topic Re: Is there something wonky going on at JCPenney? in General Credit Topics

Is there something wonky going on at JCPenney?

Anonymous — Tue, 18 Aug 2015 20:01:51 GMT

Hey everyone, I woke up today and got an email from JCPenney thanking me for registering a jcp.com account with them. The type of account is whereby you sign in with your username (usually email) and password whenever you get ready to order something from JCPenney. So I brought this to the attention of a JCPenney phone representative and they said it was highly unusual, but that I should not be worried because no account is open under my name or email address in their systems. But with all of the identity theft these days, I think it pays to worry. So I checked all of my credit card accounts (the ones that I used to make purchases at JCPenney) , and none of them have been compromised or show any unusual activity. So both the CSR and myself were baffled.

Does anyone else have a similar experience such as this with JCPenney or with any other company about strange registration account emails?

Re: Is there something wonky going on at JCPenney?

gibeon — Wed, 19 Aug 2015 22:59:06 GMT

It may be your email address is close to someone else's - different numbers, spelling, or something.

I know that I keep locking someone out of their Vanguard account all the time, because we have the same initials, but my login has numbers, and his/hers doesn't.

If your email address isn't really super specific, my guess is that is what has happened.

Re: Is there something wonky going on at JCPenney?

UncleB — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 20:33:49 GMT

@gibeon wrote:
It may be your email address is close to someone else's - different numbers, spelling, or something.

I know that I keep locking someone out of their Vanguard account all the time, because we have the same initials, but my login has numbers, and his/hers doesn't.

If your email address isn't really super specific, my guess is that is what has happened.

It could be a 'phishing' attempt as well.

I used to get those all the time, always 'official' looking, welcoming/thanking me for registering my "new account" at banks I've never done business at. A closer look showed that my actual name was never used on the message, only my email address, and if I let my mouse hover over any of the embedded links I could see they didn't redirect back to any banks.

I used to forward these messages to the security dept. of the bank the scammer was pretending to be, but now I usually just delete them. Whatever you do, don't actually click any of the links!

Re: Is there something wonky going on at JCPenney?

Anonymous — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 23:41:59 GMT

I got in touch again with JCPenney about the mysterious email saying "thank you for registering", and they said that a JCP customer service representative signed me up for an account not too long after I had finished doing an online purchase with JCPenney. I told them that it looked suspicious and that they shouldn't register customers up for JCP accounts when they didn't give them consent to do so. They said that they understand my apprehensions about this, but they said they if you shop online with them, then a JCP CSR may from time to time register you for an account. I told them that is not good business practice and I would be taking my business elswhere. For everyone who shops at online at JCP, please be aware of this. And to fix this problem, I changed my email address, and asked them to purge my address/phone number from their systems so they could not register me for any more accounts.

Re: Is there something wonky going on at JCPenney?

UncleB — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 23:53:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I got in touch again with JCPenney about the mysterious email saying "thank you for registering", and they said that a JCP customer service representative signed me up for an account not too long after I had finished doing an online purchase with JCPenney. I told them that it looked suspicious and that they shouldn't register customers up for JCP accounts when they didn't give them consent to do so. They said that they understand my apprehensions about this, but they said they if you shop online with them, then a JCP CSR may from time to time register you for an account. I told them that is not good business practice and I would be taking my business elswhere. For everyone who shops at online at JCP, please be aware of this. And to fix this problem, I changed my email address, and asked them to purge my address/phone number from their systems so they could not register me for any more accounts.

I'm glad to hear it was nothing nefarious, and I would have been upset as well.

Re: Is there something wonky going on at JCPenney?

Anonymous — Sun, 23 Aug 2015 00:08:16 GMT

They didnt sign you up with a credit card just a user account.

Many websites make you a user account if you make any purchase from them. Even if you choose "check out as a guest" it will opt you in for a user account unless you uncheck the box. I do not understand what you are upset about, this is normal when ordering from the web or any catalog (there is a bar on the back with your account identifying info on most catalogs that get mailed to your home.) They just made a way for them to recognise you in the future and for you and them to track your purchases.

edited to include: they are going to collect and keep any of your personal info regardless of if they assigned you a user account or not, this way you also have access to that information.