Crazy morning

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

You know the day is going to be stressful when you get a call first thing in the morning from you credit card company about suspicious activity.

This was my “Internet only” card, which I just use for Internet transactions (so I can cancel it if anything like this happens). Someone attempted several bogus charges. None went through (I suspect they didn’t have the check number on the back of the card).

Of course, the credit card company contacted me with a robocall and a number to call. I had to double check the number before calling back, just in case this was another level of scam.

They cancelled the card and will be sending me another.

Then, as soon as I got that dealt with, I got another call. I recently got a new car and it was the dealership. There was a problem with my trade-in; it was still listed as having a lien against it (this was a 20-year-old car and the loan was paid off 16 years ago). Problem was, the bank listed on the title had merged. I first had to figure out what it was called now.

Then, I tried to contact them. Their information led me to a phone tree with standard options. I needed to talk to someone to discuss what to do, but they wouldn’t let you talk to a human being unless you gave them an account number. Since I didn’t have an account, I couldn’t talk to anyone.

I finally found a number for a local branch. They told me to call the 800 number and talk directly. It was the same deal – I couldn’t talk to anyone unless I gave an account number. I called again and they got back to me with a different number where I finally talked to a human and was able to get the paperwork.

This took up much of the morning. Usually, it’s quiet this time of year, but today the phone was ringing incessantly, and I was the only one available to answer it.

By afternoon, things calmed down. Though I’m stymied because I have to build a computer which bluescreened as soon as I tried installing some specialized software that is essential for the user to do their job. More fun for tomorrow. :rolleyes:

2

Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Thurdays.

3

I too had a problem a few months ago with a bank that wouldn’t let you talk to a human unless you had an account number to enter. Fortunately, it was a situation where it was no skin off my nose.

(They send a threatening-looking e-mail to me about forclosing, or something, except that I have never ever been their customer. I suspected it might have been a legitimate nasty-gram but they had a wrong e-mail address in their records. I even sent it to a known other person with address similar to mine, whose e-mail often gets mixed up with mine.)

So after numerous attempts to be a good guy and report it to the bank, I finally just said “fuck those shitheads” and let it drop.

RealityChuck, if that had been me in your shoes, I’d have gone to that bank and told the manager: YOU get a human on the phone for me to talk to, and then you can hand the phone over to me. And if that was not successful for any reason whatsoever, my next call would be to the District Attorney, who I hope would have known the right regulatory office for me to take it up with.

4

Tomorrow is bound to be better.

What could go wrong on Friday the 13th?

-D/a