I am still not sure about shopping at Target after they had that major data breach many of their customers' private information. I have been seeing some ads on TV that looks like they are offering sales but in reality it seems to me that they are mainly trying to repair their image. To me Target was like the upper-scale version of Walmart. I like shopping at both stores depending on what I need at the moment. But after that hacking incident with Target, I probably will be shopping mostly at Walmart than Target for quite some time.
I don't know if that's really a fair reason not to shop there- plenty of other stores were vulnerable to the exact same breach (some even worse than Target) and just didn't get as much blown out media attention over it. I don't see it so much as a reason not to shop there, but it does remind me to just have some cash on hand instead in a lot of instances now...probably a better option, honestly, as I definitely find that having cash on hand instead of just swiping a card helps me stick to my budget more diligently.
I can understand your concern but that was a while ago and I'm sure they have fixed the issue by now. Although, the other day I actually used my card in there and after was kind of kicking myself thinking the same thing. That I seriously hope that they don't have another issue like that again.
Quite a few stores have had their data breached in the past year. I'm sure that Walmart isn't safe from it happening. That doesn't really seem like a good reason not to shop there. It's up to you, but if you aren't going to shop at stores with breached data you might have very few choices in the future. I've never had a problem but that doesn't mean I won't someday. As long as you check your statements and keep yourself aware things should be fine.
Over the last 6 months or so I have really stopped going to Wal Mart all together. Our store in Lakeland at least, is always unkept and dirty and the customer service is terrible. The small amount I save going there is just not worth the aggravation I experience. We have since started shopping at Target for the things we may need. The data breach did scare me, but honestly that can happen anywhere and it has over the last few months. Target is just cleaner and much nicer in general. Hope this helps! Danyel
I have an easy solution for you. Take cash. We love target. Most of the time, I do not even buy anything from there. It is so nice to walk around a target. Maybe I am the crazy one. If our family buys anything from Target, we make sure we have cash that way there will not be any issues going on. Hopefully people are cautious about that during black Friday this year because sadly, it might happen again. I would make sure that if you need something from Target, to see if Walmart will give you a deal on it. Walmart does have its price match guarantee. As long as you have the paper ad, you will get it.
That's a big concern, not just there but at all sorts of place. You can always pay in cash to avoid them having your credit card data in their system in even to of a breach. I have not been too worried about this issue since I don't shop at any huge stores and probably no one would bother hacking the smaller stores in my area, but I am still aware that it is a potential risk we take every time we use our credit cards.
All this hacking fear is self-defeating and near paranoia thinking! First off, all of one's information is stored physically and electronically stored somewhere or someplace, out of your mind and hands. Secondly, you all "volunteered" to trust these Agencies and Agents with your information, thus it is your own individual responsibility to ensure that entity and hackers do no misuse your information. Lastly, simply because a anonymous person has your information, doesn't allow them complete access to everything regarding you and your person - more than likely, hackers will go for easy targets that match their own selves; for example, I highly doubt a male hacker will use a hacked female's information to make himself a credit card under her name.
I doubt that people should still continue to avoid shopping there because of the incident. I'm sure it was fixed almost as quickly as it was discovered. If you are really that uncomfortable with the idea of the information breach, simply draw out some cash before you shop there and avoid using your card all together - but I don't even really think that's necessary unless you just sincerely need that piece of mind.
I still shop at Target, but I don't use my debit card. I use cash or a prepaid debit card. I feel much safer that way. There isn't a Walmart close to where I live and I just prefer to shop at Target over Walmart.
That could happen just about anywhere, and in fact it's happened at hundreds of other big retailers since the initial incident. It's unfortunate, but part of the problem is we are all still using very old technologies for shopping, mainly the magnetic bar codes on our cards, which can be easily hacked or stolen. Until Target and other retailers move over to a better system, this will continue to be an issue just about everywhere you go. There are even hackers who are putting card scanners over top of ATM machines - so it scans your card information just before your card goes into the real machine. These devices are built to look like part of the actual machine, so it is difficult to detect them.
All systems can be breached and I'm sure many have, without public knowledge. I like Target and all companies are excuse the pun a target for hackers. I worked for a company that does 'penetration testing' so they hack into companies systems to see where there are weaknesses and they tell me they can hack into anything. These are the white hats.
I'm surprised that more people aren't taking advantage of the no fee, pre-paid cards like Serve from American Express or even the cards that most companies supply for their customers. All you have to do is transfer all the money you are planning to spend to that card and use it at these stores. Nothing more than what is on that card is in jeopardy, I've been doing it for years.
As others have said, this happened at quite a few retailers in the past few years like Home Depot and Michael's. It can really happen anywhere :/ If you are concerned, the tips in this thread have been good: take cash or use some sort of prepaid card. I do tend to use prepaid cards when shopping online. I have had some issues with identity theft on websites.
I wouldn't stop going to Target because of that, it's not their fault something like that happened... sure there might have had a negligence issue at some point, but that would still not cause me to ditch them, specially because I think Target is great and has better company values than Walmart. I like Walmart for their low prices in so me items but I still prefer Target overall.
I still shop at Target. I trust that they have their security issues taken care of now. I much prefer them to Wal-Mart. Their stores are generally better run and have much better customer service. The prices are good as well.
