Inscription Suspicion

Jiffy Lube International Inc. spokeswoman Helen K. Bow says the company started equipping its stores two years ago with technology that records an image of a customer's signature, encrypts it and then stores it as an electronic document. About 778 Jiffy Lube shops are using or have ordered it. About 7 million customer signatures have been captured so far, she adds, and are stored initially "in a proprietary format in a secure database at the store, and subsequently transmitted to the secure corporate database" in Houston.

"Like most businesses today, Jiffy Lube requests that customers sign the invoice to confirm that service was rendered," she says, adding that there's good reason to capture that electronically. "In the event that a paper invoice was misplaced, then the signature would still be in the database along with the other components of the invoice [services rendered, customer and vehicle information, etc.], which would allow for a complete regeneration of the invoice -- including the customer signature -- if a copy were needed." She also says Jiffy Lube retains an electronic copy of the customer-signed invoice in case of "a legal proceeding."

Jiffy Lube service-center employees don't have access to the secure databanks to remove a customer's signature, Bow says, but as soon as Jiffy Lube International learned of Files's concerns from the Consummate Consumer, it deleted her signature from the database.

Still, customers don't know their signatures are being captured. Doesn't Jiffy Lube post a privacy statement or notice? "No, Jiffy Lube does not post a privacy statement in the service center," says Bow.

Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum, a nonprofit privacy research and educational organization, found Jiffy Lube's privacy policy on the company's Web site. She says it looks as if Jiffy Lube may be "in violation of its own privacy policy" concerning its signature-capture practices.

According to the policy, Jiffy Lube "informs consumers about the information we collect, how we use it, whether it will be transferred to third parties to provide the products or services requested, and how to contact JLI with privacy inquiries. Where possible, we provide consumers with details prior to their providing information."

Dixon says asking a cash-paying customer to sign an invoice without being clear the signature is being recorded and stored electronically is a questionable business practice. "They need to have a statement posted," says Dixon, adding that signature-capture technology itself doesn't pose a real threat to anyone's privacy unless the database storing the signatures along with other consumer information is hacked by criminals. "Why are they being so sneaky about it?"

Phone Bill Heads-Up

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After the wildly popular column about a Verizon double-billing glitch, among the dozens of phone-bill-focused folks who wrote in was Elliot Greene of Silver Spring, who offered this alert to readers when paying their phone bills: "Several times Verizon has charged me a late fee when the due date for my bill fell on a Sunday and my payment was received on Monday," he says.

Basic business standard is to accept as "on time" payments received the next business day following a weekend due date. Of course, lots of screwy things have been occurring with late fees and not just in the telephone industry (watch your credit cards!).

Greene says when he called to complain, Verizon "promptly agreed to refund the charge." But he doesn't like the implication that Verizon waits for the customer to correct the problem "and Verizon gets to pocket the fees if the customer doesn't do so." Moral: Pay bills on time -- and check 'em even when you do.

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