three requesting faxed c/c statement !

Dagobert

On Tuesday, I ordered a mobile broadband starter kit. I did not receive an order confirmation nor any other communication, so I phoned.

I was told that they required me to fax my credit card statement, otherwise they could not proceed with the order!

Is this the normal procedure when buying mobile services?

As I have no fax nor access to a fax I suggested to email a scanned copy but that was not accepted. I doubt that they would have accepted my Egg bank statement as this neither shows name nor address.

Has anybody else experienced similar problems?

I am not keen on their customer service: they did not even bother to contact me. However, this is the only form of broadband I am able to get. So I need to get this sorted.

Quentin

It is usual to carry out credit checks before setting up any form of credit agreement.

Unless they are satisfied, then they won't give you the deal. It seems they want specific evidence of your credit card, rather than your address, as they could have asked for other items to prove your address.

If you still want to deal with them it looks like they must see your statement. There may be a newsagent or similar that offers a fax service you could use.

Dagobert

Quentin wrote:

It is usual to carry out credit checks before setting up any form of credit agreement.

I realize that. But I chose PAYG mobile broadband.

Quentin wrote:

It seems they want specific evidence of your credit card

It's not much evidence if it does not even show the name, just the first four and the last four digits of the card number.

Quentin wrote:

There may be a newsagent or similar that offers a fax service you could use.

A bit difficult when the newsagent means a 26m round-trip.

greyster

They are performing an identity check - trying to identify who you say you are. As the above poster said, they are just satisfying their process. Most people can be checked electronically.

Does the address you enter online match your address with your bank?

Quentin

Only trying to help. You said you had to "get this sorted"

You still have to supply card details for payg (as you know!). They say if they have any problem veryfiying the card the order cannot proceed. For whatever reason they are having a problem over your card. It's not in their interests to make life hard for a new customer, but they do make it clear they must have verified card details before even a payg deal can go through.

Don't any of your friends have fax software on their pcs?

Dagobert

Quentin wrote: »

Only trying to help. You said you had to "get this sorted"

Apologies for the tone of my reply. I was getting a bit exasperated because I seem to be failing the administrative process after I spent half an hour loading their pages to place the order and before I can even verify whether I have reception at all.

Quentin wrote: »

You still have to supply card details for payg (as you know!). They say if they have any problem veryfiying the card the order cannot proceed.

I have no problem with that. What annoys me is that they did not even send an email requesting further information. After 2 days I phoned.
What also annoyed me was that they did not specify what they needed the statement for. Before jumping through hoops to send a fax I would have liked to clarify whether the Egg statement, which does not show any of my details, would satisfy their requirements at all.

Quentin wrote: »

Don't any of your friends have fax software on their pcs?

Nope.

greyster wrote:

They are performing an identity check - trying to identify who you say you are. As the above poster said, they are just satisfying their process. Most people can be checked electronically.

I signed up in the name of my business.

Quentin

Dagobert wrote: »

I signed up in the name of my business.

That will be the problem.

They do say when you sign up that they cancel the order if they experience any problem with the card verification.

No-one here can tell you if your egg statement is what they want - you need to ask them direct.

You say none of your friends have fax capability on their pcs. Did you ask? Do you not have any PC available to you with XP on it?

Bold_Icetree

I had the same problem with them when I tried online to order the skype phone with the mix 300 contract. Got an order confirmation email from them but never received my mobile. When i rang customer service, they asked me to fax my bank statement but refused to send me an email to confirm their request said due to security reasons. I explained that due to security reasons I will not fax my bank statement. But they didnt care about my security reasons at all. So eventually I had to cancel it and went into a 3 shop to order it. Had no problem and got the phone and contract straightaway. They did not even charge the £1.95 admin! I know it's not ideal to order through the shop because you wont get quidco cashback and recommend a mate credit etc. But if you really wanted to get the deal and did not want to risk sending your bank statement to strangers, this might be the only option.
Good luck.

Dagobert

Bold_Icetree wrote:

I know it's not ideal to order through the shop because you wont get quidco cashback and recommend a mate credit etc. But if you really wanted to get the deal and did not want to risk sending your bank statement to strangers, this might be the only option.

I am used to having to send bank statements to bookies from matched betting. At least this can be done via email and as a password protected PDF attachment. As you say quite correctly, faxing a credit card statement is not very secure. Who knows who picks the document up from their fax machine.

There is no reason why they should not accept a scanned copy email. However, they insist on fax - a totally outdated technology.

However, I have no access to a three shop.

Quentin wrote:

You say none of your friends have fax capability on their pcs. Did you ask?

My friends live a few hundred miles away. I think one of my neighbours has a fax machine.

Quentin wrote:

Do you not have any PC available to you with XP on it?

I run Linux and I could install fax software. Good idea.

Quentin

Dagobert wrote: »

faxing a credit card statement is not very secure. Who knows who picks the document up from their fax machine.

You seem unnecessarily cautious - you told us it has no details:

Before jumping through hoops.. I would have liked to clarify whether the Egg statement, which does not show any of my details, would satisfy their requirements

I fear if you really do want the deal you're going to have to do the jumping!