Yet more Digital River happenings with my credit card

[bcrduke]

You may all notice that the thread I started, about my trouble with Digital River recently, is gone.

I deleted that thread.

This morning I received a call from a Digtial River rep who said, "Hello, my name is (censored), and I am calling from Digital River, regarding some blogs you wrote."

I thought to myself, "really? you're calling me about THIS? Not the security issue? Not the subscription cancelations? This?"

I said, "Well, I don't have a blog."

She said, "Oh, it was something posted over on the Matty Forums."

This rep was very nice, but to be honest, I was dismayed by the idea that Digital River might be in the habit of monitoring fan discussion boards.

I told the rep that, I actually hadn't even visited the Matty Collector Forums, much less posted there, in quite a long while.

She then said, "Well, maybe it was something you tweeted??"

I said, "No, I hadn't tweeted about this either. Maybe someone else had."

Long story short, someone (panzerjedi) tweeted the link to my thread. That's fine. The Org is a public forum.

Other facts:

- On Saturday, my credit card company called me to inform me that they were cancelling my card and issuing a new one because a company I had recently done business with had been hacked and customers' credit card numbers had been stolen. When I asked what company, she told me the name of the intermediary. I asked who that intermediary represented. She asked me if I had done business with "Digital River International." She said, "That is the company that may have been hacked." She then went over my charges (all of which amount to my Mattycollector purchases, and a few other well-known stores -- I try not to use that card for anything other than Matty, for fear that they might pull a Megator and double charge).

- I then posted what happened, here on the Org. We discussed it. We discussed the published reports that appeared a year and a half ago about Digital River being hacked previously. Incidentally, Digital River had a system shut-down on Feb 28th, and articles online report that DRI isn't giving any explanations as to why the system they use did have problems. I'm not saying that is in any way related to this, but it is evidence to support the notion that DRI isn't perfectly run. No company is...

- Yesterday, I called DRI, to give them my new credit card information. The rep was very nice, and she told me that she had updated the info. Incidentally, before calling, I had changed the card info on both Subscription Orders (the initial orders from last year allow you to change credit cards, address, etc.). She told me that that information had not updated in their system, so it was good that I had called to follow up.

- Today I receive a call from the U.S.-based DRI rep. in Minnesota. I told her that I was unhappy that I was receiving this call. She wanted to know if I had made the posts. I confirmed that I had, but that I had not 'tweeted' them (I Hate TWITTER and only have it for career purposes... though Mattycollector does follow ME... ).


My friend Stephen (a fellow member here), when I told him all of this, asked:

"it doesn't make any sense... how were they able to link your screen name (on the org) with ur phone#?"

Good question, right?

Now, my ID here is the same as my email: bcrduke@...... --- the same email I use for mattycollector.

So it's an obvious connection... but honestly, there is something unethical about all of this.

My questions are:

- why is DRI highly capable of reading, researching, and following up on customers' comments on independent social media, but not so capable of keeping orders straight, maintaining subscriptions, or updating credit cards or shipping addresses?

- who read my post and then ordered a "team" (the DRI rep's word, not mine) to investigate? I mean, really? My account was opened, my phone number acquired, and I was contacted over a "tweet" by a third party?

The DRI rep wanted to know some personal info, and frankly, after all of this, I didn't feel comfortable giving that info. She was very kind, though... at least that was her demeanor.

All I know is that what I had written was all absolutely true. It's not that big of a surprise anyway, considering this:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06...al_river_hack/

and

this:
http://performinsider.com/2012/02/di...cttrack-crash/
(I know this isn't traditionally what might cause someone to think their info was stolen, but it IS interesting that this happened only a week or so before my card company was notified of a security problem... and it's interesting that DRI isn't doing anything about it).

I was going to just let this die... but the fact that my personal information on the digital river website was used to contact me over someone else's TWITTER (I mean, really, is this kindergarten), and then my post here was questioned, makes me wonder why there are so many problems with DRI and Mattel. They seem capable of swiftly trying to take care of an incident that might call their reputatuon into question.

[oulala]

That is a crazy story Brian!!! Thanks for sharing. On the positive side, I would see this as a clear indication that Mattel probably gave someone a good screamin' at DR about that whole thing and that DR got a little miffed and then called you to play nice.

The way I imagine it is very different from most people that claim that Mattel doesn't care. I think Toyguru and Mattel are APPALLED by DR's track record and are calling / emailing them on a daily basis but they are obviously linked by some contract and cannot acknowledge the frustration on a forum or anywhere else. I also remember reading that DR is the only place capable of shipping overseas so I guess Mattel needs them. Sigh.

What made me smile in your story is that DR actually takes the time to look you up where they could really all that stalking time to fix the many mistakes that they're making every month! Like, how about sending me my Kobra Khan sub figure?

[Jon-O]

WHAT???

[Count Marzo]

I don't know about anything that went down between you and they personally, but I did see the tweet by panzerjedi which linked to your post here. It did cause some unnecessary hysteria on there for a little while, as word spreads like a disease on things like Facebook and Twitter so I'm not surprised that they would catch wind of it. It is very weird that they would contact you about it. If only Digital River would contact their customers having problems buying Mattel's product this swiftly.

[Pixel Dan]

Wow...this IS bizzarre.

So, forgive me if this is a bit over my head, what exactly were they calling you for? To look into your possible "hacking" issues? Or to ask you not to put up posts like that?

Either way, it is really strange how they were able to make the connection to your phone number and call you. That would make me a bit uneasy as well. I mean sure, it's not hard to connect the dots if you really try...but it's interesting that they went that far just to get in contact with you.

I wonder what this is all about?

[bcrduke]

I didn't appreciate that they were calling me about "blog postings" instead of to ask me if there was anything they could do to make me feel a bit more secure about their company.

I brought that up, and she changed her tone completely - which went a long way. I mean, they DID catch the security problem. They did report it. And no fraudulent charges were made. So that IS a good thing.

I just want to know who working for DRI or Mattel has the time to make MY post the priority of the day... especially when it was already taken care of by reporting the problem.

It's all a bit eerie. The idea that my Org ID is being connected to my Mattycollector Subscription by someone at DRI and/or Mattel is inappropriate, in my opinion.

[Eternian Poet]

Next: the "cease & desist" letter....

[Pixel Dan]

I didn't appreciate that they were calling me about "blog postings" instead of to ask me if there was anything they could do to make me feel a bit more secure about their company.

I brought that up, and she changed her tone completely - which went a long way. I mean, they DID catch the security problem. They did report it. And no fraudulent charges were made. So that IS a good thing.

I just want to know who working for DRI or Mattel has the time to make MY post the priority of the day... especially when it was already taken care of by reporting the problem.

It's all a bit eerie. The idea that my Org ID is being connected to my Mattycollector Subscription by someone at DRI and/or Mattel is inappropriate, in my opinion.

Yeah...it sounds more like damage control than anything. They already fixed the problem, but they were really worried about news spreading about a potential issue, so they came directly to you in an effort to stop it.

But I agree with you...that does seem a bit inappropriate.

[bcrduke]

So, forgive me if this is a bit over my head, what exactly were they calling you for? To look into your possible "hacking" issues? Or to ask you not to put up posts like that?

The conversation morphed into something more about my subs being updated (she said she'd put a watch on them, and had someone following up - I mean, I will loudly give credit where it is due - and she's doing great by me that way). She was very positive about making sure my orders went through. I went on to bring up some of the frustration we've all had. She was very open to that, but I didn't get the impression that she was aware of just how frustrated the customer base has been with Digital River.

But the conversation started as I quoted her: "Hello, my name is (censored), and I am calling from Digital River, regarding some blogs you wrote." (give or take an "and" or ",").

It was uncomfortable.

[fball13z]

Yeah even as a matty apologist, I would not be a happy camper having someone calling me from DR/Mattel questioning my tweets/posts or anything like that.

and like my buddy CM said, it would be nice if DR would call about our real concerns, like bad products or crazy shipping charges.

Just odd.

Sidenote, I love me some twitter

[sailoruranus]

I would be totally creeped out if something like that happened to me. But I bet Scott saw your post or something, and passed it along. There's probably a pretty straight forward answer, even if the way they went about executing it is entirely inappropriate.

[EldestSon]

sounds like the best way to get someone on the phone is to post about it here and then link it in twitter.

[fball13z]

It does feel a little like "Papers Please"

[Pixel Dan]

I would be totally creeped out if something like that happened to me. But I bet Scott saw your post or something, and passed it along. There's probably a pretty straight forward answer, even if the way they went about executing it is entirely inappropriate.

There may be some truth to that. Scott may very well have seen your post and passed it directly to them to ask about it. Could have been completely innocent on his part, and then they way they went about handling it just wasn't the best.

That's just a theory, though.

[MOTU_Maniac]

Can you bee 100% sure you were talking to Digital River and not a scam artist that stole your information???

[Count Marzo]

Well it did lose them some MOTUC customers. I know that for a fact. I've seen several posts on Twitter about it when panzerjedi first tweeted it.

https://twitter.com/#!/panzerjedi/st...69163560271874

Also the way it was posted by them didn't end in a question mark like your post on here did. They posted it like we are knee-deep in it like the Transformers and G.I. Joe clubs.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

sounds like the best way to get someone on the phone is to post about it here and then link it in twitter.

LOL! Seriously! People go 2 weeks or more sometimes just trying to get DR to straighten out a problem with an order or their subscription, but then they go out of their way to call someone about something like this!

Even if Brian's screen name and beginning of his email address start the same, I'm surprised they were even competent enough to put 2 and 2 together on that, given how hard it is for them to straighten out comparatively more straight forward issues.

That is really shady on their part for a number of reasons.

[MOTU_Maniac]

That is really shady on their part for a number of reasons.

I absolutely agree 100%!!!

[fball13z]

There may be some truth to that. Scott may very well have seen your post and passed it directly to them to ask about it. Could have been completely innocent on his part, and then they way they went about handling it just wasn't the best.

That's just a theory, though.

If that is the case, TG should have told buke, that he passed his info/comments on to DR to clear it up, still wouldnt be great, but would have been better

[marndt8448]

Nothing DR has done over the past few months surprises me........ nevermind fixing how they store (or don't store) credit card numbers, time's better spent surfing the web to see who might be bad-mouthing them.

Well, at least now we know why parcels from DR have been arriving so slowly lately, they're pooling all their resources stalking bcrduke.



On a completely unrelated note, pay no attention to that unmarked van parked out front for the past few days Brian.

[RockinHard]

I'm still not sure why we blame Digital River and not Mattel. I see this constantly. Mattel HIRED Digital River to do this "job."

Better watch your back, 'Duke! Look twice before crossing the street.

[GLJossan]

This is insane, DR is looking less and less reliable... and I didn't think they could get any worse...

[bcrduke]

Can you bee 100% sure you were talking to Digital River and not a scam artist that stole your information???

I called the number back to confirm, and looked it up. It was all on the up and up.

Well it did lose them some MOTUC customers. I know that for a fact. I've seen several posts on Twitter about it when panzerjedi first tweeted it.

https://twitter.com/#!/panzerjedi/st...69163560271874

Also the way it was posted by them didn't end in a question mark like your post on here did. They posted it like we are knee-deep in it like the Transformers and G.I. Joe clubs.

And that's one of many reasons I don't like Twitter. Don't use MY words to make a point that isn't mine. Twitter contributes to the manipulation of perception via untoward means. I do NOT like that, especially as an artist.

In any case, as long as Digital River keeps the info secure, and people aren't having a problem with their subs, then I don't have huge problems with them. I mean, I'd still love to know why BBTS can send me six figures for $10.87 UPS, but Digital River/Mattel can only send one for $13 and change UPS. That bothers me... but the customer service I've had, aside from this phone call, has all been rather good.

I wasn't intimidated by the call. After all, it's not like I've made this up. And when I became assertive and told her that I didn't appreciate any of this, she was super friendly about that.

No harm done, but I do think it's important for us to keep talking publicly about these things, otherwise Mattel will NEVER change distributors, or pressure the current one to do a better job.

I say that as a LOYAL CUSTOMER.

[Jon-O]

I called the number back to confirm, and looked it up. It was all on the up and up.



And that's one of many reasons I don't like Twitter. Don't use MY words to make a point that isn't mine. Twitter contributes to the manipulation of perception via untoward means. I do NOT like that, especially as an artist.

In any case, as long as Digital River keeps the info secure, and people aren't having a problem with their subs, then I don't have huge problems with them. I mean, I'd still love to know why BBTS can send me six figures for $10.87 UPS, but Digital River/Mattel can only send one for $13 and change UPS. That bothers me... but the customer service I've had, aside from this phone call, has all been rather good.

I wasn't intimidated by the call. After all, it's not like I've made this up. And when I became assertive and told her that I didn't appreciate any of this, she was super friendly about that.

No harm done, but I do think it's important for us to keep talking publicly about these things, otherwise Mattel will NEVER change distributors, or pressure the current one to do a better job.

I say that as a LOYAL CUSTOMER.

Well said.

[Pravus Prime]

HE'S WATCHING YOU!