"you can't have a credit check without a driver's license"

[deborah]

Over in my own journal, I post about my failed efforts to purchase an iPhone. Very short version: I am told that they can't do a credit check without a drivers license. When I point out to them that I have had plenty of credit checks without a drivers license, and lots of disabled people don't drive, doncha know, they hang up on me. Stay classy, Apple!

Comments

[archersangel]

they can't accept a state issued ID card? anyway i agree with pauamma, find a local consumer advocate & tell them what happened.

[leia_solo]

That's what I'm thinking. When I got a new contract they just asked to see my ID.

[deborah]

A friend of mine posited that maybe it was because I'm coming in without any existing phone or contract, so maybe they think I must be a scammer, because who doesn't already have a phone?

The number of places that won't accept passport as legal ID just boggles my mind. I have a passport! The federal government lets fly internationally with it, and yet you won't combine it with my social security number and a credit card to let me have a cell phone?

[leia_solo]

That kind of makes sense, but seriously? I didn't buy an iPhone, but it was a smart phone. They shouldn't make it that hard to get a phone. I don't drive myself, but I use my state ID in it's place.

[automaticdoor]

I don't even understand that. They won't let you use a passport, SSN and credit card number to run the credit check? Someone's just being lazy there. I know quite a few people who don't have drivers licenses, even people without disabilities, just because of growing up places where they didn't need cars. Some of those people don't have state ID cards either.

[j00j]

I fall into this category (I do not have disabilities, but do not drive because I've never lived somewhere that absolutely required it), though I do have a state ID. The state ID has always been accepted, though people occasionally boggle at my not having a license. Hell, all that's required for you to do your own credit check with one of the 3 credit bureaus is SSN, and if I recall correctly, birthdate and some of your address history (to make sure you've got the right John Smith or whoever).

[automaticdoor]

My boyfriend, who is 22 and from Oklahoma, has had a learners permit since he was 16 or 17. He was even allowed to renew it as a learners permit when he turned 21. They've still not made him get an actual license. He went to OU which is small enough that you can ride your bike around town, he homeschooled himself for high school so no need for a car there, and he's in his second year of law school in DC. Other than an inordinate amount of teasing from me about having *renewed* his learners permit, he's not had any issues with it.