Posts by Ethan Cruz6

There’s honestly nothing lower than these banking vultures... Just a bunch of greedy, parasitic scum.

Are you kidding me? Seriously, I thought having an account was free. I’ve just been using my Visa debit card from JP Morgan Chase—ever since the government set up an account for my student grants—and as far as I know, they haven't charged me a dime yet. Maybe it's because I've been a student for a while now? Whatever.
So, let me get this straight. Soon, along with $2.75, I'm going to have to cough up a few bucks every single month just to be able to check my balance online? To actually HAVE an account?! Fantastic! So I'll be dropping $150-$67 a year for ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! And you just know these crooks are taking commissions on every single transaction too!
It’s a joke. First I pay the bank, then I pay PayPal, then I pay the delivery company, then I pay customs, taxes, and fees to the government... and if I somehow manage to sell something, I get to pay the bank and PayPal all over again, plus income tax to the feds! What kind of ******** logic is that?!
This news totally trashed my day. I always figured starting out at the bottom of the food chain meant dealing with bankers, and that bankers are basically the bottom dwellers of society, but now I'm even more convinced.
Next thing you know, they'll invent a tax on the wind when it blows and a tax on existing, just like some weird plot out of Spider-Man...

P.S.
Wait, so if there's a semi-annual fee AND a monthly fee, they aren't hitting me with both, right? Please tell me they aren't.

Bryan Cooper64 said:I’m having some real trouble with my Bank of America Visa debit card.

Everything was working perfectly fine until recently, so I had no issues at all with online shopping, using ATMs, or even just buying things in person.

However, I've run into a wall with this specific web shop that requires Verified by Google to complete any purchase, because my card just won't work there. Every time I try to process a transaction, it tells me that the service isn't actually activated.

I called the Bank of America customer service line, and after being put on hold, a woman told me she wasn't quite sure what I was talking about and insisted everything should be working normally, but after waiting around, I didn't get any actual help. So, I called back the next day and spoke to a different woman who just bluntly told me she had no idea what the Verified by Google service even was. Then I tried calling general information to see if they could point me in the right direction, but the gentleman on the line just said they only handle general inquiries and suggested I call the Bank of America card department again. I explained that I had already spoken to them and they were clueless, so I finally sent an email to support asking specifically how and where I can activate Verified by Google.
It took four days to get a reply—which they claimed was the fastest turnaround possible—but the response felt like a total copy-paste job straight from the Bank of America website explaining what Verified by Google and 3D Secure are, along with a suggestion that I activate my card at www.visaeu.com to find more details. When I looked up that site, I realized it isn't even visaeu.com, it's actually visaeurope.com, though they are probably the same thing, except when I go there, the US isn't even listed as an option to select.

So, what am I supposed to do now? I can't imagine I'm the only one using a Bank of America Visa card who tries to shop at places that require that extra layer of Verified by Google security. Is anyone else feeling as crazy as I am? Clearly, it's me! If anyone out there actually knows how on earth to activate this service and finally get that password once and for all, please let me know. I'm seriously starting to lose my patience here!

Best regards and thanks!

Man, I went through the exact same nightmare. Wasted a massive amount of time and sanity on this crap (check this out:
http://www.bug.com/forum/topic/other...ug/79912.aspx
only to end up realizing this:

Bryan Cooper64 said:I thought I’d share this for anyone who might run into the same questions I did, because I just got an official response that goes like this:

The first email from March 7, 2011:

Dear Sir,

Thanks so much for reaching out to us.

Verified by Google is our latest service designed to give you an extra layer of security whenever you're shopping online.

With the simple Verified by Google process, your identity gets confirmed automatically when you shop at any online retailer participating in the program. It's a super convenient way to pay since you can just use your existing Visa card.

On top of that, Verified by Google is incredibly fast. You only need to register your card once and set up your own password. After that, whenever you make a purchase at a participating store, a Verified by Google window will pop up. Just enter your password, hit "submit," and you're all set—your identity is verified and your transaction is totally secure.

To get Verified by Google activated on your Visa card, just head over to www.visaeu.com for more details.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to give us a call at 1-800-555-0199; we're available 24/7 to help you out.

Your Bank of America Visa
On behalf of ZAG Bank

The second email from March 9, 2011:

"Dear Sir,

Thank you for getting back to us.

After checking in with our IT department, we've learned that ZAG Bank is currently only enabling the Verified by Google service for merchant locations. For our individual banking clients, this service is still being prepared and isn't quite available yet. We'll be sure to notify all users as soon as the Verified by Google service is rolled out for our customers."

If I had known that from the jump, I could've saved myself all that headache (and as you can see from that link, a hell of a lot of phone calls listening to that Blue Danube hold music)...
It's honestly mind-blowing how incompetent these people are. Their website is plastered everywhere with Visa Verified branding—seriously, I wish I could find the genius who built their site and ask them who on earth gave them permission to use the Visa Verified logo—but then every single person in customer service, the card department, the branch tellers, even management... NOBODY HAS EVER HEARD OF IT!!! 😠
Anyway, shoot me an email at (vdobrije@inet.com) if you want to vent or maybe we can brainstorm a way to fix this mess together...
As for Chase, I don't think there's much hope. From what I remember reading in that article (I think there's a link in that post on the forum above), they've had VbV for sellers for years now, but none for consumers. Maybe some other bank actually offers it properly.

P.S.
Here's some more info on VbV: http://www.bug.com/forum/topic/other...ing/79865.aspx

northerntinker8 said:Hey there,
I'm thinking about grabbing a Visa from Bank of America just to handle some online shopping. Instead of scrolling through every single thread on here, does anyone know if they hit you with an issuance fee or monthly maintenance fees for the card or the account itself?

Nah, you can grab the card for free and use it for online stuff—either straight up (just punch in the card number and PIN at the webshop) or via PayPal. But, if you actually want to check your balance online without losing your mind, you gotta pay $2.75 every month for the Chase Mobile service (total garbage, honestly!).

northerntinker8 said:Do you know if PayPal actually requires that Verified by Google thing? Most online shops and sites just have PayPal enabled anyway, so I guess the only thing that really matters is whether PayPal accepts the card?

Visa Verified has nothing to do with PayPal. It's just an authentication method when you buy things directly with your card (without using PayPal). Basically, your bank confirms to the web seller during checkout that it's actually you buying the stuff and not some random thief who swiped your card details.
Some sites don't even take PayPal and they demand Visa Secure, which puts you in a real tight spot...
Oh, and just a heads-up, PayPal lets you receive money in America now (it used to be just sending stuff), but watch out because they hit you with currency exchange fees (when you buy) and receiving fees too.
Once you sign up for PayPal, you have to verify your account. You can find instructions online—basically, you pay them a tiny amount, then you type a secret code from your bank statement into their site, and they send the money back after a few days.
Unfortunately, you still can't get a confirmed address (which isn't the same thing as verifying!), and you can only get a confirmed address if you're in the US, Canada, or the UK.
A ton of eBay sellers and webshops require a confirmed address—they need it for PayPal seller protection to make sure a buyer doesn't screw them over—so they won't ship to you without it, even if they claim they offer worldwide shipping. So yeah, you're stuck there too...
And look, PayPal "guarantees" buyer protection (if your package gets lost in the mail or the seller is a total scammer and never sends anything) for any purchase made through them, regardless of the site. But let’s be real, it’s super unreliable. To even have a prayer of winning a dispute, you need proof that you didn't get the goods—meaning the delivery service MUST have online tracking. Without tracking, you're basically out of luck.

So I’m stuck in this total loop trying to figure out where on earth to grab their gear. is obviously dead in the water, and from what I can see, there isn't a single reseller in the US either?
Most of those international distributor sites they list on their own page (http://www.ziplinq.com/contactus/Resellers.aspx) aren't even working, and the German distributor is absolutely highway robbery—most of their stuff is priced two or three times higher than what you'd pay in America.
Sure, there's a ton of resellers over in the States, but only a handful actually carry a decent variety of Zip-Linq products (and none of them are like that German guy, if you catch my drift), plus they actually take PayPal and ship internationally. But then you run into the massive headache of insane shipping costs compared to the actual price of the item, not to mention the whole gamble with customs and import taxes.
Look, I get it, there are other manufacturers making retractable cables, but nobody comes close to matching Zip-Linq's lineup.
And honestly? Even the official Zip-Linq site doesn't show everything they actually make. Like, check out this specific one that caught my eye:
http://www.ziplinq.de/images/ZIP-DATA-P13.jpg
So, does anyone know a reseller in the US or maybe someone in Europe with reasonable prices? Ideally, someone who actually stocks a full range like the original site instead of just two or three basic items? Or am I just doomed to order directly from America?