Odd message from RCZ

Tigger con carne

Hi all,
I ordered a pair of Rebas from RCZ as I've been after a fork upgrade for a bit and this was a great deal. Filled in all the relevant payment details etc and got a confirmation e-mail. A couple of days later I received another e-mail which said:

Thank you for your order

As the value of the order is important, we have to put more insurance on the parcels (of course on our charge)
Then, could you send us by mail a copy of your ID with your address
Sorry for asking that, it is our insurance firm process

Thank you for your collaboration

Best Regards
Pierre

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I've not encountered this before and it seems a bit of an odd request. I appreciate there may be some loss in translation so real the message might not be getting through correctly (and that's no criticism. Pierre's English is way better than my French, that's for sure). Has anyone else had a message like this when they've ordered from RCZ or any other mail-order company from the continent?

mcnultycop

You sometimes get odd requests from the continent. Just ring them if you are worried, to be on the safe side.

BigAl

I tried to order some Rebas from RCZ and got exactly the same request.

The wanted me to post them my passport! Yeah right, like I gonna do that.

Had to cancel the order

lawman

And this is why I only buy from places I trust. The prices on RCZ seem way to good to be true and it turns out they probably are. Cancel and go elsewhere.

bennett_346

They look dodgy as hell. Prices are too good to be true. Plus their "about" is nuts:

Since more than four years, our MTB fascinated team has developped his own brand : RCZ.

Through our website RCZ Bike Shop, we have decided to directly market our own brand. Thus we only sell directly now our own RCZ products, without any intermediary. So this direct sales model enable us to give you our best prices. Stop the intermediaries who take a mark-up, give way to best price for our customers !

Cut out what intermediary? They're still buying them from a wholesale supplier and selling them to you, what are they actually cutting out?

I see no reason why they'd need to see your details like that, especially not a passport. Insurance or not they do not need that.

Plus it looks like a chinese translation to me, major warning sign.

cooldad

Nope they are a legitimate shop (in France). I've had the same thing from German shops.

bennett_346

cooldad wrote:

Nope they are a legitimate shop (in France). I've had the same thing from German shops.

Even if they're legit they won't be getting any ID from me. Great opportunity for identity fraud there.

miceden

I ordered some DT Swiss forks from them today and had pretty much the same message, although the reason they gave for asking for ID was because, according to them, the order came through on a Russian IP address......dunno, maybe they've had a spate of orders going missing. I didn't supply ID, I just told them I'd ordered from them before and supplied them with past order numbers, haven't heard anything since. Maybe call your credit card company and advise them, I have.

Tigger con carne

The e-mail was definitely from them. It had my order number and they addressed me by name. I looked online for reviews and found a site with customers replying in French and Spanish so I don't know exactly hat they wrote, they almost all gave great reviews (4 to 5 out of 5), and one example where someone had given a low review, there was a lengthy reply from RCZ in French putting their side. I could have spent a while trying to figure out what the issue was but it seems to me RCZ were concerned about a poor customer experience and were doing something about it.The company are totally legit, they have a good reputation on the continent and actually seem concerned about customer opinion.

I e-mailed Pierre asking what they want in terms of ID, telling him I could send a scan (not post a copy) and saying I'm a bit dubious of the request. I also mentioned that, as the named person on the credit card I'm paying with, they should have my details anyway. I wonder if they have the same issues with Pay Pal

The Rookie

I've had this when ordering stuff from the US, they aren't protected against card fraud in the same way so are being careful, a few US suppliers have had a scan of the main page in my passport over the years, no issues have come to light.

Tigger con carne

I had a further couple of e-mails back and forth, finding what they wanted for ID and eventually they said it should be a scan of my driving licence. However, on the same day as that I also got an e-mail telling me they had shipped the forks. I sent another message asking if they still needed the ID and got a reply to say that their bank/insurance company hadn't required it any more. Hopefully they will arrive tomorrow or the following day

batmo

I've been asked for ID when making credit card payments in the US. They like Driving Licences because they have your address, unlike your passport.

The biggest pain is at "gas stations" where the system is sometimes to use a numeric keypad on the pump to enter your "ZIP code" so they can check against the card details. Of course a UK Postcode won't work so you have to go up to the pay counter before you can fill up...

Tigger con carne

Forks arrived today. The oversized box had been quite battered but the security seal tape they used was intact. They look ace and can't wait to fit them.

Kowalski675

All good then.

Pierre_RCZ

Dear Customers,

I'm Pierre, from RCZ Bike Shop - sorry for replying to such an old topic but I think a better explanation would be appropriate.

The ID request process is required by our Luxemburgian bank, in order to fight against credit card frauds.We ask for the addresses to correspond so that we're sure that no parcel is being sent to a storehouse and then to other countries.

Please note that no ID is being stored - we delete every document after receipt.

For this reasons we tend to ask our new customers to pay using PayPal or via bank transfer as well, since the fraud risk is therewith very low.

Thank you for your attention, do not hesitate to contact us had you any particular question.

Best regards,

Pierre
RCZ Team