A lot of people know that leaving our signature behind on a random piece of paper is not a safe thing to do, even if it is some kind of receipt. Most of us are happy about the signature pad and feel that our information is safe in some kind of magical and unreachable place. At least I used to think that until a week ago when I looked at my credit card bill where there was a charge of eleven dollars and ninety nine cents, that I could not understand. It is not a big amount and the store was one that I usually shop at. The strange thing was that there was a suffix that said, "VIP Pass" next to the name of the store and a telephone number was mentioned in the credit card statement. So I called that number to ask what was going on and why was I charged 11.99, when I did not even shop on the date (or the month) . The customer service lady said that I had signed up for a VIP pass that was free for a month and then I would be paying 11.99 every month. So I asked her when did I ever do such a thing. She then explained to me that when I made a purchase, I had opted yes for this "VIP Pass". Needless to say I was worried and was thinking that I am losing it. I still did not believe that I would do something and not know it. I told her to cancel my "VIP Pass". To that she said that I have to give her the "VIP pass" number or my credit card number . I had no "VIP Pass number and I was not about to give her my credit card number. I went to that store to see where I can get that "VIP Pass" number. The manager was very helpful, but was not able to help me get that number. He could not locate even a transaction done by me for that month in the register. Then I was left with no choice but to cancel my credit card number.
Later on I looked up the "VIP Pass" and saw several complaints on Yahoo.
I feel bad for the store manager. That is one store that I always like to go to find neat and cool gifts, for my children and grand children. The store has things that make fans of Star Wars, Star Trek very happy and a lot of new and old shows and movies, for all age group fans. I might still shop there but using cash only.
I know that most of the time we see options like 'cash back" yes or no or even 'amount correct' yes or no ,but now I know that we have to be very careful about hitting yes even on the electronic signature pad.
