Not because it is the "land of the free and the home of the brave." Not because "anyone can become President." Not because of the freedoms of speech, religion, or the press.
No, God Bless America because of efficient one-click online shopping.
Many of you remember my trials purchasing our tickets to Egypt last year. This year I am purchasing tickets from modern China. Where I can
buy them online. Hooray! Granted, I have to pay a surcharge because I'm using my American credit card, but that's really a small blip on the radar.
I have contacted the hotel, asking them to reserve a room and letting me have 24 hours to get the tickets purchased so I'm sure I have both a place to sleep and seats on a plane before I start paying for things. No problem.
I fill out the handy dandy online ticket booking form. I enter all our names, ages, birthdates, passport numbers, expiry dates, origins of passports, and nationalities. Five times, because someone put the "enter" key too close to the number 3 on my keypad. I enter my credit card information, and my passport number, expiration date, and nationality (again). I press ENTER.
Thank you for submitting your request. WHAT?! No! I didn't submit a request, I ordered tickets. We are trying to protect from unusual and possibly fraudulent credit card activity. As such we require additional verification for cardholders who want to pay with a foreign issued credit card. Please take note of the following terms:
After receiving all 3 parts of documentation as below, eLong will start to process your payment. Your ticket/s will be issued after your credit card payment is confirmed.
1）Completed & signed Authorization Agreement;2）Copies of the front and back of the credit card to be used for the booking (with the cardholder’s signature by hand on the back); 3）Copy of the credit cardholder's valid ID (Passport, ID Card etc.).
As an aside, I don't suppose THEY consider me sending photocopies of my credit card number, signature, and authorization number as well as my passport information ripe for "unauthorized and possibly fraudulent activity."
Once I send all of that, they'll process my tickets. Of course, those seats may not be available.
OOOOOH, instant news flash--they've just called. They DON'T have those seats. Can they tell me what days they do have those seats on a plane. Of course not. I think I may have to redo the whole process and wait to see what might happen. Again.
This is starting to smell a lot like a computerized version of Tanzania.
When countries want to be more developed, all I can say is that there is more to development than economic growth, foreign policy, and political stability. Today it's shopping online.
IF I manage to get the tickets, I'll tell you where we're going!
No, God Bless America because of efficient one-click online shopping.
Many of you remember my trials purchasing our tickets to Egypt last year. This year I am purchasing tickets from modern China. Where I can
buy them online. Hooray! Granted, I have to pay a surcharge because I'm using my American credit card, but that's really a small blip on the radar.I have contacted the hotel, asking them to reserve a room and letting me have 24 hours to get the tickets purchased so I'm sure I have both a place to sleep and seats on a plane before I start paying for things. No problem.
I fill out the handy dandy online ticket booking form. I enter all our names, ages, birthdates, passport numbers, expiry dates, origins of passports, and nationalities. Five times, because someone put the "enter" key too close to the number 3 on my keypad. I enter my credit card information, and my passport number, expiration date, and nationality (again). I press ENTER.
Thank you for submitting your request. WHAT?! No! I didn't submit a request, I ordered tickets. We are trying to protect from unusual and possibly fraudulent credit card activity. As such we require additional verification for cardholders who want to pay with a foreign issued credit card. Please take note of the following terms:
After receiving all 3 parts of documentation as below, eLong will start to process your payment. Your ticket/s will be issued after your credit card payment is confirmed.
1）Completed & signed Authorization Agreement;2）Copies of the front and back of the credit card to be used for the booking (with the cardholder’s signature by hand on the back); 3）Copy of the credit cardholder's valid ID (Passport, ID Card etc.).
As an aside, I don't suppose THEY consider me sending photocopies of my credit card number, signature, and authorization number as well as my passport information ripe for "unauthorized and possibly fraudulent activity."
Once I send all of that, they'll process my tickets. Of course, those seats may not be available.
OOOOOH, instant news flash--they've just called. They DON'T have those seats. Can they tell me what days they do have those seats on a plane. Of course not. I think I may have to redo the whole process and wait to see what might happen. Again.
This is starting to smell a lot like a computerized version of Tanzania.
When countries want to be more developed, all I can say is that there is more to development than economic growth, foreign policy, and political stability. Today it's shopping online.
IF I manage to get the tickets, I'll tell you where we're going!
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