Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Un Fucking Believable

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*Steam coming out of my ears*
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I am so mad. Let me start at the beginning. A month ago I get a call from my mastercard company, Capital One. (That's right, I'm naming names)
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Capital One: "good afternoon, bla bla bla, nonsense, nonsense... we'd like to offer you a new credit card with a microchip in it that would be better for you than your current one"
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Me: No thanks.
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Capital One: "actually ma'am we're going to send this card to all our customers as we are updating our system".
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Me: "So, it's less of you offering it to me, than it is you bullying me into taking your new card"
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C.O: "Oh, we wouldn't refer to it that way".
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Me: "Of course you wouldn't."
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So, they send their bloody card. Or so I thought. Fast forward about 2 weeks, and I realize I haven't yet received this magical card from them yet. So I call them. *I should probably inform you that calling any credit card company is on my least favorite things to do list. It ranks right up there with calling the phone or cell phone company. They piss me off every single time*
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Capital One: "Oh, you didn't get your card?"
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Me: "Nope. Can we just forget the whole thing now, and I'll just keep my old one"
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C.O: "Oh no, we'll have to send you a new one. But now we may have a breech in the card so we'll have to issue you a new account number."
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Me: "What does that mean?"
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CO: "The card you have now will become invalid at the end of this call and we'll send you a brand new one with a new account number within 10 business days"
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Me: "WHAT?! Are you frikkin' kidding me? I don't want my card to be invalid, there's a long weekend coming up."
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CO: "I'm sorry ma'am it's to protect you against fraud."
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I hang up.
How the fuck are they protecting me against fraud? I never asked for their stupid card. Now, I am without a c/c for 2 weeks. On a long weekend. Granted, I don't use it much, so I am grateful for that. But I'm still pissed.
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Fast forward to yesterday. It's been 2 weeks. No card yet. I call them again.
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Me: " Where the hell is my card?"
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C.O: "We sent it 2 weeks ago."
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Me: "Well, did you send it to me?! 'Cause I didn't get it. Just like the first one I didn't get. And now I have no c/c"
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C.O: "Well, it shows it hasn't been activated yet, so that is a good sign."
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Me: "Indeed. When can I expect it?"
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CO: "Any day now. But I can offer you extra protection if you want it. We can ask them to request a password upon activation of the new card."
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Me: "So, just for the activation, the person would need a password to activate it?"
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CO: " That is correct. That way it can only be activated by you."
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Me: " Okay. Let's put a password on the activation."
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Done. I feel slightly less annoyed. Then today, I get my card in the mail. I open it up. It doesn't look any different as my old card. What makes this card so coveted?
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I see a big sticker on the card that says "Call here to activate". So I call. It's an automated message. It asks for the card number. "Your card is activated" it tells me.
What the fuck? Why put the damn password on if I can activate it without one?
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I call them again. I can't even get a word in, she asks for my password.
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Me: "Yeah, that's what I'm calling about. I shouldn't have a password on my account. It was supposed to be for activation purposes only. But I just activated it, without being asked for the password."
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CO: "Did you call the customer help line to activate the card or the automated line?"
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Me: "Well, I called the number on the orange sticker. It was an automated line."
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CO:"We can't have passwords on the automated line. Only at customer service".
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Me: " You guys said the password is to stop any possible fraud against the card being activated by someone else. If someone else were to find it, why would they call the number on the statement? They'd obviously use the automated line to activate it, which means it didn't protect against fraud at all".
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CO: "It would have had they called the customer service line"
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Me: "You're missing the point. Never mind. Just take the damn thing off and let's just get on with it."
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CO: "I'm sorry but passwords can only be removed after writing a letter in to customer service"
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Me: "What? what are you talking about?"
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I'll spare you the rest of the conversation. Turns out even though I didn't ask for the card, and didn't want my account changed or cancelled, and didn't actually want a password on the account, but only on the activation (Which by the way, what was the point of that anyway?) I do now, need to write a letter and spend even more time on this god forsaken company to undo this password.
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I know that to most this wouldn't be a big deal. But it IS a big deal to me! This is complete foolishness. Why take a password over the phone (never mind that they're not describing the rules accurately, therefor I'm making a decision based on mis-information) but now, to undo, it must be in writing?
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That's wrong.
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I know it's petty, but it's the principal behind this people! I've told my husband and my parents about this because I was outraged. All have said to drop it.
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But principals are not like a hat that you take off or on when it's convenient. You either have them or you don't.
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So, I'll write my letter. And another one to the supervisor. And then, I'll call them just one more time.
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To change my password to 'dumbass'.
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28 comments:

Evel said...

LOL I feel your pain.

ljk said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tamara said...

I'd be MAD as hell too!!
WTF did they say give them a password for in the FIRST freakin place...duhhh...to keep the card from being activated by someone besides YOU! So what in the hell made them think that a thief is gona say"OH,I think I'll call customer service instead of this BIG ASS sticker saying CALL THIS # TO ACTIVATE"! What a bunch of goofs"!
My suggestion sounds even MORE ridiculous....but I'd close my acct. and go with someone else,cuz this particular company #1.gave you the run around
and #2.could obviously get your credit in a pinch b/c they even showed how easily your credit card can be compramised(stolen).Thank goodness you follow up,otherwise you could be one of the millions that get duped all the time.
You have EVERY right to be mad.They should be able to be trusted!

JR said...

I've been dealing with customer service at our local hospital and our local collection agency. My daughter went in for surgery to have a pin put in her broken collar bone. I asked how I pay the $40 co-pay for my insurance. "Oh don't worry about that, we'll bill you." Over 2 months goes by with no bill. I eventually get a call from the hospital that our bill is past due. I call the hospital back and pay it over the phone. I also ask if I can pay the other $40 co-pay from the surgery to remove the pin. They say no I can't because it hasn't gone through the billing process yet. I make sure they have my correct address, since I didn't receive the first bill. A month later, we're getting non-stop phone calls and letters from a collection agency, for you guessed it, two $40 co-pays that we never received a bill for. I pay the collection agency over the phone for the second $40 as well as send them a receipt for the first $40 that I already paid because the hospital told them I hadn't paid anything. The collection agency said, don't worry, we'll take care of everything. In the week since then, I've still received letters and phone calls from the collection agency to pay the two bills that I've already paid. I'm about to go down there in person and to the hospital and shove the receipts right up their arses!

Jazz said...

I completely understand. These companies don't know their ass from their elbows.

And unfortunately the poor customer service rep gets to deal with the anger and frustration, neve the people who are responsible for the problems.

Fned said...

I can't fecking belive it! So it's not only the french banks that are "nuls"!

Last weekend hubby lost his c/c... we notice on saturday morning and call the bank right away to block his card. We tell them we have a joint account, want to block "Monsieur's" card and they assure us: "No problem. Done. The card has been destroyed. No possibility of it being used"

Phew! Close call!

We go out to have lunch and when paying with my c/c.. guess what? It doesn't go through! The waitress tries three times before giving me the "sorry, your card is being blocked by your bank-pity" look. Neither of us has any cash on us, we can't take out at the ATM either and nobody in France takes American Express.

I'll spare you the details of how we got out of that one. Anyway, when we call the bank to check (read: yell fucking bloody murder) with them, the guy goes: "uh.... oh yeah, I see what happened... the girl blocked both cards being as you have a joint account".

Us: Well can you FIX IT?

Guy: uh, no. Madame's card has been destroyed. No possibility of it being used.

W.T.F!!!!

So NEITHER of us has ANY money and it's the middle of the weekend. And get this, even though it's THEIR fault this even happened... we have to wait 10 days before we can come down to the bank and RETRIEVE THE CARDS! ("can't you send them to us through the mail?" uh, no)

Grrrrrr!!!!

Fned.

That girl said...

Evel - I'm glad someone does! Lol.

Tammi - That is the whole point. Why would a thief call the customer service line instead of the big 1-800 number on the sticker?! Protect me from fraud, my ass.

VV- Oh, what pain. This is the second time I hear a story like that about hospital billing. I guess they don't waste any time sorting things out before sending you straight to collections,eh? Wow.

Jazz - You're right. It's the customer service rep who gets the brunt of it. I asked several times to speak to a supervisor and after finally getting transferred, they were equally unhelpful.

Fned - Oooh. I had a feeling when I was reading your comment that this is where it'd go. See, that's what is so nerveracking with these companies... we give them the info from the start and somehow, they don't listen to it. Then when a mistake is made on their part, rather than do everything to make it better asap, they put on their "it's our policy" voice, and act like we're the idiots! Oh, I could just scream. (but hubby's sleeping, hehe) Hope you get your c/c soon :-)

AshleyHami said...

Aw geez…this is something that would totally happen to me - not to my *husband of course (te he…so fun and strange to write that)…he seems to have a golden horseshoe up his cute butt.

A year and a half ago I was towed by Robbins Parking…apparently I had parked in a "reserved" parking spot and the person that was renting that spot called the tow truck on me. There was NO signage indicating it was a reserved spot. I had my parking chit saying I had paid for a full day of parking, etc. etc. AND to top it all of there was no freaking number posted for either Robbins or the towing company so I could find out what happened to my car. This was at 4:45 on a Friday night. I was so peeved that after I had finished reaming out the management (with Pat reminding me that you get more with sugar than vinegar ;p) I wrote letter after letter to the Times Colonist to the Robbins "head office"…anyhoo…nothing happened :( and I'm still forced to park in Robbins park aide because they have a monopoly in downtown Victoria…my point is I can relate!

Ann(ie) said...

I am not pleased with Cap One myself because they are gihugant morons. ug. I might send them hate mail, too just because I would have fun doing it. =/

ljk said...

Do it! Every time the credit card company ups my credit limit, I call them and tell them not to. They try to sell me some bullshit about how it's no trouble at all. I tell them, hey look, I'm a (occupation). (I mean for god sake, they should know who I work for and be scared shitless) Let me explain to you how this affects my sterling perfect credit rating. It increases my debt to income ratio. When you give me a $25,000 credit limit per month and I only make half that much each paycheck, then it affects my credit ratings because companies are worried that I'll incur more debt than I can cover. So you can either rescind the offer or I can cancel my card.

I canceled one card recently because I want to get it later when I can get more airmiles as a "new" cardholder. Considering that I have had this card for one year and never used it, I was impressed that they were working so hard to keep me. The guy said what if we offer you a lower APR. I said, it makes no difference because I always pay in full.

But you know - to have to go through ALL THIS WORK - I asked to cancel, I had to talk to 4 "specialists" whose job was to get me NOT to cancel - is ridiculous.

So you GO GIRL. You give them a piece of your mind and you give them hell.

Ps: today, I got a notice from my other credit card (only have two) that because I'm such a great customer, they're increasing my credit to $35,000 per month.

1. I am not a great customer. You never make any money from me because I pay in full each month.

2. When I make $35,000 a month, please send me all the offers you want because I'll have TWO secretaries to deal with time wasters like this and a corporate lawyer I can sic on you for reducing my overall efficiency with your stupid offers.

Go for it Michelle!

kristi said...

Oh hell to the no.
I would have spoken to a supervisor right then and there.

tweetey30 said...

We have a capital one card but havent been offered the new card yet. But yikes.I can feel the pain building just reading and the fustration.. Yikes...

none said...

You'll feel better when I tell you I stiffed capital one for 3 grand and they couldn't do anything about it. :)

They kept slamming me with false charges and changing my long distance carrier when I forgot to check the "no" box on my statement.

So I just said screw em.

Diva's Thoughts said...

I'd feel a little peeved too.

Crazy Working Mom said...

OMG, how terrible! I can imagine your frustration. :(

That girl said...

Hami Harri - that is probably my worst nightmare...getting towed. And not knowing where my car is. Ugh.

Annie - Should we start a hate mail chain letter? I think that'd be fun... it'd bring us even closer together, lol.

Leilani - you know, I never even thought about that aspect of it. Come to think of it, mine raise my limit without asking me as well. I never bothered to complain about it, because I didn't realize what the implications of that on my credit rating. Damn.

Kristi - I tried. She said there was no one 'available' to help me. She point blank refused to transfer me. Arrg. I'm getting angry again just typing this. hehe.

Tweets - I'm sure you'll get the call too. Then again, maybe it was just a canadian promotion. Who knows?

Hammer - How awful that I am happy to hear that! But I do. No idea how you got away with that, but good for you. Sometimes, we just gotta stick it to 'em where it hurts.

Diva - I was livid. But after venting to you guys last night, I'm so much better.

Crazy mom - I'm sure you could sense how frustrated I was by the language I used, lol. I'm much better now :-)

Unknown said...

You give em hell. CC companies suck ass anyway

robkroese said...

We have Capitalone (we pronounce it capital-OH-nay, so it sounds like a mobster family) card too, and went through some similar B.S. with their new cards. Did they give you the stupid snap-off card that you're supposed to use as a keychain or something?

That girl said...

The woman - Yup. They do suck ass.

Diesel - snap off on a key chain? No, I don't think so... I should look closer though. They called it a 'pay pass' card. Apparantly you won't have to take it out of your wallet (or sign for it either)

The machine reads the card inside your wallet as long as I place my wallet next to the machine. It's supposed to be more secure. (unless I lose my wallet, I imagine)

ME! said...

With the way Capitol One makes the commercials seem, everythings coming up roses... I guess that isn't the case. :)
And with re: to the "don't take it out of your wallet" you do still have to sign. It doesn't really save ANY time... dumbness.

ps. I found you through Evel

Queen of the Mayhem said...

THESE COMPANIES ARE CRAZY!

My mom kept getting random text messages from people. She called her carrier to see what company was sending them. HER carrier said they could not tell her what company was sending them....but since it was not them...they could not cancel the service. Are you catching all of this? She would have to CONTACT the company, whose name they could not tell her, and cancel it herself!

Needless to say, an angry call to a supervisor later....the whole mess was fixed. GOOD GRIEF!

What happened to customer service?

Eileen said...

I've really enjoyed reading all of this. Good 'mood lifter'.
By the way, I moved this past weekend. The person who lived here before us had a 'Rogers' home. I, for some stupid reason, have a 'Bell' home. I JUST got my home phone and internet working about 1/2 hour ago and this is one of the first things I have done, check out YOUR blog. On top of that, I've had bronchitis, a sinus infection, fluid in my ears, and 2 whiny kids who want their stuff unpacked NOW. Hey, at least I built Heather's bunk bed and we all have clean underwear (for now). And, I had to miss two days of work because I couldn't move.
Oh, you were asking why I haven't posted???
Shut up.

Eileen said...

Oh, Capital One....
I actually recently got one. Someone I know works for them and he told me that they have 'secured' cards for people like me who are not responsible to have real credit cards.
I have not had any problems with them at all.

On the other hand, I SO know what you are talking about. One time I was grocery shopping at 224th and had about $200 in my cart. I have a 'shared' Visa with my mother, it's her bill, but I have my card in my name. I charge and pay her back. Anyway, I get to the cash and they tell me there is some problem with the card. HUH?? It's a gold Visa, what the heck? Turns out my mother was travelling somewhere and 'they' (Visa) saw a charge that wasn't 'normal' for her and froze the card. They left a message on her home phone and she hadn't called them back. No shit, she was out of the country. So here I am in line at Save-On with 2 kids and melting ice cream. I couldn't remember my mom's postal code and they almost didn't accept me as a 'real' person they could talk to. They ended up letting me get the food, I called my mom's cell to let her know what was going on with her Visa. She went home after her vacation and blasted Visa for it. CIBC. They were trying to protect her as well.
I love how these companies 'protect' those of us who do not need protecting. What about all of the a-holes who actually do commit the fraud??? Can they not spend just a fraction of the manpower on that?????

That girl said...

Queen - I so know what you're talking about... I know someone who had the same thing happen to her, and to top it off, they were charging her for the texts!! Crazy.

Eileen - Oh dear! I certainly have no right to ask where you've been... sorry to hear about the bronchitis, totally understand what you mean about the kids wanting their stuff unpacked NOW...and as to the underwear, well, who cares if it's clean? The question is, do the panties and bra match? (my mom always made such a big deal about that, it sorta stuck in my head, lol...what a stupid thing to teach a daughter to worry about eh?)

BlondeBlogger said...

Customer service seems to suck just about everywhere these days. There are only two places that have surprised me and they went above and beyond what I would've expected (Blockbuster and iTunes). The rest suck.

luckyzmom said...

Are you starting to see a pattern?

La Cremiere said...

change credit card company. it's the only way. they're all freaggin stupid. I don't have a credit card for that very reason, Alex got me a secondary credit card and I pay him back at the end of the month, he is much better at dealing with this shit.

But for the little similar story, the poor darling was sent a credit card from his bank - without requesting one - with a ten grand credit limit, he called them to confirm it was not an error and was told that it is because he was a good customer. Fair enough. Being 2 days before our trip to Edinburgh, he took this credit card on our trip, on the first day, he paid for dinner and the castle visit, on the second day, we bought lots of tartans and other souvenirs and at dinner; his credit card was rejected, declined, denied - so I paid with my credit card (which luckily wasn't cancelled), Alex called them furiously (he is never furious, it was a first) and it turned out that they changed their mind and had reduced his limit to 250 pounds from the 10K!!!!!!! Needless to say, we changed banks shortly after.

Anonymous said...

OMG...don't even get me started. My biggest peeve in the world is the rinky-dink service we get. As consummers we really do need to band together and boycott against bad service.

xxxJolie