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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be angry and astonished at Joules.com?

32 replies

HappyAsASandboy · 12/09/2013 18:52

Please tell me whether I am being unreasonable. I am struggling to calm down and I need to come to terms with the fact I shouldn't buy the sweatshirt I want from Joules.

I placed an order on Joules.com today, because I want to buy a new sweatshirt or two. I ordered several styles of sweatshirt, some in two sizes as I am not sure, and a few things from their Outlet section because they looked like a good deal. In all, I think there were ten items, coming to £400 ish (please don't make this thread about the very high prices on Joules.com).

The order went through. I asked for next day delivery, and my delivery address was different to the billing address. The website coped with this just fine, an issues me am order number, promising delivery tomorrow. So far so good.

I then got an email from Joules.com. The email explained that I had been randomly selected for security checks. They asked me to email them a scanned copy of my passport, after which they would release my order.

I was convinced that I had received a scam email and promptly rang Joules Customer Care team to report the email and make sure they'd received my order. Instead, the Customer Care lady assured me the email was from Joules, and that I'd need to send the image of my passport before they would send me my order!

I nearly fell over with shock to be honest. Is this not the type of scam ID fraudsters use to get personal information? The Customer Care team said they didn't see anything wrong with me sending an image of my passport via email, and that I wouldn't be able to order using either my billing or delivery addresses until I had cleared the flag on my account by sending in the picture of my passport.

AIBU? Is this a normal request? Would you have sent a copy if your passport via email?

And more to the point, how am I going to get my nice sweatshirts now that I am barred from Joules.com and don't want to give them my custom

OP posts:
TidyDancer · 12/09/2013 18:54

I have never heard of this and I wouldn't be happy doing it.

LindyHemming · 12/09/2013 18:54

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

expatinscotland · 12/09/2013 18:54

That is beyond ridiculous! There is zero way I would comply. Try Amazon for the sweatshirts or Ebay.

CFSKate · 12/09/2013 18:56

John Lewis sells Joules.

OPeaches · 12/09/2013 18:56

That sounds utterly bizarre. What would they have done if you didn't have a passport?

CaptainCapybara · 12/09/2013 18:56

What if you didn't have a scanner, I don't have one. I would tell them to cancel the order.

blurredlines · 12/09/2013 18:57

I work for a retail website and we do the same thing if the billing address and delivery address is different and the order is fairly high. Your order would be flag up for us too.

coffeeinbed · 12/09/2013 18:57

No. They would definitely lose my order.

CatsWearingTutus · 12/09/2013 18:58

Seasalt is a nice replacement for Joules stuff! Ridiculous of them to lose such a valuable customer over nothing.

bundaberg · 12/09/2013 18:59

wtf??? what if you don't have a passport??

25catsnameSam · 12/09/2013 19:00

It seems very ott- copy of passport is usually an accepted form if you need to check for money laundering but they should not be asking you to photocopy or email it - it simply isn't secure.
Go somewhere else!

bundaberg · 12/09/2013 19:00

so, if i want to buy an expensive present for someone that would be an issue??

ridiculous

blurredlines · 12/09/2013 19:00

Not just a passport but other forms of ID. Sorry forgot to ID that. It's a fraud prevention thing because if they let a fraudulent order go through and the credit card company want to reclaim the money the retail company are liable.

Bamboobambino · 12/09/2013 19:01

John Lewis sell Joules, and they are MUCH nicer

ChunkyPickle · 12/09/2013 19:01

I have heard of it, I think it's ridiculous and they need to be able to give you a secure way of proving your identity, rather than emailing around scans of your passport. It's terrible to train customers to do this sort of thing without thinking.

Not to mention the security implications of their customer service account having a scan of your passport sitting around unsecured, along with all the other details of your account.

Having said that, I have emailed scans of my passport before, deciding that the convenience for me was worth what I judged to be a small risk in the circumstances. I wouldn't do it just to buy a few jumpers though.

rootypig · 12/09/2013 19:01

It is common for there to be security checks when delivery and billing address differ, particularly online. It is not common to ask for a copy of someone's passport. There are plenty of other ways to verify identity. YANBU.

SquirtedPerfumeUpNoseInBoots · 12/09/2013 19:02

No, I would never do that. I'd cancel the order.

StillNoFuckingEyeDeer · 12/09/2013 19:05

I'm sure most people don't have a scanner at home. Even if I did have one, I wouldn't feel comfortable emailing a picture of my passport. What's wrong with verified by visa etc?

RubberDuck · 12/09/2013 19:05

Absolutely not, an email is NOT SECURE and there is no way I'd scan a copy of my passport and email it to them.

If I was desperate for the goods and able to wait, I would send a copy of the passport recorded delivery - at least slightly more secure.

kinkyfuckery · 12/09/2013 19:07

How ridiculous.

Umlauf · 12/09/2013 19:07

I am surprised at them wanting to see your passport, but when I worked in a similar field the system would pull out suspiscious orders, and this was usually an order over a certain amount, first time customer, different billing and shipping address. The reason was because if the order went through and the card HAD been stolen, the card owner would get their money back via the bank but the company would lose the money. So from Joules' POV, if you were fraudulent they could lose the money and goods.

The passport does seem too much of an ask however. At my old workplace however the procedure was just to speak to the customer on the phone and go with our gut feeling, or recheck a few account details to see if they matched up. We also had a folder of dodgy addresses that would come up from time to time!

EspressoMonkey · 12/09/2013 19:09

If they can't cope with a separate billing address and delivery address then they are being unreasonable. Primitive company, shop with JL instead!

unlucky83 · 12/09/2013 19:12

I wouldn't be happy doing that ....do they not do verified by visa etc? Surely they are other ways of checking - and having it delivered to card address is also a problem? Sounds like bad business...
I don't think you can do a colour copy/scan anyway - years ago opening a bank account I sent a colour copy of my passport - verified as a true copy etc and it got rejected ....I then had to get a black and white copy verified etc

GiraffesAndButterflies · 12/09/2013 19:13

Yanbu. If their system flags the different addresses they should deliver just to your billing address for your first order, and tell you that before you pay. Not ask for a scanned passport, that's absurd!

TallGiraffe · 12/09/2013 19:13

It's at least 20% off everything in store today if you can make late night shopping though, I got 25% off earlier...

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