SOP for Internet Purchases?

[Overlay]

I ordered an item off the Staples.com website to send to a customer of my internet business. The credit card that I used was the same one that I've used for hundreds of business-related purchases for years at Staples stores, and my order was placed from the same e-mail address that Staples has on file for my business (not to mention the fact that I am a "preferred" Staples Rewards card holder), but, because it was my first time ordering from Staples.com, and because I was requesting that the item be sent to another party and address, the website called my home phone number that I provided to verify that I was in fact the one who had placed the order.

This is the first time that I can recall ever having experienced something like that. I understand the need to prevent credit-card fraud, and also the need to have a means of contacting the customer in case there are any problems with the shipment, but wouldn't my e-mail address have sufficed for that? Is this normal procedure? As it happened, I was at my "day job", and my wife called me at work from home to let me know that Staples.com had called. But what if no one had been there to answer at home? Would my order have just sat there until Staples could verify that I was who I said I was? Am I missing something here?

[Dave Schwartz]

Would my order have just sat there until Staples could verify that I was who I said I was? Am I missing something here?

Personally, I would hope so.

We can't have it both ways. Imagine if someone had fraudulently used my card to send $1,200 worth of stuff to an address in (say) Tarzana CA. After the fact, I'd be saying, "Why didn't they check it out first?"

Just my opinion.

[Robert Fischer]

I remember something similar happening to me.

It's an annoyance, but also a safeguard.

[Striker]

The phone number verification happens all the time. Most recently I used Western Union to send a payment to somebody in a foreign country. There was a problem at the Western Union where my friend was trying to pick up the money. So, I called WU and they asked all of the security questions and then told me that they would be ending the call, and that they would now be calling the number I listed on my internet account as I was calling from a different number then listed on my account, to verify that they were actually speaking to me.