In an attempt to do something cool, I purchased a Nokia N95 from TigerDirect earlier today. They've been good to be in the past and have great deals.
I'm never doing business with them again.
A few hours after I placed the order, I got a call from a "representative" asking me for personal information, and based upon that, a bunch of questions that required me to confirm information such as street names I have lived on years ago, former coworkers at past employers, and other data mining gems that are just plain creepy.
When I voiced my concern to the TigerDirect support person, I was told "it's to protect the customer against fraud...it's all public information, anyway..."
Come on, don't lie to me. If I had fraudulent charges on my credit card, couldn't I just call my credit card company? I've done it before, and it hasn't been a problem.
The real reason is their own loss prevention. If the way they keep prices low is by buying mined data and invading my privacy, I'll pay a few more dollars to not be creeped out.
We are truly sorry to learn that our verification process made you feel uncomfortable.
The majority of our customers appreciate the fact that we go the extra mile to protect their credit card accounts from unauthorized use. We do apologize if you feel that this somehow makes Tiger Direct a company not to do business with. Without this measure the only other alternative would be to allow anyone with access to an individual's credit card number place an order via our web site unchallenged.
Should you feel there is something we can do for you regarding this matter, please feel free to email me at alex@help.tigerdirect.com.
Sincerely,
Alex
Tiger Direct Web Response