2010-01-11 Hardee, Charles H <[email protected]>: > What really peeves me is when I go into a merchant, present my plastic > for my purchase and ma told I don't need to sign anything, > What, no signature? But how do you know it's me? You didn't check my > signature on the back of the plastic against my signature at the time of > the purchase.
They know with some pretty high certainty that it's you, based on all kinds of things related to the transaction. If it turns out it wasn't you, then they are not going to make you pay for it; they will just write it off, and refine their algorithms a tiny bit. And certainly they are not going to do a no-signature transaction if you are buying a car or some other high value item, or if the transaction takes place 5000 miles from where you live, and you haven't used the card outside your home town in the last few years. In this kind of case they will probably get you on the phone and ask you some questions. These days that all works quickly and smoothly even internationally. > And the merchant's cashier says that just the way it works. Yup - and it makes a lot of sense. They are authorizing the transaction; not authenticating you. > Personally, I try to make a mental record of where this occurs and then > attempt to NEVER return there for another purchase unless it is the ONLY > place to do so and then I pay cash. Can't remember the last time I was > in at H^&e D&p$t. (don't want to say the merchant's real name) I'm not sure why this offends you so much. How would it help anything if the cashier checked your signature? Such checking is highly unreliable, and contributes much less to authentication than does the data they already know about the transaction. Tony H. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
