Does this sound strange to you...buying over the net

[Rik Sanchez]

I was going to order some RAM from Crucial.com and in order for them to ship my order they need to verify that the card I'm using is my own. They want me to send in a copy of my billing statement with my address on it, has anyone ordered from them before?

I have never had this happen to me and I've bought lots of stuff over the net. I told a friend about this and he smelled a scam in the making, but they seem like a legit website, people on this forum have mentioned them before.

It seems weird that this is the only way to verify my billing address, all other companies didn't need this extra proof. Are they being extra carefull or am I being extra paranoid?

[Christopher Lefchik]

Crucial is one of the most reputable RAM companies around. We've purchased RAM from them once before, but I don't remember them requesting a copy of the billing statement. Maybe there was something in your info that tripped some sort of verification? Who knows.

All I can say is that Crucial is the farthest thing from a scam.

EDIT: Is your delivery address different from your billing address, by chance? That would likely be the cause of them requesting such additional information.

[Greg Boston]

It's likely because you are in Osaka, Japan. When a name like Rik Sanchez wants something sent to Japan, that will trigger the extra verification. I believe others have reported that B&H takes the same precaution but it's usually a one time thing. Subsequent orders will be more smooth.

They are doing this because they have less recourse to recover fraud from overseas than they do here in the U.S. They want to make sure that someone in Japan hasn't stolen Rik Sanchez's account number. So, they are protecting Rik as well as themselves.

-gb-

[Lorinda Norton]

Your question has been fully answered, so just to bring it a little closer to the "neighborhood," Crucial is a division of Micron, which is headquartered thirty minutes from where I live. It's pretty convenient, because when I need RAM I can drive five minutes down the road to the nearest Crucial outlet! :)

[Rik Sanchez]

Thanks all for the replys, Yeah, living over here in Japan must have triggered something, plus, my shipping address is my office so I can see how they would want to make sure.

Lorinda. that's cool about living so close to the Crucial. The Canon repair center (Morinomiya branch) is 5 minutes from my house. I just take the subway one stop and drop it off, I always speak with the techs and I get it back in usually 2 or 3 days.