Rolex's card validation process

[tng11]

Take my words with a grain of salt, but I got a glimpse of the Rolex card validation process today. The AD ran the warranty card through the regular credit card machine and made a charge of $10.00 to the card. The card slip came out as "Approved", and the card type was actually indicated as a "Mastercard", which seems to make sense, as the card number (on the back right edge) begins with 549728, which corresponds with a Mastercard Bank ID Number:

https://iin-bin.com/bin/549728.html

So it seems that the Rolex Warranty Card is secretly some kind of Mastercard underneath!

Not sure if this is well known knowledge (I haven't seen it around before), but I thought it was pretty cool!

[Timetracker]

Same thing happened with my pickup yesterday.

[THC]

Wait, whaaaattt?

[cdmorenot]

Are you sure it was a charge for $10 ? If so, all sorts of things would happen on the back-end so there isn't a cash settlement unless the store is actually receiving a few dollars from Rolex.

I've given prepaid debit gift cards to my clients which are branded to remove numbers - We set up loyalty programs this way.

I think they may be doing the same thing but just running a non monetary "Test Auth" so that it gets a hit and activates card. Pretty clever in my opinion - Using the MC Network to manage a warranty card program is genius.

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[tng11]

Originally Posted by cdmorenot

Are you sure it was a charge for $10 ? If so, all sorts of things would happen on the back-end so there isn't a cash settlement unless the store is actually receiving a few dollars from Rolex.

I've given prepaid debit gift cards to my clients which are branded to remove numbers - We set up loyalty programs this way.

I think they may be doing the same thing but just running a non monetary "Test Auth" so that it gets a hit and activates card. Pretty clever in my opinion - Using the MC Network to manage a warranty card program is genius.

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May very well have been a "Test Authorization"! I saw the slip that said $10 on it briefly.

[Ticknaway]

I was told by an AD that he runs a small charge against the warranty card to activate it at the time of sale, not sure if that’s true though. AD s seem to be doing some weird stuff.

[bradyb]

Wow, what a very clever way to activate a watch and warranty. Impressive.

[Flstfirider]

Several years ago my AD confirmed the above statement that the warranty cards are run through the credit card processing machine. He indicated that they enter a small charge amount. The system is used to track inventory, and has noting to do with registering purchaser names with watches.

[cdmorenot]

Originally Posted by bradyb

Wow, what a very clever way to activate a watch and warranty. Impressive.

Clever indeed ! I'm going into my playbook (I'm in payments) and trying to figure out how to do this without exchanging funds.

Doable with a few hits here and there but on a large scale, Rolex will always be Rolex I suppose !

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[jrs146]

Very interesting. My AD always referred to “swiping” the card. I always wondered what type of machine they would use to swipe and transmit that info to rolex.


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[Dirt]

I thought all this stuff was common knowledge?
This system has been in place for quite a while now

[tng11]

Originally Posted by Dirt

I thought all this stuff was common knowledge?
This system has been in place for quite a while now

That cards are validated I think is well known. But I haven't seen any information on the underlying process of how cards are validated. I just find it really neat that it appears the Rolex warranty card is actually a Mastercard in disguise and a charge/authorization is put on it to validate the card.

[perryj]

So what would happen if Someone swiped it at work through a cc machine??? Anyone brave enough to try it??

[AK797]

Originally Posted by Flstfirider

Several years ago my AD confirmed the above statement that the warranty cards are run through the credit card processing machine. He indicated that they enter a small charge amount. The system is used to track inventory, and has noting to do with registering purchaser names with watches.

I'd think they now track names as well, or the AD is doing it manually, so it's easy for Rolex to see who ADs are selling to and if a name keeps coming up then easy to question them and see if it is a grey of a genuine VIP.

[karmatp]

This has been going one for some time now. I am pretty sure Rolex registers the original purchaser name as well.

[THC]

All my purchases have been through many trusted sellers here, so ha, never knew... learned something..

[Spoonage]

I'm going to my AD to see if I can buy a watch and charge it on my Warranty Card. LOL. I knew they were swiped... Didn't know they were MasterCards all dressed up in Rolex attire.

[tng11]

Originally Posted by karmatp

This has been going one for some time now. I am pretty sure Rolex registers the original purchaser name as well.

I'm not so sure how through the process I saw a purchaser's name would be registered. The warranty card was swiped on a simple handheld card terminal - there is no facility to enter a name or anything like that. AD is still old school and writes receipts by hand. Rolex could well be developing a system to do so though.

[ZOOK]

Originally Posted by perryj

So what would happen if Someone swiped it at work through a cc machine??? Anyone brave enough to try it??

Originally Posted by Spoonage

I'm going to my AD to see if I can buy a watch and charge it on my Warranty Card. LOL. I knew they were swiped... Didn't know they were MasterCards all dressed up in Rolex attire.

It's probably going to come back with the confiscate the card message.

[Dirt]

Originally Posted by tng11

That cards are validated I think is well known. But I haven't seen any information on the underlying process of how cards are validated. I just find it really neat that it appears the Rolex warranty card is actually a Mastercard in disguise and a charge/authorization is put on it to validate the card.

If one is able to look at their counter where the task is performed, there is only one card machine.
It all takes place at the one machine.
I have been sitting at a table that has a clear line of sight to the workstation and observed them doing it. That is, instead of gazing at my new acquisition

Yes it is clever how they disguise the card and also expedient/efficient
That is until the machine stops working or the line is down.

[thewolfofmiddlesex]

Dunno if this sheds any light, when I purchased my SS Skydweller last month in the UK, the AD swiped the warranty card. The message on the print out was something along the lines of 'transaction declined'. Apparently this was normal according to the AD and that Rolex had activated the warranty with that procedure.

[brandrea]

Originally Posted by tng11

That cards are validated I think is well known. But I haven't seen any information on the underlying process of how cards are validated. I just find it really neat that it appears the Rolex warranty card is actually a Mastercard in disguise and a charge/authorization is put on it to validate the card.

News to me Tom, but interesting nonetheless

I’ve dealt with a few different ADs in the GTA and never really paid any attention to this other than seeing them swipe the card. I guess I figured it must be through whichever credit card merchant they use.

[GB-man]

This explains the $10 receipt my wife and I couldn’t figure out the source of lol

[81sforlife]

Originally Posted by thewolfofmiddlesex

Dunno if this sheds any light, when I purchased my SS Skydweller last month in the UK, the AD swiped the warranty card. The message on the print out was something along the lines of 'transaction declined'. Apparently this was normal according to the AD and that Rolex had activated the warranty with that procedure.

Same thing here last Monday.


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[DoctorA]

Real interesting and real clever! And that’s how they can keep track of the name on the card against the name it’s ran after!

[77T]

You can swipe a card to activate the Rolex Warranty, but there is no machine at the AD to encode the card’s mag stripe with your name. So the warranty card isn’t coded with your name in the same way a MasterCard is encoded.


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