Thursday, November 01, 2007

Debit Card Blues

I suspected something was wrong when McDonalds declined my Credit Union debit card. OK, no comments about McDonalds. And when I prepaid my cell account yesterday and the payment didn't go through, I knew I had to call the Credit Union.

Oh, I was girded for battle. I was pissed. I was ready to close my account which would be a shame since the CU has been so good to me over the years.

Call #1
I had to use my landlord's landline (ain't that a mouthful) to call since, of course, my cell was not working. I got through the usual menu bullshit by pressing 0. (Works with most systems. Try it sometime.) Got a very friendly young man who looked at my account (WITHOUT asking my password) and then transferred me to the bookkeeping department. Oh, hell no. I KNOW there's money in there. After several rings -- I lost count -- the voicemail system kicked in. I couldn't leave a message. I didn't want to. I wanted this resolved NOW!!
So I hung up and called back.

Call #2
Kristen answered, DID ask for my password (kudos to her) and then transferred me to someone else. Before she did, I explained that my cell phone wasn't working (because my payment hadn't gone through) and leaving a message was not an option for me.
She then transferred me to Laurie who found that October 8th there were three failed attempts to use my card with a PIN. I remembered what that was. Lucy had was going to the cheapest place in town to buy cigs (shockingly the downtown CVS has the lowest prices) and offered to picke me up some, too. She told me when she got back that she had trouble with the PIN.
Anyway, Laurie told me the card froze with 3 bad attempts and she reactivated it right there.

So it looks like I'll be maintaining my accounts there a bit longer.

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