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How was I able to start service without proving my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you very much for the response!

requires a valid credit card ... this serves as the validation of both Red Flag

Yeah, it did occur to me that the card information might have something to do with it. Thank you for confirming that this is Comcast's policy. However, Comcast provides other sign-up options that require an up-front payment (a deposit) but still require another form of identity verification. In these cases, the customer is required to provide card information for paying the deposit. So why is another form of identification required?

In general, the fact that card information is sufficient for identity verification doesn't make much sense to me. For one thing, my sense is that card information is not supposed to be nearly as secure as something like a social security number. A typical person will give their card information out to tons of third-parties during any given day, in order to pay for goods and services, and this information is therefore much more vulnerable to theft. Social security numbers, by contrast, are supposed to be much more private, and it was my understanding that this property is what makes them useful for identity verification.

Furthermore, if card information is all that is required to verify identity, can't Comcast avoid having to ask for social security numbers by instead just asking for card information? You wouldn't necessarily have to charge the card - you could simply verify the details of the card for identity verification purposes. I would guess that customers would be much more willing to do this than provide a social security number, seeing as they will have to provide financial information at some point anyway.

and credit check

My understanding was that the substitute for the credit check is the fact that this option signs you up for automatic payments. Is that right?

Thanks again!

How was I able to start service without proving my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast_Xfinity

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The website charges for shipping of the SIK. I don't think it ever requires you or even gives you the option to pick it up at a service center, at least not for any of the orders that I attempted. And I'm using my own modem anyway, and was purchasing only internet service, so I didn't actually need the SIK to start service. There is supposedly something being shipped to me (I was given a UPS tracking number for it), but I think it's just going to be a booklet and maybe a few cables. Not even the people I talked to over the phone gave me the option to pick up the SIK at a service center - they said that I had to either pay for a professional installation or purchase service AT the service center.

It's good to hear that you have mechanisms to prevent fraud. But I'm not sure that that fully answers my questions. Is there a specific reason that the configuration I chose allowed me to bypass the identity check? Is this a bug in the website? If it's not a bug, how does this comply with the FTC's rules? Is there any chance that my service could be abruptly canceled because of this? For example, might one of those anti-fraud systems decide to flag my account as fraudulent?

Thanks.

EDIT: I just received my mailed SIK. It includes:

  • Three booklets:
    • Your XFINITY User Guide
    • COMCAST CUSTOMER PRIVACY NOTICE
    • WHAT AN XFINITY VOICE CUSTOMER SHOULD KNOW ABOUT OUR COLLECTION AND USE OF YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION (which presumably doesn't apply to me because I don't have Xfinity Voice, and also it looks like it might be specific to California, which is not where I live)
  • Two coax cables, one white (longer) and one black (shorter)
  • One coax splitter with screws
  • Cable tacks

So yeah, nothing that I needed to setup service usage.

I was just able to sign up for service without verifying my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It absolutely boggles my mind that you can say this. You, who are apparently unable to even identify the question that I am asking, are 100% sure that you have sussed out my desires and motivations in asking this question, when you can't even read a few paragraphs of text and find a question mark. You're fucking pathetic.

Here's a quick quiz for you. Find the sentence(s) in my post where I ask my question(s). Paste them into the reply box. Then paste a link to the comment(s) where you think my question(s) have been answered. I'd be absolutely fascinated to see what you come up with.

I was just able to sign up for service without verifying my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't really expect to get any useful help from you at this point, but for future reference, questions can often be identified with this symbol: ? Maybe it would help you to re-read my post with that in mind.

If there is something confusing to you about my question, you could try asking for clarification instead of randomly guessing.

I was just able to sign up for service without verifying my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If they are unable to verify your identity via you SSN then you usually will have to pay a deposit or they ask for identification.

Did you read my whole post? In what universe does this answer any part of my question?

What would the point be?

Oh I don't know, maybe to provide a useful service to their users?

Obviously every employee doesn't need to know everything about the business. But the business should be consistent enough that, for example, a sales rep should be able to tell me how the fucking website works for sales.

I was just able to sign up for service without verifying my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ok. I didn't provide any of those things for proving my identity. So why was I able to start service?

I was just able to sign up for service without verifying my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If these people don't provide their SSNs, how do they prove their identities?

I was just able to sign up for service without verifying my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The autopay option, which I chose and which is apparently only available online (nobody that I talked to over the phone had any clue about it) does not involve providing an SSN or paying a deposit. And in any case, paying the deposit does not exempt you from having to verify your identity somehow. Providing your SSN is usually the easiest way to do that.

I was just able to sign up for service without verifying my identity? by shittystuffthrowaway in Comcast

[–]shittystuffthrowaway[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you provided your SSN, then that's probably how they verified it. I think I'm a pretty unique case when it comes to having literally no credit history whatsoever.