Cingular vs Walmart

Cingular has a store break-in. Customer data was not secured and was
stolen. Cingular sat on that fact for a few days, and finally mailed
letters to its affected customers.

Walmart had a MasterCharge snafu, Customers last week were tripled
billed. Walmart immediately started telephoning affected customers, put
big signs up in its stores, and went public.

Its day and night how these two outfits reacted to a bad occurance.

Cingular hoped to hide the fact, and acted in a manner to minimize its
immediate costs.

Walmart, immediately got a hold of everyone, went public, and acted like
it cared about its customers.

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"Robert M." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Cingular has a store break-in. Customer data was not secured and was
> stolen. Cingular sat on that fact for a few days, and finally mailed
> letters to its affected customers.
>
> Walmart had a MasterCharge snafu, Customers last week were tripled
> billed. Walmart immediately started telephoning affected customers, put
> big signs up in its stores, and went public.
>
> Its day and night how these two outfits reacted to a bad occurance.
>
> Cingular hoped to hide the fact, and acted in a manner to minimize its
> immediate costs.
>
> Walmart, immediately got a hold of everyone, went public, and acted like
> it cared about its customers.


Ummmm........Cingular did not have a break-in last week- it was an
independent dealer that sells Cingular. Nice try, though.

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 00:50:53 GMT, "Robert M." <[email protected]>
wrote:

>Walmart had a MasterCharge snafu, Customers last week were tripled
>billed. Walmart immediately started telephoning affected customers, put
>big signs up in its stores, and went public.

I'm interested in knowing how Wally World had the phone numbers. I
admit it's been almost 4 years since I've set foot in one of those
****holes, but I never recall being asked for a phone number when a
charge is made. They would have to obtain the phone numbers from the
issuing banks, and that in of itself would be a serious breach of
security and privacy on the bank's part, if that indeed is what
happened.

"Robert M." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Cingular has a store break-in. Customer data was not secured and was
> stolen. Cingular sat on that fact for a few days, and finally mailed
> letters to its affected customers.
>
> Walmart had a MasterCharge snafu, Customers last week were tripled
> billed. Walmart immediately started telephoning affected customers, put
> big signs up in its stores, and went public.
>
> Its day and night how these two outfits reacted to a bad occurance.
>
> Cingular hoped to hide the fact, and acted in a manner to minimize its
> immediate costs.
>
> Walmart, immediately got a hold of everyone, went public, and acted like
> it cared about its customers.


Ummmm........Cingular did not have a break-in last week- it was an
independent dealer that sells Cingular. Nice try, though.

In article <[email protected]>,
The Ghost of General Lee <[email protected]> wrote:

> On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 00:50:53 GMT, "Robert M." <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> >Walmart had a MasterCharge snafu, Customers last week were tripled
> >billed. Walmart immediately started telephoning affected customers, put
> >big signs up in its stores, and went public.
>
> I'm interested in knowing how Wally World had the phone numbers. I
> admit it's been almost 4 years since I've set foot in one of those
> ****holes, but I never recall being asked for a phone number when a
> charge is made.

You do not have to provide a number, but your credit card company
certainly has it on file.

Robert M. wrote:

> Cingular has a store break-in. Customer data was not secured and was
> stolen. Cingular sat on that fact for a few days, and finally mailed
> letters to its affected customers.
>
> Walmart had a MasterCharge snafu, Customers last week were tripled
> billed. Walmart immediately started telephoning affected customers, put
> big signs up in its stores, and went public.
>
> Its day and night how these two outfits reacted to a bad occurance.
>
> Cingular hoped to hide the fact, and acted in a manner to minimize its
> immediate costs.
>
> Walmart, immediately got a hold of everyone, went public, and acted like
> it cared about its customers.


Apples and oranges.

First, Cingular didn't suffer a break-in, a contract dealer did.
Walmart didn't suffer a break-in, it was their own software that
created their snafu.

Second, the compromised contractor records were secured. Walmart's
snafu didn't involve a security issue whatsoever.

Third, only the contractor credit accounts were at risk. Walmart's
snafu didn't involve any credit risk, only a billing issue related
only to in-store shoppers for a single day.

Considering these differences, it doesn't surprise me why the two
companies handled these issues differently.

Further, I'm not going to presume I know what either company official
is thinking.

Apples and oranges.


--
jer email reply - I am not a 'ten' ICQ = 35253273
"All that we do is touched with ocean, yet we remain on the shore of
what we know." -- Richard Wilbur

In article <[email protected]>, Jer <[email protected]>
wrote:

> Walmart's
> snafu didn't involve a security issue whatsoever.

Which makes it all the more remarkable they took ownership and quickly
contacted customers when Cingular didn't.

<<Which makes it all the more remarkable they took ownership and quickly
contacted customers when Cingular didn't.>>

Who cares what you think? Are you a Cingular customer? Does the
brake-in affect you personally? What does it matter to you unless you
are just trying to stir up trouble.

On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 09:03:39 GMT, "Robert M." <[email protected]>
wrote:

>In article <[email protected]>,
> The Ghost of General Lee <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 05 Apr 2004 00:50:53 GMT, "Robert M." <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>
>> >Walmart had a MasterCharge snafu, Customers last week were tripled
>> >billed. Walmart immediately started telephoning affected customers, put
>> >big signs up in its stores, and went public.
>>
>> I'm interested in knowing how Wally World had the phone numbers. I
>> admit it's been almost 4 years since I've set foot in one of those
>> ****holes, but I never recall being asked for a phone number when a
>> charge is made.
>
>You do not have to provide a number, but your credit card company
>certainly has it on file.

Then how did Wally World contact the customers without getting the
numbers from the bank? Your original post indicated they contacted
the customers directly. As I said, the banks would have no right to
provide that kind of information to them. It would be up to the banks
to contact the customers directly. Or was this a problem specific to
WM credit card holders only?

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Eric) wrote:

> <<Which makes it all the more remarkable they took ownership and quickly
> contacted customers when Cingular didn't.>>
>
> Who cares what you think? Are you a Cingular customer? Does the
> brake-in affect you personally?

And you became the moderator of this news group, when? or are you Navas?

<<And you became the moderator of this news group, when? or are you
Navas? >>

Again, refusing to answer simple questions. Why make a big deal about a
break-in at a Cingular store (or authorized dealer) when you are not a
Cingular customer?? How does this affect you personally that you have to
start a thread about it? Asking a simple question does not make me want
to become a moderator... but it is your favorite way of getting out of
answering a question posed to you.

In article <[email protected]>,
Robert M. <[email protected]> wrote:
>And you became the moderator of this news group, when? or are you Navas?

O man that's a low blow! OUCH! I think if it were revealed that
Cingular was the AntiChrist, Navas would be like "Yet another reason to
love them!"

RDT
--
"The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings; the
inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries."
--- Sir Winston Churchill

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] (Eric) wrote:

> Why make a big deal about a
> break-in at a Cingular store

Because of their failure to secure records, and their apparent desire to
hide the event, and their sloth in notifying customers.

<<O man that's a low blow! OUCH! >>

Well, Robert M. is famous for low blowing.

<<Because of their failure to secure records, and their apparent desire
to hide the event, and their sloth in notifying customers. >>

And who made you the watchdog for all cellular companies, even ones you
don't do business with?