* Posts by Vasco Da Gamma

4 publicly visible posts • joined 3 Dec 2007

Bank turns London man into RFID-enabled guinea pig

Vasco Da Gamma
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Government to ban cash next

Gordon would love to ban cash - if we had to use traceable plastic/chips he could see where every red cent was being spent, and tax the bits that the Evil Empire has missed, and small cash traders would no longer be able to fly beneath the tax radar.

Me I'm joining this years 500,000 in the exodus from UK

Security fears stymy online sales

Vasco Da Gamma

Vasco's response

The difference between straight credit card payment and WorldPay is the speed the money is debited.

With the usual credit card entry into a website, the merchant checks the stock, packs and labels and then processes the card payment just prior to despatch.

With WorldPay etc the punter gets relived of their cash within a couple of minutes of placing the order. The trader checks the stock levels and then sends out an "oh we've run out of those...what else would you like us to send as a substitute?". Then, because they are concentrating on the "cash inwards" from their WorldPay account rather than fulfilling an order the refund becomes oh so difficult.

So...Why should I have money deducted from my account by an on-line spiv and have to wait 4 weeks for recompense? Why should I pay to improve his cash flow? At what point does it become fraudulent trading (selling something you have not got)? The EU directive relates to delivery. There is also a 7-day returns period in the distance selling directives, but no-where does it clearly state how long you should have to wait for the money to be refunded in a case like this.

I had to pay my credit card off when the bill arrived 8 days later - but didn't have the benefit of the goods. Also this merchant wasn't a "little company" - it regularly advertises in the national press.

My cousin's have been operating a purely web based toy business for 4 years with direct sales through credit card and cheque. The only time they have been ripped off is by other spiv traders, not Joe public (twice using PayPal through ebay -and that became so farsical they wrote off the £400 that they had lost). They looked at the alternatives early on and saw the potential for customer dissatisfaction. Their system costs them 2.4% and gives their customer's peace of mind and a fast turn around.

Vasco Da Gamma

Security Fears - Payment Management

Last month I ordered a product online - payment was through WorldPay, and was taken from my credit card account within a couple of minutes. Next morning I had an email from the trader saying they were out of stock, and please could I choose another alternative... Funny they weren't out of stock when they took my money, but then we all make mistakes.

All the alternatives were all nearly twice as much so I emailed the retailer to cancel the order and provide a refund. A week later still no refund so I emailed and phoned their office. Two weeks on and still no refund or email acknowledgement so I called them again; also MY CREDIT CARD COMPANY DIDN'T WANT TO KNOW AS MY PAYMENT WAS TO AN INTERMEDIARY AND NOT DIRECT TO THE RETAILER.

After 18 days I found the Managing director's mobile number on a web-search, called him, and mentioned legal action. Within 15 minutes I had email acknowledgement of a refund, but it was 2 days before WorldPay credited my account.

Decent companies only bill your credit card when they dispatch the goods. The less reputable ones use the faceless means of contact such as WorldPay. I RECOMMEND YOU AVOID USING ANY WEBSITE THAT INSISTS ON PAYMENT THROUGH WORLDPAY OR A SIMILAR INTERMEDIARY.

Galileo funding finally agreed

Vasco Da Gamma

Galileo - Convenient taxation for travellers

It's pretty well apparent that Galileo is going to be the basis of a Europe-wide taxation system that will not only provide users with navigation, but will provide the governments with accurate logging of travel data.

A small receiver in each car and proximity download stations along entrances to motorways and towns will frequently update the vehicle taxation database, and money owed will be deducted automatically from the owner's bank account. This will eradicate toll booths, traffic monitoring cameras, and at some stage even speed cameras.

So which governments aren't going to scrape together the initial finance. After all the potential rewards are absolutely huge!