Paypal/Egg CC WTF?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    So I get my new credit cards from Egg (Citibank owned UK CC issuer.)

    As before, both mine and the 2nd cardholder's card are identical in most respects. In fact the only things they differ in is

    1) The name printed on the front

    2) The PIN entered when using the card when purchasing in a bricks and mortar shop.

    More relevant, the address, the 16 digit CC number, the start/end dates and the CCU number on the back are identical on both. 

     

    So, 2nd cardholder naturally adds their card to Paypal as soon as it's received.

     

    Since I use Paypal a lot less frequently, I don't (attempt to) enter mine until last night... 

    "Sorry, your card has been entered onto another Paypal account, please delete it from there before adding it to this one" or words to that effect.

    Huh? Took me a few minutes to realise what's happening:

    Paypal are determining 'identical' cards based on a subset of the details on each card, and refusing to accept twice any cards that have the same subset of details.

     

    Now which is the greater WTF:

    • Egg issuing 'identical cards'
    • Paypal using a broken method of determining duplicates 


  • @PJH said:

    Now which is the greater WTF:

    • Egg issuing 'identical cards'
    • Paypal using a broken method of determining duplicates 

     

    While issuing identical cards surely is a WTF, in my opinion The Read WTF™ is using PayPal at all. Among other WTFs, here's my personal PayPal WTF:

    I tried to close my PayPal account some time ago. I couldn't, because the values I entered for the two security questions were not accepted (even though I answered the questions truly when picking them and when I tried to close the account!). I tried is several times - until PayPal told me that my account was randomly picked for a security check. To pass the check, I would have to - you guessed it - answer my two security questions first!

    So I have to call customer service - the guy there does a quick reset of my password (luckily for him, he asks me several personal questions to make sure that I am really me). After that I'm able to log in. Now I ask the guy to walk me through the process of closing my account. While holding the phone, I'm saying "Ok, now I click 'My Profile', 'Close Account'...." when he yells "STOP!!". Now he's telling me I'd have to remove my account information for both bank account and credit card before I close my account. Otherwise I'd never be able to open another PayPal account with the same account data again.

    WTF?? Other WTFs, see Tag.

     


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @tdittmar said:

    in my opinion The Read WTF™ is using PayPal at all.
    I did actually contemplate adding that option. 



  • Hmm, that means they store the information after you closed your accound. That's definitly a WTF. And maybe agains law/EULA too.



  • @dtech said:

    Hmm, that means they store the information after you closed your accound. That's definitly a WTF. And maybe agains law/EULA too.

    Paypal is technically not a bank (and they like it that way!) so it's probably not. Besides, given that the response to hideous data theft has been "whoops, my bad" with no further repercussions, I don't see why they'd bother.



  • @dtech said:

    Hmm, that means they store the information after you closed your accound. That's definitly a WTF. And maybe agains law/EULA too.
     

    AOL did that. Anyone who ever signed up for trial account back in the early 90s had their CC stored PERMENENTLY (and say that with a Darth Vader voice)...

    Then naturally AOL got hacked and hacked yet again... etc...

    And anyone who ever opened an account with AOL even if they closed it had their information stolen. Remember that from some yrs ago.



  • @dlikhten said:

    PERMENENTLY
     

    If you are going to add emphasis, please at least spell the word correctly. WTF



  • Egg issuing 'identical cards'  -- Credit card issuers do this all the time.  It's common for a husband & wife to each have a credit card with the same number.  They both have a credit card and all the charges go onto a single account.  No WTF here.

     Paypal using a broken method of determining duplicates -- What's broken?  Paypal doesn't want 2 different people using the same credit card number.  It's inconvenient (I've run into this same problem myself) but from PayPal's point of view it makes sense -- It prevents a "bad guy" from opening a PayPal account using your credit card.  No WTF here.

     Many years ago, I applied for a credit card from a large well known department store.  One day, 4 envelopes arrived in the mail.  Each envelope contained 3 credit cards.  All 12 cards were identical (same account number, etc.).  Now that's a WTF.



  • @Volmarias said:

    Paypal is technically not a bank
     

    They are in Europe.  PayPal Europe Sàrl & Cie, SCA (PayPal Luxembourg)



  • More relevant, the address, the 16 digit CC number, the start/end dates and the CCU number on the back are identical on both.

    So ... instead of this data which has a verifiable checksum built in you propose instead using as a unique identifier _______ ?


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @El_Heffe said:

     Paypal using a broken method of determining duplicates -- What's broken?  Paypal doesn't want 2 different people using the same credit card number. 

    No, their apparent theory is they don't want two PayPal accounts using the same *card*. Which isn't the case here.

    Their current method of detecting 'the same card' is broken.

    In this case the two cards have different names on them and different <orange>personal identification PIN numbers.</orange> Everything else is the same.

    In other news I got a form reply from them telling me how to remove a card from the 'other account I hold with them to which the card is attached.'

    Which didn't address my problem. I said as much in their "how well did we do in solving your problem" questionairre.

    ID-10T's.

     


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @medialint said:

    More relevant, the address, the 16 digit CC number, the start/end dates and the CCU number on the back are identical on both.

    So ... instead of this data which has a verifiable checksum built in you propose instead using as a unique identifier _______ ?

    No.

    Either Paypal check the name on the cards or Egg supply a different CC number to the 2nd cardholder. Amex seem to have no problem with the latter. Paypal have fucked a few people with their assumptions on the former.

    Back to my question, are Egg or Paypal the greater WTF? (Both IMO.)



  • @PJH said:

    Either Paypal check the name on the cards or Egg supply a different CC number to the 2nd cardholder.
     

    Or a different (more logical) option: Use one paypal account.

     @PJH said:

    are Egg or Paypal the greater WTF? (Both IMO.)

    That might be the stupidest thing I have read all day, 


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