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Is this normal for online travel agencies?


Bill Swerski
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My wife tried to make a hotel reservation through Travelocity with her debit card this morning and the system asked for our online banking's password. After confirming that it actually WAS Travelocity and not some phishing site, she called Travelocity's tech support, explained the situation, and asked if their site had been hacked. The guy on the phone (who had a think Indian accent and didn't seem to understand English very well :D ) first told her to NOT enter that information and, after putting her on hold to talk to his boss, then informed her that Travelocity actually DOES ask for that information.

 

I've never heard of anything like this before. Why in the hell would any online travel agency need that information? Isn't the number, expiration date, three-digit code on the back of the card, and the financial backing of Visa enough? It seems unnecessary and even inappropriate to me.

Edited by Bill Swerski
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Geez, I know that American debit cards are getting reproduced overseas (someone charged $500 to one of ours in Spain last year), but that's just too much. She just put the hotel reservation on her AMEX card. No way that Travelocity or anybody else is getting our freaking online banking password.

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I don't understand why they would need that info.

Since you mentioned the 3 digit code on the back, they must've been runnng it as a credit card so the fact it was a debit card doesn't enter into it.

I wouldn't give them that info. Not a chance.

Typically, if I get a rate from one of those sites, I call the hotel and they give me the same rate and I'm dealing directly with the hotel and not a 3rd party.

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i have never seen that info requested

 

Me neither, but I don't use debit cards, I book with credit cards, maybe that's the difference. Regardless, I wouldn't provide them with that information. One more thing, any time I call a support line, I ask where the person is located. If they tell me India or somewhere outside the US, I tell them I don't want to talk to them, I want to talk to someone in the States, and they always transfer me.

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The only reason that they would have asked for the password is if she specified that she was using the card as a debit card instead of as a credit card. There are certain legal differences (fees, protections, etc.) between the two. When I use my bank debit card, I always run it as a credit card to businesses such as grocery stores or gas stations, not debit.

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