I interrupt the festivities for a rant about Sears

You know you can always count on me for a good rant, even during the most festive time of year.

I’ve had a Sears account for over a decade, and for the past few years I’ve made my payments online.  I recently went to check to see if any payments were due, and I was hit with a message screen when I logged in.  The message said I had to choose three security questions to protect my account, and that the questions would be asked randomly when I login, to ensure there’s no fraudulent access to my account.  I have to choose these three security questions within my next three logins, or I’ll be locked out of my online account completely.

I figured the security questions would be the typical, “Mother’s maiden name”, and “city where you were born”, but oh no, the Sears people got creative.  Here is the entire list of security questions you have to choose from.  You’ll notice the questions are in groups of three, because you have to pick one question from each section.  How many of these could you answer:

  • Last name of kindergarden teacher
  • Place where your wedding reception was held
  • Favourite city, other than the city you currently live in
  • Favourite person from history
  • Foreign city you’d like to visit
  • Name of first school you attended
  • Name of childhood best friend
  • Name of favourite childhood pet
  • Youngest child’s nickname
  • Highest mountain you’ve been on top of
  • If you needed a new first name, what would it be
  • Name of childhood doctor
  • Favourite cartoon character
  • Favourite novel
  • Bosses first name at your first job
  • Last name of first grade teacher
  • What is your hobby
  • What is the name of your best man/maid of honour
  • Favourite fictional character
  • Model of first car
  • Favourite singer

Just for starters, these questions have a real heterosexual-skew to them, and I’m eliminated from answering the two questions about weddings, as well as the question about my “youngest child’s nickname”.  I don’t have a driver’s license, so never had a “first car”.  I’ve never climbed a mountain, or been on top of one, except for the “mountain” in Albuquerque and I have no idea if it has a name.  I had a turtle and budgie as childhood pets, but neither was a “favourite”.  I find all the “favourite” questions impossible, because I never have just one favourite anything—I’m interested in tons of stuff.  The question about hobbies made me laugh—yeah, like I only have ONE hobby.  I don’t know if I had a boss at my first job (TV reporter, seriously), and if I did, I have no idea who it was.  The name of my childhood doctor?!  Gee, what doctor in which city—I moved at least half a dozen times and had different doctors everywhere.  I can, ironically, name my kindergarden teacher and first grade teacher, but what if someone didn’t go to kindergarden (it’s optional in many states).  I actually skipped almost all of grade one and went quickly to grade two, so that could also be an issue.  Also, I don’t know the name of my first school, because I went to nursery school.  It’s fine for me to just guess at the answers, but if I’m hit with one of these questions out of the blue, would I remember what I answered?  Would I remember the exact phrasing?

My solution to this is that I’ve chosen three questions to answer, I’ve written the questions and the answers on a piece of paper, and I’ve taped them to my monitor for all to see.  Oh, the security!  I feel so much safer now that I have security questions that even I can’t answer.  I wrote to Sears to complain on the 22nd, but haven’t heard a peep from them, not even an auto-response.

End of rant, and soon I’ll post about Christmas.

Posted by Leigh-Ann on 12/27 at 03:23 AM

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  1. Ugh, I haven’t run across those yet.  I rarely have a single favorite anything.  I don’t want to visit just ONE foreign city, I’ve never been married, I don’t have any children, I couldn’t possibly remember my boss’s name at my first job (uh, seasonal help for six weeks at The May Co. - I was a floater and probably worked in every department), and half the time I can’t remember my own name, much less every teacher I’ve had or my first car make, etc.  I have a password, that should be enough.  My bank doesn’t ask me to answer a bunch of questions, so why should Sears?  Is their site so insecure that they need to require this?  If I choose Smith as every single answer because I need to be able to remember them, is my account more secure?

    Posted by Flippy  on  12/27  at  04:44 AM

  2. I guess I could do the “Smith” thing, but I’d still have to tape a note to my monitor about it, or I’d forget that I’d done it.  Then one day in a fit of cleaning up, I’d see the note and say, “Why do I have a stupid piece of paper with “Smith” written all over it?” and I’d throw it out.  I know I would.

    Posted by Leigh-Ann  on  12/27  at  04:54 AM

  3. Huh, I think the only three of those I can answer are the wedding ones and child one.  Except Anthony doesn’t have a nickname. And I had three unranked bridesmaids. So that leaves wedding reception.  I can definitely answer that.  (Whew!  Thank goodness I’m heterosexual!) I’ve got the same issue with favorites - I have LOTS of favorites.

    Posted by Nancy  on  12/27  at  09:26 AM

  4. My bank has done the same thing, with roughly the same questions. But Hubby and I share the account and need to both check the balance now and then, so I chose 3 questions and when it repeated them back to me with my answers, I took a screen shot and emailed it to him. Now they have it, I have it in my Sent Items, and he has it. I agree with the rest of you; no single favorite of much of anything. One kid, no nickname. I do remember my teachers, but not what I had for breakfast wink
    BTW, after carefully choosing my security Q and A, I’ve logged in several times and they haven’t ask any of those questions!

    Posted by Victor Tabbycat's Mom  on  12/27  at  12:10 PM

  5. Oh, another one - Walgreens. I forgot my password, so I requested a hint question. They asked something stupid like what city I was born in, I answered it, and it basically returned to the login with some light-hearted comment about how I had been reminded of my password. Um, no, that’s NOT how it’s supposed to work.

    Posted by Victor Tabbycat's Mom  on  12/27  at  12:12 PM
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