they could not even prevent a RECURRING fraudulent charge from the same company after the card involved was cancelled and replaced.

Our Priority Club card was only used twice - once was to pay BellSouth online (I have paid the phone bill online for several years) and the other time was to pay the check at a restaurant. 2 weeks after using it at the restaurant, a $25 fraudulent charge came from a merchant called 24Hr Fitness - it turned out to be a healthclub with national presence.

Anyway we called Chase when we saw the availability balance differed from the credit line when we knew for sure the card was not used since the dining-out. Chase cancelled the card and issued a new card. The fraudulent charge was credited and we were told in 2 weeks we would receive a letter from Chase to affirm that the charge was indeed fraudulent.

3 weeks passed, we were still waiting for the letter. Then another $15 fraudulent charge came thru, on the NEW replacement card, from the same merchant 24hr Fitness. We called Chase fraud dept immediately. The woman said yes, the 2nd charge went to the already closed card but was carried to the replacement card. She went on to say, there was NO WAY Chase can stop such fraudulent charge because this was coded as recurrent charge so no new authorization was needed, thus the charge went thru...
She even said closing the replacement card would not make any difference. The only way to stop it was to call the merchant to ask them stop using the old card number because it was fraud..

This is about the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard from the fraud dept of any issuer.

Yeah, they caught a $1.00 authorization which may, or may not, a fraud as many legitimate businesses would make an AUTHORIZATION of $1.00 to test whether it is a good card before handling the transaction. Many rental car companies would do that when you make reservation thru your membership, such as Hertz No.1 or National Emerald, etc. An authroization does not equal a billing...

Yet, they could not prevent a RECURRING FRAUD CHARGE FROM SAME MERCHANT when the card involved is cancelled due to security breach.