Sunday, 23 May 2010 18:56
If you are living in Austria your access to American apparel is pretty limited. I'm not talking about the brand ‘American apparel', but brands with southern Californian image like Hollister or American Eagle (AE). So, the only way (except for traveling to the states) is to order online - which I tried to do so at American Eagle - but failed.
It all began on May 9th with my order. On the following day I received an email that my order was pulled for additional checks:
Dear AE Shopper,
Thank you for contacting AE!
To enhance security to our customers we have instituted several new checks on orders to ensure the order is not being placed fraudulently. Your order was pulled for this verification process. Therefore your order was not allowed to process further.
If you would like for us to again attempt to receive the authorization necessary to process the order please send a fax a copy of your most recent billing statement, showing the last four digits of your credit card number as well as your address, along with your drivers license/state id to 724-779-7891, please include your order number. If you have any further questions please call 1-866-338-2389 (24 hours a day, 7 days a week) and we would be happy to assist you.
Thanks for being a part of the American Eagle brand!
Sincerely,
Your Friends @ ae.com
Alright. These checks are probably for my own safety if anyone is abusing my credit card. But I didn't like to send a copy of my photo ID (passport) over the internet. So, as a first step I sent them my credit card billing statement. Then again another email with standardized text arrived, telling me to fax a copy of my photo ID to a US-number. I still tried to convince the AE-guys that a ID is not needed, but after several more standardized emails, I sent them my photo ID (passport) and my last credit card billing statement. But then, the Odyssey really began:
Thank you for your recent fax. Unfortunately, we have not received a copy of your photo ID; therefore, your order was not processed. So that we may receive the verification necessary to process your order, please fax a copy of your photo ID to 1-724-779-7891. This information may also be sent via email attachment.
I thought that a passport should be very sufficient as a proof of identity, but it seems that American Eagle doesn't agree. After sending them my passport twice, I received another email. The billing statement showed my card number, my name and my address - and it was a perfect match with the AE order. At least I thought so.
Dear Alexander,
Thank you for your recent order.
To enhance security your order was pulled for additional verification. The name, billing address or phone number supplied was not a complete match with the information your credit card company has on file. For your protection this order was not allowed to process further. To continue processing your order, please reply with your name, billing address and billing phone number as it appears on your statement, or call 1-866-338-2389(24 hours a day, 7 days a week).
Thanks for being a part of the American Eagle brand and we're sorry for any inconvenience.
Thank you,
Customer Relations
I began to explain differences between ‘Alexander Schroll' (the name of the order) and ‘Mag. Alexander Schroll' (propably the name the credit card company has in file). And also the difference between Wien (credit card company) and Vienna (order). After that, I didn't hear anything from AE for one week, not even a shipping notice. That's why I emailed them again. Now they said, they would still need a photo ID. I was getting really mad and told them to cancel my order.
End of story: I had to send 7 emails to the AE customer service, but only to receive emails with standardized text telling me to send proofs of identification which I already sent. I don't know why it is so complicated to order a sum of around USD 200 at American Eagle. I have ordered more expensive things from around the world without any additional verification. But American Eagle seems to do these checks for every international customer.
And worst: It took 11 days between my order on May 9th and the cancellation of my order on May 20th.
I can only recommend you not to buy American Eagle online. Their customer service really sucks. (By the way: They also offer Paypal as payment methods, but only for US customers...)
Update: Nevertheless, I tried to order again with another credit card. This time, it took only 4 emails to verify my credit card information. But, because of exchange rate fluctuation (EUR is constantly depreciating) my order is now 6% more expensive than when I first ordered on May 9th.