Hey Sears I Am Who I Say I Am

During one of my few shopping trips I hung out at sears. They were having a sale on clothes and I decided to try and rebuild my credit, as at this point I don't have any. So I applied for their card and got an instant approval. I used it for my purchases, one in clothing and one in electronics using my passport as an ID as I don't have a DL yet. No further ID requirements were needed and it was a simple and painless process.

I've been waiting for the card to be delivered in the mail as I don't want it to get lost. I received it along with a separate letter from the fraud department stating that they needed to talk to me about my recent account activity. I didn't even activate the card so I was more than confused and quickly called, first thing in the morning.

I was put on the phone with a real person after two tries and after I cussed the phone as well as it is giving me problems. The first person told me they couldn't talk to me as the fraud department put a block on the account until I talked to them. And they transferred me to a representative of that department, early in the morning where the chaos began. I was told that they have a new standard when it comes to opening an account and I had to answer some security questions and I went along with it.

First question, have I ever lived, owned a home or registered a vehicle in a multiple choice of four questions. She listed off four counties two of which were in Illinois and two in Louisiana none of which sounded familiar to me at all. Of course your talking to a gal who started calling her children by numbers because I can't always remember their names. So I had no idea what to answer as I lived in both states.

Second question was about an address and the first one sounded familiar in regards to the number but the street name sounded odd to me. Now if Mr. Man were around he would probably have had to help me with this as he has a better memory but alas I was on my own. I laughed at myself and answered none of the above. And the same for the third question which didn't seem to go well for the computer.

"you failed" said the rep
"Ok give me another test as I don't remember all the addresses I've lived at over the course of a 15 years" I said thinking this whole thing is stupid.
"well do you have a phone number? A land line registered in your name we can verify?" do people have land lines in this country anymore I wondered
"No" and than I explained my ordeal to her but she seemed not to care and went on to tell me that "your account can't be used because you can't prove your identity"

HUH??

"You gave me a card based on ID I provided in the store" I said thinking this whole thing is turning into a night mare

"Yes but that isn't good enough anymore because people can use all kinds of fake ID" she said
"Well than stop giving instant credit in the store!!" I was getting annoyed
"If you write a letter..." she went on
"A letter? How about a fax or an email? We are in the 21st century!" yea I needed breakfast before this call.
"No it has to be a letter."
"What difference would it make?" I ask
"Well you need to send the original letter in which we sent you with a letter explaining your problem and than we will decide." how she says this without laughing is beyond me
"This is ridiculous let me talk to a supervisor please" I'm more than frustrated
"We can't let you speak to a supervisor because your not verified"

What!!! ???? I can't even talk to a supervisor? How annoying this all is.

I have no time to write a letter, I don't even know the price of stamps anymore and I would be more than willing to fax them but to go all out of my way to identify myself when I already DID to get instant credit in the store is just plane stupid.

Ok yes you have to be careful considering identity theft, but as I told this woman "Look if you are so worried about identity theft than don't allow instant credit in the stores. If my ID is not good enough why allow instant credit in the first place?"

I mean really Sears if it seems really backwards to ask to prove an identity after you have GIVEN the instant credit!

The representative had nothing to say other than "we can't" as if she speaks for all of Sears so I told her fine "Than what I can do is not use your card at all, pay my bill and close the account!"

She didn't care which seems a bit counter productive to seeking business for a credit card. Not that I'm going to make huge purchases and keep a balance on the card. But it would have come in handy when I have to furnish our house in St. Louis and I could have used it at Sears to furnish the house. Even shop online and have things delivered before we get there.

But no Sears chooses to aggravate me and it will take me a while to get over being aggravated so early in the morning. I mean consider this, someone can open an account in my name with various ID that might be fake and use it that day and destroy my credit possibly. But I, the real person can't answer their questions although I have ID up the wazoo and keep the card.

Make sense??