevant...

Thanks and best wishes.

Tony Wasserman

================================================

I recently received a package from Amazon.com with an item that I did  
not order.  The packing slip showed my name and home address as both  
the billing and shipping address, with my first name slightly  
misspelled.  My first concern was identity theft: someone had enough  
information about me, and made a small purchase to see that the  
purchase would go through, in advance of making larger purchases.

When I called Amazon.com's customer service to ask about this item,  
they provided absolutely no help at all, even as I went through three  
levels of escalation of their "customer service".  All they said is  
that "for security reasons", they could not provide me with any  
information about the order, even though I had provided them with the  
customer order number.  I told them that I was worried about my  
security, not theirs, but they were absolutely unwilling to go beyond  
their scripted responses.  If someone sent me a gift, that's nice, but  
they wouldn't tell me anything about who placed the order.   There's  
no way to call their corporate office; all you can do is send snail  
mail.

Of course, it is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to deal with  
possible identify theft, especially when one encounters such an  
uncooperative response from a merchant.  Have others had different or  
better experiences with Amazon.com, or is this incident just a signal  
that Amazon.com can't and won't help with such problems?  Do other  
online merchants react similarly to this type of problem?



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