[fragmede]

Why force the change onto customers though? Most people understand the difference between a debit card and a credit card, and as someone who's had Privacy.com cards denied because it was a prepaid MC debit card and not a real CC, I've experienced what the problem was. But for merchants where the prepaid debit card works, why can I not continue using that card number there?

Privacy.com is a wonderful service, but it already automatically locks to the first merchant the card is used on. If it's already working for that merchant, Why do I have to change the card number? Use the credit card updater mechanism (the same mechanism for when a CC gets stolen but my Netflix keeps working and they get the new number somehow) for all merchants that support that - that should keep the customer load down.

[rachel_lithic]

I hear you on this. We’re really sorry for the inconvenience. Unfortunately, this wasn’t fully within our control. To stay compliant with our bank partner’s requirements and network rules we were forced to make this change to existing Visa cards too.

We did explore the card updater[1] and were hoping to be able to use it. Unfortunately it’s not a viable option due to technical limitations. If we could do the updating for you we absolutely would! If you have questions or there's anything we can help with, please reach out to [e-mail]

[1] https://developer.visa.com/capabilities/vau

[dabber]

It's always great to see candid comments like these from the people involved. I appreciate you all and I know I'm not alone.

[troydavis]

Why couch this as an "Exciting Update,"[1] then? Why do none of the FAQ entries[2] answer the obvious question that everyone asked here (why deprecate existing cards, let alone in 3 weeks)?

When forced to by customers, you sort of answered it here, but without details or transparency. The Web site FAQ doesn't even do that much - the question that every single customer will ask isn't listed. Needing to update dozens of cards and merchants for zero benefit is not an "Exciting Update" and Privacy ends up sounding dishonest and, well, stupid for claiming that.

If you were forced to do this by a processing partner, then that's what the FAQ and customer-facing popup should say (and explain why and why your partner agreements allow that with only a few weeks of notice).

I went from being a customer and fan to believing that I can't trust Privacy's decisions nor that those decisions will be described transparently.

[1]: https://support.privacy.com/hc/en-us/categories/441448782555... [2]: https://support.privacy.com/hc/en-us/sections/4414521336855-...

[greyface-]

Can you provide more detail on the partner requirement that forced this?

[bradknowles]

I have hundreds of cards.

I have heard nothing of this problem until now.

Still nothing in the app.

WTF?!?

[prophesi]

> but it already automatically locks to the first merchant the card is used on.

Just a minor correction: I'm able to use the same Privacy card for x merchant for any number of y merchants, so long as it stays under the charge limit I've set for that card.

[hnrodey]

That has not been my experience and runs counter to their core product offering. Just my two cents.

[prophesi]

So a privacy card you used for one merchant was denied by another merchant? And it wasn't due to them rejecting prepaid cards, setting your card to single-use, or setting too low of a dollar limit?

[kingaillas]

Not OP, but yep, my cards have been locked to the merchant.

I've only experienced this with Kickstarter and then a secondary payment collector (BackerKit, etc) where some extra charge had to be finalized, typically shipping or maybe I threw in some extra doodad, and then had it fail because that second charge wasn't technically the same merchant.

But this was fine and I was happy - working exactly as intended. I just created a new privacy card and updated payment.

[greyface-]

Not OP, but yes, this has been my experience. https://support.privacy.com/hc/en-us/articles/360012404053-W...

[hnrodey]

Correct. My cards are indeed locked to the original merchant that first charged something to the card.

[sillysaurusx]

Yes, it's quite annoying. I didn't want it and it was a surprise to me. I think there's a way to turn it off, but I haven't looked into it.

[Zandikar]

Correct, that has been my experience as well. It has nothing to do with the transaction/charge limit or them rejecting prepaids.