Frequently Asked Questions
Q. "When I use my credit card at your site, are my credit card numbers (and information) safe and protected?"
A. Yes. We guarantee it. We have taken many steps to ensure the security of your transaction.
It starts with us having honest employees and taking safety measures at our location. No matter how secure a site (or local store) can be, if their employees are taking your credit card numbers home and selling (or using) your name and credit card then you will experience time wasted (and anxiety) having to deal with your credit card company.
Consider that when you give your credit card to a food server or gas station attendant (or any store for that matter) your credit card numbers security is breached.
The same thing when you write your credit card numbers on your check when you pay your credit card bill and so on. We have a very honest team and we have done all that we can (and will continue to do so), to guard and protect your credit card information from being taken from our site.
Some of the safety factors that we use involve adopting industry standards. For example, the secure connection (SSL) between your browser and sensitive portions of our secure order form uses industry standard encryption. Also, once you've placed your order it is encrypted and transmitted to our location.
We take security very seriously. PlumbingSupply.com® complies with the strongest identity authentication standard available today by utilizing an Extended Validation SSL Certificate. A unique and highly visible green address bar will display in the latest high-security browsers in the secure portion of our shopping cart (where you input your personal information). This bar immediately helps assure you that PlumbingSupply.com® is an authenticated web site. Additionally, a green security bar highlights our name and also includes a notation next to the address bar that our organization is certified by Thawte. The green address bar and security bar helps you know that PlumbingSupply.com® is a legitimate Web site and that your transaction will be secure.
To show and prove our faith in your credit card safety, we guarantee it. There is no risk, period. If any fraud happens to your card due to using our site, we will make sure that you owe nothing to your credit card company.
Our goal is to enable you to make transactions with confidence at our site.
Since PlumbingSupply Group, LLC began in 1995, there has never been a case of fraud reported by one of our customers as a result of credit card purchases made here. No customer of ours has ever lost a dime due to fraud as a result of credit card purchases made from us.
We do not sell your name, address, phone number or any other information about you.
Q. "After I gave you my credit card number you then asked me for my 'security confirmation numbers (verification code).' I've never heard of this and no one has ever asked me before? Why do you ask for this as it seems like a waste of my time?"
A. To protect you (and ourselves) from credit card fraud we use the latest in fraud protection methods. That includes asking for the code that is shown on your credit card. Many merchants do not use this system yet but they all will eventually. We use it to prevent fraud which keeps our prices lowest. We have created a page for those that wish to know more about these security "v-codes", just click here.
Q. "I've gotten a "warning" window pop up when I've ordered from you. What does that mean?"
A. It simply means that you're entering the safest, most secure area of our website (our secure order page). This should be reassuring since this is where your credit card transactions take place. Just click to continue. Also, going from secure mode to unsecured mode, you might receive another similar alert message, just to make sure you know what's happening. Another thing that could happen is when you have an older browser (pre 2000). All security certificates expire and so if you get a warning that our certificate has expired it is probably due to you having an older browser. Do not worry about that warning. To "fix" that warning you can download the most recent Internet Explorer at www.microsoft.com or the latest Netscape browser at www.nestcape.com. You do NOT need to use either of the latest browsers to use our shopping cart but then you might get a warning (which should just be ignored).
Q. "What is the worst thing that could happen if someone stole my credit card numbers and information?"
A. Regardless of what happens on our site, there is no risk to you when using your credit card at our site. In the case of fraud, we assume all liability for what you would owe. In most states, this means that we would pick up the first $50, (although companies such as Visa now state that consumers using Visa cards on the Internet have zero liability) and the credit card company takes responsibility for the rest. In addition, we would do our best to work with the credit card company to minimize the hassle for you.
Q. "Why do you charge my credit card even if it takes a week to ship?"
A. We do hold your funds on special orders and back orders as a deposit on the goods until the product ships. If some situation comes up that results in us not being able to proceed with your order we will issue the proper credit back to you using the same method that you originally paid us with.
Q. "Why don't you accept American Express directly?"
A. We do accept American Express through PayPal, which is to say that PayPal accepts American Express. However, we don't directly accept American Express due to their extremely high merchant processing costs. If we did accept their cards directly we would have to raise our low prices on all of the plumbing products that we offer, and we simply don't want to do that. Our goal is to provide you with low-cost, high-quality plumbing products, and that is why we have made the decision to not accept American Express directly.
Q. "Do you accept credit cards that are issued outside of the United States?"
A. The issuing companies of Non-US issued credit cards do not support OUR credit card verification system and we are unable to process funds at all. Your credit card issuer may pre-authorize the funds (these will post back to your account shortly, or you can request that the credit card company do so immediately), but our system does not allow us access to them. Even when the card has been used elsewhere in the U.S., our verification system is unable to proceed due to our higher level of fraud protection - for our customers and us. All methods of payment we accept must be drawn on a U.S. bank.
Q. "How do I know if any website page is secure?"
A. You can tell when you're in a secure area because the URL (Internet address shown on top of most browsers), to the left of the colon, changes from 'http' to 'https' - this is to signify that you are going from a non-secure to a secure site.
In many browsers you'll also see a solid blue line in the upper portion of the browser's window. Please note (and we get this question a lot) that some browsers give you a warning when you go from a secure area to a regular area. The aim is to ensure that people know when they've left a secure server. The message is often a bit startling, and makes it look like you've done something wrong even though you really haven't.
Q. "Which parts of your site are secure?"
A. The portion of our site that we have made secure is the secure checkout area/page. This is where you actually purchase the items you've put into your Shopping Cart. The entire checkout process, from introduction to final confirmation, takes place in a secure environment if you chose our secure order form. If you chose our non secure order form, or mail in or fax in your order and use a credit card we still guarantee that you will not lose any moneys due to fraud.
We guarantee your credit card transaction on our site. Period!
We will pay for any loss that you would have using your credit card at our site due to fraud. Period!
We can quote many newspaper articles as well as credit card agreements (that you and we signed) with Visa, MC, and Discover. It is a law...you are not responsible for more than $50 (with many cards such as with using Visa cards on the Internet, you have zero liability) due to fraud usage of your card and we will pick up that possible charge should anyone steal your card due to you submitting your credit card information to us.
Need more reassurances? Here is an U.S. News & World report, Dec. 7, 1998, page 44 which had an article titled:
"A credit card is your best weapon on the Web." Here are a few quotes from it: "... it's no surprise some people fear their credit card numbers are vulnerable in cyberspace. But that belief is unfounded. When it comes to buying products and services on the Internet, the credit card is the best method of payment because it provides the most protection to the consumer... Federal law guarantees that cardholders are liable for only the first $50 in fraudulent charges if the number falls into criminal hands - though there are no reported incidents of numbers being grabbed en route to an online store... Criminals are more apt to target databases filled with credit card numbers."
