Much praise for Kempf's Gun Shop

[yhtomit]

I posted something similar on TFL while this forum was down, but it seems to deserve repeating, so here's an even shorter version:

My debit card was compromised (info stolen, though exactly when / where I'm not sure). The press I'd ordered from Kempf's Gun Shop hadn't been charged / authorized yet, but I didn't know that (it's been a couple of lousy days of calling my credit union -- usually friendly, but they have ticked me off terribly on this matter -- and PayPal -- used to be a pain to deal with, but today were friendly, courteous, helpful, etc.).

So I got an email from Sue Kempf saying that my press and such were boxed and ready, but the transaction didn't go through -- had I misentered data etc? I was in a hurry (night classes to get to) and explained by email the situation, offered to arrange alternate payment ( inquired about Amex, for instance) the next day, and this is in relevant part what she wrote back:

"Anyway, get to class, I will ship your press tomorrow and you can send me a check when it gets there. Fair enough? We don't take AMEX because they charge us 11%."

I'm sending the check tomorrow morning, because that kind of service deserves to be rewarded as soon as possible. I've seen nothing but praise for Sue K. in these forums, and now I can see why.

(And I'm excited to be getting my press soon, too!)

timothy

 

[martinbr]

Kemp Gun Shop and Debit Card

This might be coming from there website. I ordered something online last week with my debit card and someone stole the number somehow and tried to post a $150.00 to my checking account. So I had to cancel the card and get a new one. I am not saying it's from this place of business but it sure is coincendental. Don't you think?
martinbr

 

[ECLIPSE45ACP]

I always call them with my cc info after I place the order. I have been burned before from another company so I take that precaution.

 

[creekwalker]

I did business with Kempfs via their website and was very pleased with the quick turnaround on my Lee Classic Cast Turret package and have had no problems with identity theft following my order. Kempfs impresses me as a class act business.

creekwalker

 

[yhtomit]

martinbr -- interesting, but not yet convincing

"This might be coming from there website. I ordered something online last week with my debit card and someone stole the number somehow and tried to post a $150.00 to my checking account. So I had to cancel the card and get a new one. I am not saying it's from this place of business but it sure is coincendental. Don't you think?"

Hmm. There are coincidences all around us, just waiting to be observed -- any three points can fit on a circle

That's interesting information, but the world's a big place, and I don't want to leap to conclusions. If this is happening, I'd like Kempf's to know about it. Because of the nature and timing of what happened, they definitely know about it in my case -- have you let the shop know that something similar happened to you? Could be their system is indeed somehow compromised, which would be a shame.

(On this board, finding people who have both ordered from Kempf's and had an identify theft episode is probably not a tall order. False positives / spurious links are an insidious temptation ... but I'd certainly like to know if there are more data points here)

timothy

 

[benedict1]

I know they have investigated this--there seems to be no connection whatsoever to ordering from them and these things. Their transactions are handled away from their website by a server/company that is about as secure as it gets.

I have ordered many things from Kempf's with zero problems. But, I also used my credit card at a local cafe that I frequent about 6 months ago and bingo! Next day somebody tried to change my address, etc. You have to be very careful about cause and effect with this stuff. It can happen anywhere--the least likely places are online firms with secure server companies doing their order fulfillment.

 

[redneck2]

I've been in their shop a number of times. While their face to face attitude may leave a little to be desired, I have every confidence that they are honest in their dealings.

 

[Unforgiven826]

I had the same thing happen to me last week. My credit card info was used to make a bunch of small charges on the Internet for weight lose/diet products, A blockbuster online account and some other small 8-9 dollar charges. All were caught and reported to the bank before they cleared. Thing is that it all happened with in 12 hours of ordering from Midway USA and Kempf's. I called Midway and gave them the heads up and also talked to Sue at Kempf's. I found it to be more then a coincidence that both Kempf;s and Midway use the same secure site for CC transactions. I will still shop from both dealers and am going to order a bunch of cast bullets from Kempf's on Monday.

 

[Quoheleth]

Check your own end...

Check your end of the deal. Double check your computer - there is some mighty tech-savvy stuff that gets on our computers and we never know it. Face it - Kemps, et.al., probably spend a wholeheckuvalotta more money on their website protection stuff than we spend on our $50 anti-virus software.

I bought a brand-new laptop last summer, and was messing around on-line one night after getting DSL, too. Cool...dlwnloading books, watching movies, tv shows, all sorts of neat stuff. Next thing I know, I had a whole bunch of stuff running that wasn't supposed to be. Somehow a major virus/trojan got me. I actually had to dump the whole computer, reinstall it all, and start from scratch.

Now...I am NOT saying you are the problem. I am only saying a little extra effort and double-checking might find your own computer to be the culprit.

I don't do on-line bill pay...I even get squeemish about checking my bank balance on-line...all it takes is one bug and it's up a creek without a roll of TP.

Just an idea...
Quoheleth

 

[benedict1]

When Citi-corp, TJMax and other big outfits get whacked by data pirates none of us is really safe. Best thing we can do is only buy at sites that have encrypted software--which Kempf, Midway, Graf, et. al. do have. But you can get nailed at a local restaurant--off goes the server with your CC into the back room, pops it into a neat little palm size scanner and has your number and your 3 digit security code. I know it can happen because it happened to me and my wife a couple of years ago--before I had a pc at home. Turned out the thief wasn't real smart and got found out after pulling the stunt about ten times on different customers.

I have to agree that the major problem is us--not the people we buy from. How many of you have dug deep lately for keyloggers in your system? They record every touch of the keyboard and are very hard to find. The whole family of Cool Web malware--this stuff can get onboard even as your security software is trying to catch up--it mutates faster than the good guys can deal with it. My AVG anti-virus is now scanning my system for over 852,000 know viruses, trojans, malware-types. Good grief!

There is some good news in all this--all of you who have been compromised found out very quickly and the charges were small--your credit card companies have anti-fraud units. I have dealt with my Visa card company twice on this and they get on it pronto! They find the crooks and deal with them, no matter how small the fraudulent charge.

If you're worried then go to phone orders; or snail mail and money orders. Even if you buy by mail with your credit card you have just made a hard copy that can be stolen and used because you have put all your personal info. in one place in an envelope.

The world is full of perils. We just have to do what each of us is comfortable with. For sites with secure, encrypted servers doing CC fulfillment, I will continue to do business with them.

 

[yhtomit]

Quoheleth -- while that's good advice (and something I've pointed out to a lot of other people, too), I feel pretty certain that my Ubuntu system isn't hosting any Windows-oriented malware at least. Which is not to say it's completely and forever immune from it, but I have yet to hear of a credible threat like that affecting current Linux desktop systems. (I scan headlines on sites like SecurityFocus and Slashdot for it, can't claim to do anything more in-depth than that ...) I'm not brave enough or patient enough to go through the risks of using Windows on any machine I use regularly, and I am esp. paranoid about using them for anything password protected. (If you know of any keyloggers or similar spyware running on Linux system, please respond either here or by PM -- I'd be unhappy to be wrong, but happy to be better informed!)

Cheers,

timothy