# System Changeover: Credit Card Co. BS? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 27, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565 "2004-10-27T23:37:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/1 "2004-10-27T23:37:04Z")
I have about five active credit cards and decided to close down the ones I’m not using. When I call one company (First Bank USA), they immediately say that they’re doing some kind of changeover and I’ll have to call back in a few days. I suspect this is a strategy they use to discourage people from closing their accounts. Sort of like insurance companies denying the first claim as a matter of practice. Tell every person on the first try that it isn’t possible, make them wait, and hope they change their mind. That’s what they’re doing, right? Am I paranoid, or just savvy? How can I know? ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/2 "2004-10-27T23:39:51Z")
When I worked for First USA (many years ago), we would say we were updating the servers when we were experiencing computer problems and nothing was working. Are you sure they said a few days and not a few hours? If someone called to cancel an account, we pretty much did it immediately. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/3 "2004-10-27T23:43:22Z")
Thanks, Grace. It heartens me to know that I can give them the benefit of the doubt. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/4 "2004-10-27T23:54:26Z")
Cut up your card and mail it to them with a letter canceling your account. Not a damned thing they can legally do but comply. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2004, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/5 "2004-10-27T23:54:28Z")
I find it unbelievable that a company the size of FirstUSA would have their systems out of commission for several days. I think they’re just trying to discourage you from cancelling your card. I vote for “BS.” I’m not quite sure how to interpret **Grace’s** response - she seems to be saying that when someone called to cancel, they automatically tried to put him off with a bogus excuse. If I’m reading that correctly, I wouldn’t give them the benefit of any doubt. I’d call back, and would insist upon speaking to someone higher up if I got the same routine. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/6 "2004-10-28T00:27:11Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > I find it unbelievable that a company the size of FirstUSA would have their systems out of commission for several days. I think they’re just trying to discourage you from cancelling your card. I vote for “BS.” > > I’m not quite sure how to interpret **Grace’s** response - she seems to be saying that when someone called to cancel, they automatically tried to put him off with a bogus excuse. If I’m reading that correctly, I wouldn’t give them the benefit of any doubt. I’d call back, and would insist upon speaking to someone higher up if I got the same routine. I think you’re misreading what Grace said. She said that when they experienced computer problems, they claimed it was “upgrading servers”. Not that when someone called to cancel, they claimed a bogus problem. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/7 "2004-10-28T00:50:42Z")
Well, that’s what you get for calling at 2am on a Saturday. Because, as an IT professional, I can tell you that upgrades are scheduled for low use times. You _did_ call at 2am on a Saturday, right? Otherwise I call BS. ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/8 "2004-10-28T03:22:03Z")
> [@Early Out](#): > > I find it unbelievable that a company the size of FirstUSA would have their systems out of commission for several days. I think they’re just trying to discourage you from cancelling your card. I vote for “BS.” > > I’m not quite sure how to interpret **Grace’s** response - she seems to be saying that when someone called to cancel, they automatically tried to put him off with a bogus excuse. If I’m reading that correctly, I wouldn’t give them the benefit of any doubt. I’d call back, and would insist upon speaking to someone higher up if I got the same routine. I see how you got that out of what I wrote, but it’s not what I meant. This is what I meant (and hopefully this will make sense)… When I worked for First USA, we cancelled an account as soon as the customer asked us to do it. There were many times that someone would call and ask me to cancel their account. We didn’t have a specialized retention department so we just cancelled their account. No biggie. If a customer called and we were having computer problems, rather than say “our computers are down”, we would ask them to call back in a couple of hours because we were updating the system. That’s why I wondered if **cricetus** was sure they said call back back in a few **days** and not a few hours. ---
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/9 "2004-10-28T03:25:12Z")
> [@Grace](#): > > That’s why I wondered if **cricetus** was sure they said call back back in a few **days** and not a few hours. Yes. I was specifically told to call back on November 1. ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/10 "2004-10-28T03:27:39Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Well, that’s what you get for calling at 2am on a Saturday. Because, as an IT professional, I can tell you that upgrades are scheduled for low use times. > > You _did_ call at 2am on a Saturday, right? Otherwise I call BS. We weren’t really upgrading the servers. There was no BS except that we just didn’t want to admit that our computers were down. ---
**Author:** ![GraceTX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c4cdca/32.png) [@GraceTX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GraceTX)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/11 "2004-10-28T03:29:57Z")
> [@cricetus](#): > > Yes. I was specifically told to call back on November 1. Then I’d definitely call back and talk to someone else. ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/system-changeover-credit-card-co-bs/271565/12 "2004-10-28T03:31:07Z")
Thanks for the clarification, **Grace**. That’s the trouble with pronouns like “it” - you’re never quite sure what “it” refers to!