Consultants: Chain should be more open, helpful

Richard Walega suspects he's a victim of fraud, and he blames T.J. Maxx.

The New Bedford city employee said $6,700 in charges suddenly appeared on his Visa card this month. It's the same credit card he used while shopping at a T.J. Maxx store in Westborough in December.

Walega called on Thursday the hot line set up by the Framingham retailer that runs T.J. Maxx, Marshalls, and other chains to let the company know of his case, one he believes is connected to the security breach that may have exposed the credit-card data of millions of TJX Cos. customers to identity thieves.

Walega said he was bounced among the hot line, TJX's website, and customer service representatives, who eventually told him to write a letter and mail it to company headquarters.

"It's so frustrating. I want to give them a tip, and all I get is the run around," said Walega, who was made aware of the fraudulent charges by Bank of America, which issues his Visa card. "Honest people are trying to help them, and it doesn't seem like they care."

TJX spokeswoman Sherry Lang called Walega's case an "unfortunate customer experience," adding that "we are trying our absolute best."

TJX is embroiled in one of the company's biggest crises after disclosing this week that it discovered in mid-December an "unauthorized intrusion" of its computer systems, which may have made customers' personal data as far back as 2003 vulnerable to fraud and identity theft.

This is a critical time for TJX, which operates more than 2,500 stores, to restore confidence in its brand, and crisis management executives applauded the retailer's initial moves. The company immediately set up a hot line (1-866-484-6978 ) and provided tips on its website on ways customers can try to protect themselves from identity theft.

But some crisis communication consultants say the discount behemoth should be doing more, and the company seems unprepared despite waiting a month to disclose the hacking incident.

TJX is giving few updates and is still not disclosing how many customers may have been affected and at which stores. The retailer has notified a small number of customers whose driver's license numbers may have been stolen but, for now, is leaving it up to credit-card companies and banks to notify TJX customers of a potential loss of personal data.

Ideally, TJX would have held a news conference with its own executives, as well as representatives from law enforcement and the new companies hired to better protect the company's data, said Mike Lawrence , executive vice president of crisis prevention and management at Cone Inc., a Boston strategy and communications agency.

"I would have felt better hearing from the police that they asked TJX not to release the information. Waiting a day or two is one thing, but a month is a really long time, and I'm a little skeptical," Lawrence said. "And if the company is saying, 'We've got this under control,' and they've named the companies working with them, I want to hear from them directly. Otherwise, it makes me skeptical about whether the hole is really plugged."

Other crisis communication executives said TJX should talk more directly with customers and update them more often, even if there is not much new information to report. Recent visits to local Marshalls and T.J. Maxx stores gave no indication that the company had just disclosed a major security breach of customer data.

"I'd get the CEO out to the stores to talk to and reassure employees and customers, whatever they can do to instill confidence in the company's ability to fix the problem and help customers if they've been affected," said John Isaf , a senior vice president and director at Arnold Corporate Communications in Boston.

TJX's chairman and acting chief executive Ben Cammarata has not made any public comments other than the news release and letter to customers posted on the company's website Wednesday evening. Lang, the TJX spokeswoman, said yesterday the company is considering using advertising, e-mails, and letters to reach out to customers.

For Walega, he's already invested considerable time filing a police report and plans to put fraud alerts on his credit report this weekend. "TJX seems totally disorganized to handle this matter," he said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com. Globe reporter Ross Kerber contributed to this report.