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  • Report:  #1126796

Complaint Review: Penguin Computing

Penguin Computing penguincomputing.com POD penguin computing pod online services GPU rental fremont Internet

  • Reported By:
    John — Rancho Cucamonga California
  • Submitted:
    Wed, February 26, 2014
  • Updated:
    Thu, February 27, 2014
*UPDATE Employee: Credit Card Verification Process

I attempted to use the free services on penguincomputing.com to check to see if their hardware could be capable of mining bitcoin.  I was required to input credit card information before allowed to use the free services.  I proceeded to do so.

I used one free service and decided I was unhappy with the quality of their product as well as its profitibility.  I shut down and never went back.

They proceeded to attempt to charge my credit card.  Probably multiple times.  A customer service representative then got in contact with me asking me to give her a new card after it started declining.  

This is completely unacceptable and i've been forced to report my card stolen.

here is an email transcript:   

Check your verification process.  Verify'ing a card is performing a mathematical equation on the card number to see if its a card associated with the network.

What you did was authorize my card.  Authorizing my card removes the funds from my account until captured or released.  If it had gone through, whatever funds where authorized would no longer be available.  Although they would "remain in my account" they could not be used and on many account systems shows up as a charge like any other.   I would just see a difference in "available balance" and "account balance" in my account.

This is why you received a "declined" response.

Whether you intended to capture the funds or not is is very alarming that you are receiving "declined" responses from my card as this means you tried to authorize a charge.  I have reported you to the pertaining authorities and notified my bank of a stolen card.

[report link]

On 2/26/2014 2:44 PM, Catherine Pringle wrote:
We did not charge your card at all. We just went through a verification process.

__________________________________
Catherine Pringle - HPC on Demand, POD
Sales Account Manager
Penguin Computing 
M. 415.269.6700
O. 612.929.2969
E. cpringle@penguincomputing.com 

  
 

On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 4:25 PM, John <> wrote:
The project was bitcoin mining and I no longer believe that your hardware can be profitable with the network hash rate climbing at 90% every 9 days.

They use ASIC devices and I naively spent 2 months attempting to find a non-ASIC device that could compete.  They cant. 

I also didn't like the whole "make a text file and queue it up" thing.  I would rather rent a VPS and have the company plug GPU's into it if I were to continue the project.  Shell access is better.

I'm having trouble figuring out why any one would choose you instead of Amazon web services.  Unless your hardware is so much better.  I don't have specs for both of you laying in front of me, but Amazon seemed capable of competing with you with a much better interface and likely cheaper.

I also don't like that you charged my card without any notice to the point of being declined.  I dont have a very large amount in the account but you must have charged greater than $50.00 USD in order to decline it.  You can still test cards by charging a penny you know.  Money doesn't change.

On 2/26/2014 2:10 PM, Catherine Pringle wrote:
Ok John, will do. But could I please ask why you won't be using the service? It would help to know if there is a problem you experienced or something you didn't like.

Thank you,
Catherine

__________________________________
Catherine Pringle - HPC on Demand, POD
Sales Account Manager
Penguin Computing 
M. 415.269.6700
O. 612.929.2969
E. cpringle@penguincomputing.com 

  
 

On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 4:07 PM, John <> wrote:
Okay thank you.  I will not be using POD services so you can cancel the whole account.
On 2/26/2014 2:02 PM, Catherine Pringle wrote:
Hi,
 
You have only used the free services on POD, so there were no plans to bill you.  But, since you have the ability to use chargeable resources with your account, your CC is verified for security.  The verification came back as invalid, so we wanted to check with you.

Catherine
 

__________________________________
Catherine Pringle - HPC on Demand, POD
Sales Account Manager
Penguin Computing 
M. 415.269.6700
O. 612.929.2969
E. cpringle@penguincomputing.com 

  
 

On Wed, Feb 26, 2014 at 3:24 PM, John <> wrote:
No.  Your website clearly stated I wouldn't be charged.  Please cancel my account and discontinue any billing.
On 2/26/2014 12:09 PM, Catherine Pringle wrote:
Hello John,
 
You have an account on our HPC Cloud Service, POD. The credit card associated with this account came back as declined. We would like to keep you on POD, but we need updated billing info by Friday to keep your account active.  
 
Could you please call me so that we can get accurate payment information from you?

Thank you,
Catherine
__________________________________
Catherine Pringle - HPC on Demand, POD
Sales Account Manager
Penguin Computing 
M. 415.269.6700
O. 612.929.2969
E. cpringle@penguincomputing.com 

  
 
 
 

1 Updates & Rebuttals

catheroo

California,

Credit Card Verification Process

#2UPDATE Employee

Thu, February 27, 2014

We never attempted to charge his credit card.

We do NOT preauth the card with any dollar amount during the verification. Only Netsuite does the preauth, when we intend to close the sale.
 
Address Verification Service (AVS) is a tool to help merchants manage risk and reduce fraud when accepting non face-to-face credit card transactions. By submitting thecardholder’s billing address and zip code at the time of authorization, a comparison is done against the billing information on file at the bank. A response is returned indicating a full (address and zip) match, an address-only partial match, a zip code-only partial match,or a response indicating AVS Results are not available (this could result from a number of factors including an AVS system outage, the issuing bank not participating, etc.).
 
Best Practice:
When initially accepting a card for payment, it is recommended to perform a verification only transaction to verify the billing address and zip. This is a non-monetary transaction that will not impact a customer’s “open to buy” on their card.
Note that last line - that is what he is referring to. We did our due diligence and that is that. I believe an apology is in order. 

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