Be careful of Bus Depot

[lordsniff]

[Busdepot]

Just to add a couple of words here...

First of all, Phil G, your statement at the beginning of the thread that The Bus Depot "no longer accepts orders online from first time buyers" is simply false. Please edit your post and remove that statement. Of course we accept online orders from first-time buyers, and always have. Frankly I also feel that your thread title is very unfair to us, and hope you would edit that as well.

As for the issue of shipping a first-time order to an address not associated with the card, I see that someone has already copied/pasted our policy on that. It has been our policy for ten years, so it's nothing new. Actually it is also MasterCard/Visa/Discover's policy, so we are just following their advice. In a nutshell, while we do require that your first credit card order ship to an address associated with your card, this can still be a work or mechanic's address. With the exception of certain debit cards, it is possible to add alternate addresses to your credit card account for just this purpose. This is common practice, as it is the credit card companies, not us, who recommend this security step. If you call your card issuer and the operator doesn't know what you are talking about, ask for a supervisor because he/she should. If not, email us and we can use a different method to verify the address. Again, we only take this step on first-time orders. Once we know you, we can use other indicators to flag potentially fraudulant orders for your protection.

The reason for this precaution is to prevent someone from stealing your card and then maxing it out with mail order or internet purchases. A common scenario in the case of a stolen card is that the thief finds a "shell" address to have a bunch of merchandise shipped to - i.e. a pack-and-ship mailbox store, freight forwarder, overseas address, or even a house where the family is on vacation (where the package may be left on the porch by a UPS driver). By the time you learn that your card has been maxed out without your knowledge, he's long gone with all of the goods, and since he never actually used the card in person nobody even knows what he looks like. This is why MC/Visa/Discover have the Address Verification system, which allows you to specify acceptable addresses for mail-order purchases on your card. (Your billing address is authorized by default; you can call them to add more.)

Is this type of theft a real risk? Yes it is. Using the Address Verification System, we successfully thwart an attempted stolen card purchase roughly once every two weeks - so it works, and there are many credit card holders who are really glad we took the trouble to do it. Any mail-order or internet retailer - big or small - who doesn't take the trouble to check this even once on your first order is really not doing you any favors. He is putting both you and himself at risk by circumventing the security of your card.
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- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot
www.busdepot.com

[penthink]

My company is in the process of paying American Express back $60,000 because our order department failed to do address verification. That very small detail would have saved us. So Bus Depot is right about that policy. It's just good business. Imagine someone calling Bus Depot with your credit card - their policy would save you.

On the other hand, I have ordered a ton of stuff from Bus Depot, and while the shipping and the products are great, I must say that I often get the feeling I am pestering them by calling to order. I ordered the wrong part one time, and called to see how I could go about returning it, and the reply was, "you ordered it! It's your mistake." (A fact that I did not dispute. I merely wanted to see how I could go about returning it. Very disappointing.

But hey, if an unfriendly company is the only place to get what you need, I guess you gotta suck it up...
_________________
www.mainesaltwater.com

[Busdepot]

I certainly don't want anybody to be made to feel that way. Obviously our customers are the reason for our existence, not a nuisance! If we have a CSR who doesn't understand that, I want to know about it! (Of course every time they know I'm listening in they're on their best behavior.) If you are ever dissatisfied (or impressed) with the service you receive from a Bus Depot employee for any reason, I would greatly appreciate it if you would email me directly, and if possible give me the name of the person. I will address the issue immediately. Part of our compensation package is directly linked to customer feedback; employees get a bonus for each compliment, and a penalty for any complaints (poor service, a shipment that was short an item or addressed wrong, etc.). In fact there was one employee whom I unfortunately had to let go after receiving a few complaints about their phone demeanor, so perhaps that was the person to whom you spoke.
_________________
- Ron Salmon
The Bus Depot
www.busdepot.com

[penthink]

I appreciate your response - and not every call was like that. And like I said, every single thing I ordered from you was of great quality and well-packed and my orders were always complete.

My guess is that the guy you sent packing was the one I was talking to each time.

Again, thanks for the reply, thanks for the great website, and thanks for keeping this horrible addiction alive!

Mike
_________________
www.mainesaltwater.com

[dieselnut]

I've used the Bus Depot for a lot of things over the years, while they're not perfect, neither is anyone else. They're a good business and I've been treated well by them. I think the original poster jumped the gun big-time on this.