Hello and welcome back to the wonderful world of the Dogpound. I got an offer in the mail the other day for another credit card. Now, I already have four cards and this offering happened to be from a company I already have a card with. However, this new card versus my old card would offer me a number of opportunities to earn more points on my purchases, so I gave them a call. I went through the ritual…an automated voice asking me what I wanted to do, which took me to another automated voice asking for the last four digits of my social security number…then the voice wanted my birth date…then …and only then was I allowed to talk to a real human being. We had a short discussion, and he signed me up and told me to expect my card in seven to 10 business days. The time passed by, and no card in the mail. So I called them back…again…the same automated voice …the same choices…and I finally got another operator who told me that they sent the card to my home address and not my private mailing box….which I specifically told them not to do. Easily corrected, and they would rush my new card out to me. The time line passed and no card. Back on the line, and now I knew the procedure by heart, started pushing buttons even before the automated voice finished giving me my options. Now it gets interesting…the next person I talked to claimed there was no record of my talking to a person about my missing card..so we had to start the whole process over again. This person asked me for my four digit code..which I did not have, and none of the other operators needed it to complete my transaction. He said it was no problem…just answer this security question. The question was which of the four listed cars did I drive in the last 10 years. Now I have had one car since 2004…and it was not on the list. Well, too bad for me…I now hadto hang up …call another number … I get a four digit code and call back. Yep…could not do that while I had him on the line…so back I go…got my code…and called again going through the same process as before…all of the steps were completely memorized by now. I got an operator…I explained my plight and she hadto send me to another person. This person was very apologetic and quickly completed my application. As I was ready to hang up, she said to hold on..she needed to transfer me to one other department…not sure why…but I waited as the phone rang and then there was silence. I was disconnected. By this time I was done. I was not calling back and if the card did not show up then it was never meant to be. And it was not! Oh well…my billfold was getting too crowded anyway.
As always, be good, do good, play safe and remember to use your credit card wisely, provided you ever get it.
JR and Max
