Tantronics BLOG

I recently had the need to get an item that you wouldn’t have thought would be too difficult to find – a Cat Flap. OK, so it was a particular Cat Flap that uses an RFID tag rather than a magnet to prevent stray or unwanted cats from entering our house, but it was listed in Argos, so shouldn’t be too much trouble.

So I went to the Argos Web Site, ordered the Cat Flap, which was listed as “In Stock” for home delivery (or in my case Office delivery) the following day. When it didn’t arrive I contacted Argos Customer Service (after pressing several option buttons) only to be told it was out of stock.

Now to cut a long story short (as there was a lot of further discussion), I can forgive a mistake in stock control, but when they went to pick the item it would have been found to be missing. They could have contacted me then rather than letting me contact them 2 days later, but worse than that, the item was still listed on their web site as being in stock and could still be ordered!

Needless to say, this led to a long search through many other on-line web sites and I was staggered just how many we not kept up to date. Lots listed it as in stock when it wasn’t and some still had warning about Postal Strikes that finished weeks ago – this simply isn’t good enough.

We pride ourselves on keeping the web site as up to date as we can and try to always identify Out Of Stock items to save our customers wasting time and the unnecessary associated stress. But if other on-line shoppers are having this experience, it affects the reputation of all on-line store owners.

So come on On-Line store owners – Do a Proper Job

• Look after your Web Site
• Look After your Systems
• Look after your stock
• Look after your customers

We sell relatively low cost items (rechargeable batteries, battery chargers, camera batteries etc.) which are not generally considered “desirable” from a fraudsters point of view, so we get very few people trying to use stolen credit card data when making their purchase.

That said it is a very big problem for many other retailers who sell more desirable items, so the Credit Card companies now require ALL internet retailers to be certified as PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) Compliant.

Of course, all our systems are certified as compliant and have been validated independently by SecurityMetrics, so all our customers can be confident their Credit Card data is safe and secure when shopping with us.

It is staggering however, just how many other on-line retailers simply don’ take this seriously and have not taken measures to ensure they comply with the regulations, but more importantly, perhaps don’t realise how vulnerable they are making their customers Credit Card data.

Our reputation relies on us providing not only great service and support, but also on taking the utmost care of our customers’ data, and there is a risk that if we (online retailers) don’t all “do our bit” then we may all get tarred with the “I never buy on line, it’s not safe” brush.

Don’t get me wrong, the vast majority of sites are safe to use, but like all other shopping, I would suggest taking some basic precautions:

1. Only shop at a store that looks legitimate, look for a Phone number, an address, company registration and VAT number. Good online stores will not hide their identity!
2. Always look for the “Golden Padlock” or similar, and the “https” in the address bar when going through the checkout.
3. If shopping at a store you don’t know I would only use them if they use a 3^rd part payment processor like HSBC. This should keep your card data safe, though doesn’t mean it’s a good store!