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Old May 15, 2007 | 6:26 pm
  #1  
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FPC profiles compromised

I received an email from FPC today saying that for a short while on May 8, my profile may have been compromised. My password has been reset and I should follow the instructions for "Forgot my password" to reset it. Great...it rejects my answers to each of the three possible challenge questions, so I am effectively locked out. A call to the phone number in the email gets voice mail.

This happened just a week after my credit card was triple-charged for my most-recent one-night stay at the YVR location. No one at the hotel called me. I found out when reviewing my account to see why the balance was higher than I expected. While two of the three charges were reversed about a week after my stay, I feel I should have been called immediately when the error was discovered. The charges very easily could have been on one statement with the credit on the following statement, resulting in significant extra $$ taken from my checking account on the due date (or requiring me to spend valuable time calling the credit card company to have the payment amount changed).

After reading some threads on this board, my sense is that many people are less than satisfied with Fairmont recently. This incident certainly does not increase my satisfaction, especially given that I have to wait for someone to call me back to get access to my reservation history, etc.

I expect better from a hotel with these prices.

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Old May 16, 2007 | 10:53 am
  #2  
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Originally Posted by makfan
I received an email from FPC today saying that for a short while on May 8, my profile may have been compromised. My password has been reset and I should follow the instructions for "Forgot my password" to reset it. Great...it rejects my answers to each of the three possible challenge questions, so I am effectively locked out. A call to the phone number in the email gets voice mail.

This happened just a week after my credit card was triple-charged for my most-recent one-night stay at the YVR location. No one at the hotel called me. I found out when reviewing my account to see why the balance was higher than I expected. While two of the three charges were reversed about a week after my stay, I feel I should have been called immediately when the error was discovered. The charges very easily could have been on one statement with the credit on the following statement, resulting in significant extra $$ taken from my checking account on the due date (or requiring me to spend valuable time calling the credit card company to have the payment amount changed).

After reading some threads on this board, my sense is that many people are less than satisfied with Fairmont recently. This incident certainly does not increase my satisfaction, especially given that I have to wait for someone to call me back to get access to my reservation history, etc.

I expect better from a hotel with these prices.

I hate FPC as much as the next FTer does. But I don't think a billing error at YVR has anything to do with a website secuirty problem. I'm unhappy with cut-backs to the FPC program and not with actual service at the hotels.
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Old May 16, 2007 | 11:15 am
  #3  
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Originally Posted by fly-yul
I hate FPC as much as the next FTer does. But I don't think a billing error at YVR has anything to do with a website secuirty problem. I'm unhappy with cut-backs to the FPC program and not with actual service at the hotels.
My point was simply that the service level in response to these problems is not what I expected. Two extra nights billing is a significant sum, and if I were the manager I would have had staff calling everyone affected by the problem rather than having the guests find the extra charges on their billing.

Although the examples differ, in both cases I feel that the onus has been placed on me, the guest, to deal with the fallout from their problems. In the case of the FPC website, I could not even fix the problem myself, but calling for help resulted only in voice mail. No call back so far. I have an upcoming reservation that I would like to view online.

Update: 10:24 am...just got a call from FPC and the problem has been fixed. The agent was very helpful and courteous. It seems my natural impatience got the better of me once again...

Last edited by makfan; May 16, 2007 at 11:25 am Reason: Update - problem resolved
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Old May 24, 2007 | 4:05 pm
  #4  
 
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Sounds like Phishing to me

My guess is that that was a phishing email. An attemopt to get your mother's maiden name perhaps? Not 100% sure, but my guess is FPC would not admit that accounts have been "compromised" in an email.

Good luck!
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Old May 27, 2007 | 3:27 pm
  #5  
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Originally Posted by fly-yul
... I'm unhappy with cut-backs to the FPC program and not with actual service at the hotels.

Sums up how I feel.I do stay more than 10 times a year with them and am currently considering Boston location at end of July.
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Old May 31, 2007 | 1:14 pm
  #6  
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Originally Posted by screenap
My guess is that that was a phishing email. An attemopt to get your mother's maiden name perhaps? Not 100% sure, but my guess is FPC would not admit that accounts have been "compromised" in an email.

Good luck!
I thought it might be phishing, so I just typed in www.fairmont.com in my browser and tried to log in. I could not log in, and the subsequent conversation with the agent confirmed that my password had been locked (and that I had used a less obvious answer to my security question). I never, never, never click a link from an email like that. I just go to the site myself.
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Old Jun 16, 2007 | 10:10 pm
  #7  
 
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Originally Posted by makfan
I never, never, never click a link from an email like that. I just go to the site myself.
Good policy...I do the same.
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