dsc3rjs@nmdsc20.nmdsc.nnmc.navy.mil (Bob Stratton) (10/10/90)
I share a house with two roommates, one of which has our phone in his
name. I recently called AT&T to request a calling card in MY name,
and was quite pleased to find that they sent me one, despite the fact
that my name is different from the billing name for this number, AND
that AT&T isn't my primary carrier.
Reading through the literature, I noticed the usual fine print
regarding usage, but was surprised to see text to the effect that
"this is a credit card ..." and that billing errors are governed under
the same (or a similar) set of laws as bankcards. They also had a
paragraph about not using your calling card as a form of ID (A
reasonable suggestion).
To get to the interesting part:
Last weekend I was in a local beach town with another reader of the
digest, and we wanted to rent a movie from a local branch of a large
video rental chain. As I was on a low-overhead trip, I didn't have any
credit cards with me - and a credit card is a usual part of the
membership registration process for places of this ilk.
Imagine my surprise when the clerk said that a "calling card" was
fine. I was quite exhausted after a long day, and my normal alarms
didn't go off - so I let her have the number [Yes, yes I know ...].
I let her have my ATT card, although, in retrospect, I should have
tossed her my MCI or C&W, just to watch the reaction. (I'm really
curious.)
It seems that this chain is using some sort of loss-prevention
database system from a third party, as I noticed small signs about the
system, complete with a silly tradename, which I can't remember - I
presume the "calling card" requirement is imposed by the database
provider.
Needless to say, I'm going to be watching my LD bills like a hawk, and
I think I'm going to ask the video chain for more details.
Has anyone else run into this sort of thing?
Bob Stratton | dsc3rjs@nmdsc{20 | 10}.nmdsc.nnmc.navy.mil [Internet]
Stratton Systems Design | dsc3rjs@vmnmdsc.BITNET [BITNET only, please!]
| +1 703 823 MIND [PSTNet]