I placed an order with Pixmania last night. Nothing strange in that, aside from the fact I’d normally steer well clear because of the times I (and other people I know) have dealt with them only to have stuff arrive with French power cables and German manuals.¬¨‚Ć But the thing I wanted was substantially cheaper from them, and when you’re saving almost ¬¨¬£100, you make concessions.
Which was a mistake, it seems.
Ignoring the virtually-impossible-to-remove “loyalty card” and “Zen extended service” (or whatever it’s called) from my basket (which between them added almost ¬¨¬£70 to the order), and the fact my bank rang me this morning to check I did actually mean to order this item, and it was me that used the card, I had to take issue.¬¨‚Ć I got this email today:
From:     m.derby@pixmania.com
Subject:     Order No. CCL0-deleted-
To:     MeDear Mr. Andy,
Thank you for placing an order with PIXmania.
You purchased your item by Credit Card on www.pixmania.com.
In order to validate the details you entered on our site, please send us a copy of the documents below, stating your order number CCL0-deleted-, to m.derby@pixmania.com or by fax to + (44) 207 106 6425 :
- A copy of your passport or driving licence
- A utility bill matching your delivery address (gas, electricity or landline telephone bill. Please note that mobile telephone bills will not be accepted).
These documents are required for payment security purposes and are essential to approve your order.
We cannot proceed with your order without this information.
We hope to be able to process your order soon. Thank you for your understanding.
Best Regards,
James Felix
Customer Service Director
So they want me to email or fax them the exact same information that a scammer could use to nick my identity. I’d be wary handing that information over to my bank – let alone some company I don’t even like. I emailed them back:
Please be informed that I am not prepared to email or fax this sort of information. In today’s climate of credit card scams and identity theft, I do not feel happy providing proof of my identity in this way.
Furthermore, your email itself is worded like a phishing email.¬¨‚Ć You address me as “Mr. Andy”, and the email appears to come from “m.derby” and yet you sign off as “James Felix”. You do not explain exactly what “security purposes” you need this information for, you do not explain how you will store this information, for how long, or who will have access to it.
I have already had a phone call from my bank requesting that I authorise this transaction, and so as far as I am concerned I have done enough to prove that yes, it was in fact me that ordered this item.
I have been ordering items online from hundreds of companies (including yours previously) over the last 12 years, and this is the first time I have been asked to email or fax personal information like this.
Of course, I doubt it’ll do any good, but I think it was worth the effort. What the hell is a fax, anyway?
Because plastic objects in rooms are for losers: