I had this experience recently. Had a $1000 charge for “AE.com.” Go to AE.com and it’s American eagle. I didn’t spend $1,000 at AE.
I was all ready to dispute, but then checked my Apple wallet, and I saw the charge at Allen Edmonds. Yeah Allen Edmonds truncates it’s online orders to “ae.com”
I really get into disputes. It’s an occupational hazard. So I was putting together a whole presentation with a video of AE.com loading, ICANN data, and the whole sink, to send to Amex. But, just as I am about to start the dispute process, I checked a couple more places and solve the mystery.
Someone might be reading this and think “you couldn’t remember where you spent $1000 just a week ago“. But I was genuinely flummoxed. I’m sure some psychologist can explain it, but if you had just asked me where I spent $1000, I probably would have remembered. What threw me was the “ae.com” representation. It wasn’t so much that I forgot where I spend money, but a certainty that I did not spend money at AE.com. But I really should reach out to Alan Edmonds and tell them to fix this.
They don’t even say “ae.com shoes” literally the entire description was “ae.com”
Wow, I don’t remember writing this, but it sure sounds like I did.
I could also see my wife making the purchase. A few weeks later, as I’m reconciling our statements, I see a transaction from American Eagle and ask her about it. She reasonably denies it, and has no reason to even consider that I might actually be talking about her Alan Edmonds purchase. I dispute the transaction online, and probably end up getting a new credit card issued because our old one seems to be compromised.
Never heard of them, had to go look it up. Going to assume you got 3 pairs? I suppose I could see not remembering the $1000 charge for clothing if you had been looking at it like 3 or 4 purchases… IDK, I don’t own fancy shoes so I’m having lots of trouble getting in your head space.
The problem is the abbreviation. Imagine you saw "NEWEGG" on your statement. You'd think "I didn't buy $1000 worth of computer hardware". But that transaction was actually Newton's Egg Farm and Trucking, a contractor that does grocery deliveries, and indeed you did buy $1000 worth of groceries online three weeks ago.
That's the problem here; ambiguous transaction descriptions. Sure, you don't buy clothes, so you aren't confused by an Allen Edmonds purchase being marked as American Eagle on your statement. But this can happen in many, many domains.
And to make it worse, suppose it was “NEWEGG.com”. By my reading, that’s the same as saying they’re the same company that owns that website. It removes any ambiguity, which is usually a good thing.
It was actually two pairs of shoes by the time I paid for tax. But it was one style of shoes in two different sizes, intending to send back the other size. if it was some $10 trinket that I was excited to get from Amazon, I probably would have remembered it immediately. But, shoes. Boring
I hope I don't come off as rude but do you really not remember spending $1000 on shoes? Basically any transaction over $100 stays in my mind for a while and I never get confused when I see my CC statement.
I guess if you're making $1M/year your threshold is different but I feel like larger enough transactions should still register.
I was all ready to dispute, but then checked my Apple wallet, and I saw the charge at Allen Edmonds. Yeah Allen Edmonds truncates it’s online orders to “ae.com”