topic Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ? in General Credit Topics

Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:31:46 GMT

Every time I call true credit, I get connected to their customer service center based out of the Philippines. We all know there is a ton of identity theft in Asia. Today I noticed they double billed me and I called and spoke to a CSR. They double billed me because a few days ago I had signed on with them and after I paid, I could not log in. I called that same day and a CSR told me that she would have to cancel my order and then I would have to order again to get onto the system. I did just that, but she forgot to refund me one of the payments I made....so that is why I called today demanding a refund of one of the two 14.95 payments I made the same day.

First off, it seems they are so poorly trained..such a shame with something as sensitive as your credit. They have all your information right in front of their eyes and the first thing they ask you when you get connected to a CSR is your social security number. Why not ask me for my log in ID and then confirm it with my date of birth. Why should they have access to my social security number RIGHT OF THE BAT ? Anyhow, she tells me that I shouldn't worry because it's probably just a pending payment at this point and the fact that they canceled the order means that the pending payment will disappear and not post onto my credit card account. She is shooting from the hip now and I am pretty angry. I point out to her that the payment HAS posted already to my credit card account because I am looking at my account online right now while I am talking to her.

She then tells me that she needs my credit card number to issue a refund ?!? I tell her, NO..you do not need my credit card number, simply issue a refund to the credit card I have on file with you...the same credit card you bill automatically each month. She says "ok" and tells me that I will receive a confirmation email from them.

I do not trust these people. I am sure there are insiders working with truecredit.com in the Philippines that will realize they have all the necessary information right before their eyes to steal identity and god knows what else. After a while of working for 4.00 an hour or whatever they make, they will easily be enticed by a 2,000 offer to give someone some information.

Anyone else concerned as much as I am ? Truecredit should NOT have their customer service center operations out of the Philippines. This is ridiculous and a disaster waiting to happen IMO.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Lel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 18:12:23 GMT

Are Filipinos inherently less trustworthy than Americans? They are a very hardworking and religious people and who are devoted to their families. What specific qualities about Filipinos, other than their "misfortune" of being born in a country other than the US, make them more corruptible than us?

The last time I checked, there is a tremendous amount of identity theft that originates within our 50 states. Should we disparage those companies that choose to utilize American workers to handle sensitive information?

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:07:36 GMT

LEL..it has nothing to do with philipinos in general, so take a chill pill please. What it DOES have to do with, is the outsourcing of your EXTREMELY sensitive identity information overseas to countries who do not have the same laws as the United States of America. Sorry....I don't trust my personal information in the Philippines.

"I'll bet that when given a choice, consumers prefer that their credit and financial data is kept within their country's borders, rather than being transmitted around the globe. It all goes to risk. The fewer places credit and financial data are transmitted, the less chances for lost or stolen data. More importantly, it is unclear about exactly which country laws govern the protection of consumer credit and financial data. It is unclear which country laws govern the notification when the company (e.g., TransUnion, True Credit) suffers a data breach by an outsource call center vendor in another country."

More of this article can be read here : http://ivebeenmugged.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/05/is-it-wise-fo-1.html

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:17:55 GMT

I can understand the concern. To me it has nothing to with the character of one country's citizens as opposed to another. It has to do with the lack of jurisdiction of US authorities in case some of your personal data does get compromised.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Lel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:27:57 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
LEL..it has nothing to do with philipinos in general, so take a chill pill please.

I'm sorry that you were offended by my post. I guess when I read things like "I do not trust these people", it sound like a blanket statement describing Filipinos in general. I will chalk it up to a poor choice of words by you.

For the record, when I had trouble signing up for Score Watch, I had to provide my SSN and a bunch of other sensitive information to the person on the other end of the line. I am just assuming that the myFICO.com rep that I spoke to was based in the US. In any case, I do not think that this American I spoke to was particularly incompetent or playing loose with my personal information when he asked for my SSN.

Aaaahhhh....my chill pill has just taken effect. Thanks for the recommendation!

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:35:43 GMT

Identity theft can occur anywhere. And, unfortunately, the more our personal information gets sent around hither, thither and yon, the more chance there is for security to be compromised.

In the long run, I think biometrics are going to be required to fully secure us.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Lel — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:42:08 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I can understand the concern. To me it has nothing to with the character of one country's citizens as opposed to another. It has to do with the lack of jurisdiction of US authorities in case some of your personal data does get compromised.

cheddar, I agree with you on this. But my quibble is that there was nothing in the original message that indicated that this was the concern. The OP related a negative interaction with TC and generalized it to described Filipinos in general - "they are so poorly trained." The OP implies that Filipinos are untrustworthy - "I do not trust these people." The OP suggests that Filipinos are more prone to corruption - "After a while of working for 4.00 an hour or whatever they make, they will easily be enticed by a 2,000 offer to give someone some information."

I have had trouble with billing and other customer service issues on multiple occasions in the past. In some of these cases, I know that I was patched through to call center in a place beyond our borders. And in some cases, it was not easy to get my problems resolved. But it would have been inappropriate to make general statements about Indians, Pakistanis, Minnesotans, and Texans based on my experiences.

The generalization of a people is no different than Don Imus's recent "what color is he" comment about Pacman Jones.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:45:06 GMT

@Lel wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

I can understand the concern. To me it has nothing to with the character of one country's citizens as opposed to another. It has to do with the lack of jurisdiction of US authorities in case some of your personal data does get compromised.

cheddar, I agree with you on this. But my quibble is that there was nothing in the original message that indicated that this was the concern. The OP related a negative interaction with TC and generalized it to described Filipinos in general - "they are so poorly trained." The OP implies that Filipinos are untrustworthy - "I do not trust these people." The OP suggests that Filipinos are more prone to corruption - "After a while of working for 4.00 an hour or whatever they make, they will easily be enticed by a 2,000 offer to give someone some information."

I have had trouble with billing and other customer service issues on multiple occasions in the past. In some of these cases, I know that I was patched through to call center in a place beyond our borders. And in some cases, it was not easy to get my problems resolved. But it would have been inappropriate to make general statements about Indians, Pakistanis, Minnesotans, and Texans based on my experiences.

The generalization of a people is no different than Don Imus's recent "what color is he" comment about Pacman Jones.

I understand, Lel. Your points are well taken.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Schoolbuskid — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:49:07 GMT

I cannot stand calling equifax credit watch line! I was having trouble updated my credit report, and i called to tell them two times and they were unable to resolve the issue so i canceled my service! They make me so mad because its like they dont know anything, its ridiculous!

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 20:24:29 GMT

Too many companies here in the U.S., TrueCredit included, outsources their customer service facilities or Call Centers to Asian countries, the Philippines included (the citizens are referred to as "Filipinos", instead of "Philipino") to obviously cut down on operating costs. You would be surprised to know that even AT&T's technical assistance is even handled by some Filipino customer service workers, even Dell.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

marty56 — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:30:59 GMT

firstinlastout wrote:
Anyone else concerned as much as I am ? Truecredit should NOT have their customer service center operations out of the Philippines. This is ridiculous and a disaster waiting to happen IMO.

ID theft can happen any where and at any time. I dont think it is relevent that the support is outsourced other then the quality of the customer support.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

marty56 — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:31:34 GMT

cheddar wrote:
I can understand the concern. To me it has nothing to with the character of one country's citizens as opposed to another. It has to do with the lack of jurisdiction of US authorities in case some of your personal data does get compromised.

Jurisdiction is only an issue if you want to see the person go to jail. ID theft monitoring and monitoring your credit score would catch the use of your data if it is used for credit purposes.

Someone at work at their wallet stolen recently and the police are exactly building at task for go to after the person. If the person happens to stumble into a police station then they might get arrested.

Your are covered whether they catch the person or not.

So in most cases the fact that the person was your neighboor or 4 thousand miles away in a country that hates the USA doesnt really matter.

Message Edited by marty56 on 06-24-2008 04:31 PM

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

haulingthescoreup — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:27:50 GMT

Okey-dokey, I didn't notice that the following guide was no longer stickied on some of the boards. I'm adding it here and restoring it to the Credit Cards board as well.

PLEASE READ: Posting About Foreign Call Center Frustrations

Here's how it reads:

There have been several posts concerning poor customer service allegedly rendered by some credit card companies' customer care lines. Ranting about bad customer service in general is fine.

Complaining because you can't get a representative who speaks clear English is acceptable, too.

Remarks about specific ethnic groups, countries, or stereotyping the inhabitants therein, or posting stereotypical images, or otherwise making remarks that belittle people based on their nationality or ethnicity is NOT acceptable. Such posts will be edited and/or deleted. Those who post such material will draw formal warnings and, if the racist remarks are repeated, bans.

Thank you for your cooperation.

TheNewWorldMan (your friendly neighborhood mod) <---now our blogger in residence

Message Edited by haulingthescoreup on 06-24-2008 04:27 PM

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 23:32:41 GMT

AN UPDATE >>

I have yet to receive the email confirmation the CSR told me I would get getting confirming my refund. I have a feeling I will not get a refund and will have to call back. I will keep you all updated. TC can bully the customer and come up short of promised expectations, but their abuse WILL be put out in public for others to see...that I can guarantee you.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

haulingthescoreup — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:01:09 GMT

Good luck in your battle! I stopped calling TC long, long ago.

What I have found, over and over, is that companies who offshore all their CS are looking for the cheapest deal possible, and they don't give a rat's whatever about serving their customers. Most of the foreign CSR's are actually required to read scripts, and they are subject to being fired if they try to help you and thus spend too many minutes on the phone.

It all goes back to headquarters back home, which apparently would rather have an imitation of customer service than the real thing.

Have you tried Planet Feedback, BTW? I haven't used them, but others have had success. This gets your issue to various VP's of whatever, so that they are forced to be aware of what's happening on the individual customer level. Some people have had pretty good luck with them. Sorry if this has already been mentioned...

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:59:29 GMT

thanks for the tip Hauling.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Lel — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 18:04:38 GMT

@haulingthescoreup wrote:
What I have found, over and over, is that companies who offshore all their CS are looking for the cheapest deal possible, and they don't give a rat's whatever about serving their customers. Most of the foreign CSR's are actually required to read scripts, and they are subject to being fired if they try to help you and thus spend too many minutes on the phone.

HTSU, thanks for the link regarding gripes about overseas customer service issues.

With technology these days, so much work is sent to foreign countries because of lower labor costs. A lot of medical transcription is sent to India, because the English language skills of workers there can be very good. I compared transcriptions from American workers and Indian workers, and I couldn't tell the difference. And they both made the same mistakes (e.g. Schering-Plough was transcribed as sharing plow).

I guess if we're to cast blame for our SSNs and credit card numbers being put in the hands of foreigners, our vitriol should be directed at the well-paid American executives who send these jobs overseas. We can hardly blame the Filipinos and Indians for taking jobs that are offered to them by Americans.

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

haulingthescoreup — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:58:18 GMT

As for medical transcription, many of the Indian transcriptionists are MD's! They can make as much money doing contract transcription for US hospitals as they can for practicing medicine at home. Hard to beat that level of understanding, once accents are accounted for.

Even some MD positions are vulnerable now. Many diagnostic radiology encounters (x-ray's, CT's, MRI's) get their initial interpretation by Indian radiologists, because the time difference means that they can read the digitized "films" during the day over there, and the reports are waiting the next morning when the ordering American MD comes in to work.

Pretty much the only jobs that you can hang on to these days are those in which you physically touch your customer (patient, etc.)

Re: Is anyone concerned with their sensitive information at TRUECREDIT and the philipino CSC ?

Anonymous — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 04:30:09 GMT

Firstin, yep, I worry about our info jaunting back and forth overseas, too. A few years back, we were hit with fraudulent charges on our checkcards and hubby's info with BoA on his Gov Travel Card was "compromised" a while back, too (heard about it from BoA about 3 months after it happened, go figger).

But, you know, there's no point in stressing out over it. You do what you can and you let (and I think you'll agree with me on this -- to others who might not share my beliefs, I apologize for getting "preachy" -- I mean no offense!!) God take care of the rest. If it's going to happen despite taking care, it's going to happen and all the stressing out, worrying over it, and bemoaning it, is not going to make it go away.

Credit IS important, no question. But so's your health and your family. Stressing out over what could be hurts more than it helps!!

{{{{Hugs}}}}}