Got an important letter from Disney today.. what would you do??

[timandlesley]

Hi guys, this is Tim.
I flew down for a few nights in Disney in December for Disapalooza (AMAZING TIME!)
Anyway, I stayed at Saratoga Springs for that stay. After I heard about the credit card fraud on the Podcast I was curious but never heard anything so I wrote it off.
Well...... today I get a letter from Disney World (signed by Debbie Bellavia Director of Guest Services). It explains that my credit card is at risk and could have possibly been stolen and goes into telling me I need to monitor my credit card, etc. It gives a telephone number and encourages me to call with any questions or concerns.
I plan on calling on Monday - this makes me very nervous as it was our check card, not a credit card........so it would take money directly from our checking account. I will also be calling my bank on Monday and closing that card down - but as you know with bank accounts that is a bit of a headache and I'll be without my check card for a week or two.
Also- we have had Disney do this to us before. We are stock holders and got a letter a year ago saying all of our information was stollen, a VERY similar letter and that they would give us 1 year of free credit monitoring, etc.

Did anyone else get this letter, just wondering if everyone thinks this is a big deal or not.

Thanks!
Tim

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Usually each person on an account has a separate card number. I would suggest you find out which card number may potentially have been compromised.

Note that this letter may have gone out to thousands of people; the chance of a problem is very low. The longer the period of time since you last used the card at Disney the less the chance of a problem.

Disney has thousands of people handling cards: reservations, Resort Front Desks, ticket windows, Guest Relations locations, merchandise shops, food service locations and more. Disney has the ability to review every transaction that person has done, so more than likely if a person had been discovered skimming numbers they can notify everyone who had a card transaction with that person.

Your two choices are to ignore it, or to contact your bank and request they cancel the card due to possible compromise and issue a new card. It usually takes less than a week from the time you cancel a card until the replacement is received.

As far as compensation from Disney, I would not really expect anything as they are only warning your of a potential problem. Now if your card were actually compromised and improper charges against it, that would be a different situation which might rate some compensation.

 

[stitchlover]

We recently received the same type letter from the allergist my husband daughter see. Their offices had been broken into and the computers were stolen. We contacted the credit bureau's and they directed and reported the issue. To me it's an over and done issue. I don't expect anything from the allergist. I don't think you should expect compensation from Disney unless you actually have some fraud committed with your card.

As the poster above said this letter probably went to thousands of people and it was 8-9 months ago. The likelihood of anything happen is very slim. Now if you did have your account tampered with I would expect Disney to help if at all possible.

Hope everything works out okay.

 

[Serverman]

As far as account privacy and security are concerned, Disney os obligated to notify you should they believe that your information may have been compromised in any way. They do this so that they limit their legal exposure. It can be a very simple issue that allowed for the possiblity of fraud on your account. This kind of stuff happens all the time, but in this case it was confirmed that there was evidence of malicious intent and your information may have been compromised.

I always monitor my credit report and accounts for any kind of activity that I did not initiate. I suggest that everyone does the same. If this were me, I would probably call my bank and have a new card issued. I wouldn't go to the length of shutting down the whole account. Each card has it's own unique number and CCID code so a new card is essentially a new account. You can also have your bank put an alert on your account to more aggresively montior your transactions or limit the daily spending authorization limit to minimize your exposure even further.

Unfortunately, even though you may try your best to protect your information, this can happen to anyone at any time. Sometime the theives just get lucky - it can happen.

Some other things I do - don't put all your money in one account.

Set account auth limits and then if you need to make a large purchase, let your bank know and they can selectively clear it.

Don't use easy to guess passwords or use the same password on every account.

Never give out personal information when an account rep calls you - call them back at their published number before giving anyone your info on the phone.

Let your bank/credit card company know when and where you are traveling so they don't flag your account while you are on vacation.

If anyone has any more info or tips to give, I would love to add to the list here in order to keep more people safe.

 

[PinkBudgie]

This is the reason I never use debit card. If someone steals the number, it come directly out of your account. The banks say you get your money back but in reality, it may take awhile. With CCs at least you haven't paid yet so you can dispute charges. And you may also get a call from your CC company if there are charges that don't fit your pattern or area. We've had our CC card number stolen twice and never lost any money. I don't even carry my debit card with me.

However, we use the CC as if it were a debit card. Which means we pay it off each month, and if we don't have the money, we don't buy it.

 

[tlcoke]

Like the previous poster said, Disney is required to notify you of the possible breach. Since there was a know breach - By law they are required to offer you one year of credit monitoring services - take them up on this.

I would contact your bank and see what they recommend in regards to replacing your card. They will probably recommend replacing it just to be safe.

In 2009, my bank flagged my purchase of airfare for two separate trips I purchased on the same day as suspicious and automatically replaced my card as a precaution.

 

[corky441]

We just got the letter today also.
As a precaution we'll be on top of our transaction listings

 

[canopynut66]

Hi guys, this is Tim.
I flew down for a few nights in Disney in December for Disapalooza (AMAZING TIME!)
Anyway, I stayed at Saratoga Springs for that stay. After I heard about the credit card fraud on the Podcast I was curious but never heard anything so I wrote it off.
Well...... today I get a letter from Disney World (signed by Debbie Bellavia Director of Guest Services). It explains that my credit card is at risk and could have possibly been stolen and goes into telling me I need to monitor my credit card, etc. It gives a telephone number and encourages me to call with any questions or concerns.
I plan on calling on Monday - this makes me very nervous as it was our check card, not a credit card........so it would take money directly from our checking account. I will also be calling my bank on Monday and closing that card down - but as you know with bank accounts that is a bit of a headache and I'll be without my check card for a week or two.
Also- we have had Disney do this to us before. We are stock holders and got a letter a year ago saying all of our information was stollen, a VERY similar letter and that they would give us 1 year of free credit monitoring, etc.


Did anyone else get this letter, just wondering if everyone thinks this is a big deal or not.

Thanks!
Tim

Used to work in a Bank for years and I never ever use debit card for travel nor do I use it where they do not want me to use my pin number. Some retail stores do not ask for a pin they want to run the card as a credit. Once someone who should NOT have your debit card they can clean out your accounts. More protection with actual credit card. Have never received a letter like you have and would be nervous also until I spoke with some one. Hope this all works out for you.

 

[robind]

I also got a letter this week, since it's been so long, I'm just going to be keeping an eye on it, which I do anyway. I check all my transactions at least once a month if not more often.

 

[Minnie Lor]

Also- we have had Disney do this to us before. We are stock holders and got a letter a year ago saying all of our information was stolen,

We got the letter a year ago and someone did use that number to buy supplies for horses in Kentucky. I haven't been to Kentucky since I was in the 4th grade. Chase took care of it for us.

 

[Willow1213]

I was activating a new phone for a customer and the very first thing she gets when the new phone comes on is a text from Chase fraud alerts. It says something along the lines of "Someone just used your card for 2600. Was this you? Reply 1 if yes 2 if no" She replied "2" and within seconds her phone was ringing. Chase told her it had just been done 5 minutes before in a Home Depot in Miami and they knew it wasn't her because the same card was used within 5 minutes in 2 different states (Her phone in GA and Home Depot in FL). She was stunned that it happened that fast. They didn't even take the money out of her account, just pretended it didn't happen from a balance standpoint. I was floored. What great service!

 

[omghidanielle]

Get a new debit card.
Problem solved!

 

[Sooze]

Tim,
We got the same letter as well. We are just keeping a very close eye on the statements to see if anything weird shows up. Since it was so long ago, we figured we're in the clear!

Good luck!
Susie

 

[kab407]

I also got the same letter back on Saturday. Since it's been almost 9 months, I'm not getting too upset over it. I check my statment every month to begin with. I had an issue of unauthorized charges several years ago. Chase took care of it by closing that card and issuing me a new one. Have not had an issue since. But I still review my monthly statement carefully.

 

[rlduvall]

I stayed there during Disapalooza last year, too, but I haven't received any type of correspondence from them. Oh joy! But, I review my credit card statements very consistently and haven't seen anything out of the ordinary. In fact, I was more concerned about watching for credit card fraud because I gassed up at a Hess. I will be very disappointed if I never receive notification from Disney that my credit card could have been compromised.