New Online Buying Rules

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

I had a smartphone but it was a work one and had to hand it in when I retired a few weeks ago. Having a tablet, laptop and PC I have no real use for a smartphone (my wife has one anyway) and find them too big. So I bought a cheap mobile, around £50 I think, and it is ideal for calls, texting and the odd photo.

Chris

[Tim CooperParticipant @timcooper90034]

Dave

No not a Spanish bank but probably the largest UK Building Society. Strangely my youngest son had a Credit Card with them but had to change as they suspended it every time he went abroad. For someone who seems to be trying to visit as many countries as possible this proved too much.

Tim

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

I think this is a job for BBC Radio 4's Money Box. 'Stir up the masses', eh, what?

DM

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

We came up against this the first time a few days ago, but were able to obtain the code from the card reader supplied by the bank (Nationwide), so no phone or e-mail required.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Problem is that all the banks seem to have different systems. I currently have two card readers and one code generator plus certain purchases entail a one time code being sent to my mobile phone. The latter proved a bit problematical in John Lewis when I was purchasing a replacement phone for the one stolen in Italy earlier this year. The solution entailed buying myself a gift voucher????!

Colin

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Posted by Colin Bishop on 27/08/2019 18:03:20:

The latter proved a bit problematical in John Lewis when I was purchasing a replacement phone for the one stolen in Italy earlier this year. The solution entailed buying myself a gift voucher????!

Colin

I've had one memorable and eerily similar experience with John Lewis' Customer Service team. Judging by the reviews they get, my case is far from unique John Lewis on Trustpilot

If you have several hours to waste then you'll find my saga by scrolling down this list!

I now look for locally-based retailers instead of the 'big names' when searching for big ticket items. If I can visit the store and avoid the third degree involved when buying on-line then all the better. Chip-and-pin seems to work for me – I once bought a new car using my bank debit card and even the Hand and Heart accepts it! Where to find DM on a Friday afternoon

The question remains; why is it so difficult for me to access my own money when some low-life with a PC in his back bedroom finds it so easy?

Dave M

[Paul TParticipant @pault84577]

Who remembers George Orwells prophetic commentary and how close we are in 2019 to achieving his prediction.

CCTV on every street, in every shop and even in most cars, so Big Brother can watch everything we do.

Mobile phones that inform the world about our every move so Big Brother knows exactly where we are.

Electronic banking that record our every purchase so Big Brother knows what we buy and how to 'personalise' our spending experience.

It looks like we have the world where the banks and politicians have everything they desire and our every whim comes with a bill and a side order of relentless advertising.

A wise man once said that we get the life that we deserve, so basically all of this trouble with Internet banking is our own fault.

Now who remembers cash and a time when your finances were truly private, its the same place where mobile phones were big and red and very handy when it rained, you couldn't loose them down the sofa and they didn't ring every 30 seconds to enquire about the accident you recently had.

Sad isn't it

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Very true in many respects Paul. But the sheer quantity of data being gathered means that it is unlikley you will be personally monitored except maybe through targeted adverts which can be blocked.

Unfortunately we live in the world we live in and have to adapt to that.

People on 'social media' are inviting this sort of scrutiny by freely sharing personal data which is why I stay well clear!

Colin

[Ray Wood 3Participant @raywood3]

Hi All

Social Media not a great advance in our times 😢 except for this forum of course 😀

Regards Ray

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

I don't like all the surveillance cameras and spying, and never-ending requests for feedback and adverts coming up on the screen the moment I even think about an item! Orwell's prophecy certainly looks like it is coming to pass. But I quite like Facebook and have a well-behaved group on there with getting on for 2,000 members from all over the world, including old shipmates from over 55 years ago. I have a mobile phone, but it is only switched on if I wish to make a phone call when I am out and about, and that is not often. When we sailed from Portsmouth for the Falklands 37 years ago, I thought the radio silence was absolutely wonderful and  was sorry when it was lifted after we passed the latitude of Buenos Aires on the way home months later. That was not because I was left with nothing to do (being radio officer), because I was kept busy with bridge watches until normal service resumed. But it was great while it lasted. Years before, on slow cargo ships, I never even listened to the news, and found that life was a lot less stressful because of it. I used to love the isloation of the sea, but after the Falklands, we had satellite communications fitted and were bombarded with messages from the office all the time, and were never left in peace. But none of them made the ship go faster, or make more profit. When 99% of official communications was in  morse code, ship's business would usually be virtually nothing, and limted to a few words. But with teleprinters and satelites the attitude seemed to be "why send a 20-word message when two or three hundred words would serve just as well!

Bob

Edited By Bob Wilson on 27/08/2019 22:18:42

Edited By Bob Wilson on 27/08/2019 22:20:17

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

We have just come up with this new security thing when trying to pay our energy bill yesterday. I had actually got a cheap mobile, and gave the bank its number. When the payment part asked for the number, we first tried with the card reader, but failed miserably. Then tried again with the phone that said "we have just sent a text message to your phone with the number! Surprise – surprise – it never arrived in the phone, although there were two or three adverting texts. This is not a matter of old age, and inability to move with them times, it is a matter of the system being flawed. We eventually gave up. Today, we even had the greatest difficulty in getting through by phone, but eventually managed it, and paid that way.!

Progress!

Bob

[Chris FellowsParticipant @chrisfellows72943]

My wife used her phone to collect her Nectar points when shopping today. It would have been quicker to use her card!

Chris

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Whatever next/you couldn't make it up, could you? E-Rosary

DM

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

And there is the DiY Sainthood kit from Mike and the Mechanics but you need to play it twice I think:

**LINK**

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

DM. I think you could make it up, and someone just did. !

no further comments as do not want to go down the religious route..

Ashley

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

Yes – strange that the ony Google hits I can find are news feeds. You'd have thought that the actual thing would have been sniffed out by Google's spiders if it were genuine… Fake news? Not often the Beeb gets fooled.

DM

[david taylorParticipant @davidtaylor]

I went to currys to buy a new tv, went to sales person, you can only order it on line. so I said ok went through all my details then it came to payment. debit card. put my card details in ( you no whats next) you need your smart phone for code. told them I don't have one, sorry we cant sell you one. but if you get a gift card for that amount £299.00 in cash we can put the gift card through for you. which meant hole in wall, only allowed £200.00 per day on that, so went away in total disgust with bank. on the way home called in asda they had one what we wanted, so went to information they said I could pay by debit card £299.00 tapped in my pin code done easy no messing, currys loss for using on line shopping. I don't like being told that I have to have this and that you cant beat cash only nobody can be scammed with cash unless it has been forged and so we go on. do we realy live in this sad bad world

david taylor

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I had that situation in John Lewis earlier this year. Phone had been stolen so couldn't receive a code and I was buying a new one in the shop!. Their solution was for me to buy a gift card using one of my cards – OK because I was in the shop and then use the gift card to purchase the phone – no I don't really understand it either.

I suspect one reason may be that many appliances are supplied to a number of outlets by just a few wholesalers and the supply and payment system is centralised behind the scenes. It was OK to buy the gift card as that was JL's own product.

Colin

Edited By Colin Bishop on 19/10/2019 10:16:22

[Dave MilbournParticipant @davemilbourn48782]

It strikes me that the banks and retailers are expert at preventing me from accessing my own money while allowing any other T, D or H to help himself to it.

From my own experiences of them, John Lewis and the organisation of a social activity in a beer-manufacturing establishment spring readily to mind. In my case a jumper purchased for my birthday was the wrong size, but before we eventually managed to bring JL's staff to their collective senses we ended up having to pay for it THREE times! The 'necessary' purchase of a Gift Card was also involved. These figures say a lot about them John Lewis customer reviews

Astounding to see that their former MD (2007-2016), Andy Street, is now the elected Mayor of West Midlands. Strange times indeed…

Dave M

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

I think that a dumb phone is ok to receive these codes, a txt is all they send.

Ashley

[Bob WilsonParticipant @bobwilson59101]

Thatb didn't work for us. It said it had sent a text, but no text arrived!

Bob

[Fracis TattleParticipant @fracistattle33706]

I do have a mobile phone, but have to drive 16 miles to get a signal lol

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

I suppose that's why they call it a mobile phone then…

Colin

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