WHSmith’s strange idea of security

Wednesday, October 15th, 2008

I’ve been attempting to buy an Ebook reader from WHSmith over the past couple of days… with “attempting” being the operative word.

The WHSmith website sensibly allows you to enter a delivery and billing address for your goods, and so I opted to have the reader sent here to PC Pro Towers.  The website took my order, the confirmation email duly arrived, and all was well and good.

Until a day after I placed the order, I received an email saying:

“Unfortunately we have been unable to obtain name and address verification from the card issuer for this transaction. As such I would appreciate your assistance by faxing to us a copy of your bank statement. (Please note that we do not need to see your current balance).”

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