Dear googoo_ga-ga
In a former career I was involved in the investigation of banking
fraud including credit card fraud and have knowledge of most banking
terms. This is not a banking phrase I am familiar with.
There are two possibilities.
1. The company is so overloaded with orders that it cannot keep pace
with them and use this reply to placate customers who chase up their
orders.
2. Despite the fact you have a credit limit to cover the amount of the
goods, the company must be very wary of orders online because when the
customer is not present they are liable to pay for any credit card
fraud.
On receipt of the order they would obtain authorisation from the
credit card company with a reference number. Should that card be
subject to fraud, despite the authorisation, the company will lose the
money. Therefore, they may check with the credit card issuer
additional details such as address of delivery and name and address of
the credit card holder. Other details are also checked and the credit
card companies run checks on the pattern of purchases. The types of
checks remain confidential between the credit card organisations. It
may be these checks to which the company is referring. It is their
phraseology, not the credit card company's.
If you concerned in any way, contact your card issuer to confirm
whether the transaction has appeared on your account then you will be
in possession of the information should you have to contact the
company again for non-delivery.
Do not hesitate to ask for clarification.
Best wishes
answerfinder-ga
I have answered this question from my own knowledge. There are no
relevant pages on google applicable to this term.
For additional information on banking and credit card terms you may
wish to visit:
The Association of Payment Clearing Services – Click on Glossary
http://www.apacs.org.uk/
The Credit Card Research Group –Click on Glossary
http://www.ccrg.org.uk/
British Bankers Association
http://www.bba.org.uk/ |
Request for Answer Clarification by
googoo_ga-ga
on
04 Sep 2002 06:25 PDT
Hi answerfinder, and thanks for your comments.
With regard to your two possibilities listed.
The first (that they're overloaded with orders) seems unlikely, as a
colleague who also ordered from the same company on the same day has
already received his goods.
The second, well again I find it rather hard to believe. The company
involved is one of the UK's 5 largest mail-order computer peripheral
suppliers. Their entire business model comprises of fulfilling online
and telephone orders without the cardholder being present, so I'm sure
they are fully aware of all the possible pitfalls and difficulties
associated with this kind of transaction.
As I have made previous orders with this company (some for higher
value purchases), using the same name, address, and credit card that
I'm using for this current transaction it's rather odd if they've
decided they need to examine this transaction further. And I was under
the impression that if a transaction went against one's usual
"purchasing profile" as determined by the credit card company's
computer, the credit card company would usually contact the cardholder
to confirm (this has happened to me on at least two occasions in the
past).
I think I might write back to the customer services department at this
company to ask them exactly what they meant by "secondary referral".
Thanks for making an attempt to answer the question, though.
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Clarification of Answer by
answerfinder-ga
on
04 Sep 2002 07:42 PDT
Dear googoo_ga-ga
In trying to answer your question I spoke to two contacts in the
credit card environment, both had not heard of that specific term but
said it may apply to the process of verification as I indicated.
As you've experienced, the credit card company may contact the card
holder to verify expenditure. On this occasion it may be the company
satisfying themselves that you are who you say you are, despite your
previous purchasing record with them.
I think the answer, as you indicated, will lie in an explanation from
the company as to the meaning of the term.
answerfinder-ga
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