Wednesday, March 08, 2006

Good things and bad things


Many thanks for all the get well wishes. They worked a treat. I thought I was better last week but when I lay down to feed my baby and woke up 2 hours later I knew I was still not right but now I am back in fighting health. My favourite get well wish came from a couple of Numptys, 2 dear little creatures that are the invention of this lovely lady. I really think they should be made up into little toys, made of vintage fabrics of course, I know my kids would adore them.

I had a bad day yesterday. I found out that I had lost my ipod. I thinked I dropped it from my pocket when picking up Alfie from a party. I was carrying baby, goodie bags, clothes that Alfie had cast off, trying to keep him from bouncing all over the place in his sugar-shocked state whilst avoiding his nasty balloon. I think it’s understandable that I may not have noticed if it dropped out of my pocket. I have contacted the local police just in case some nice person decides to hand it in, It does have my name engraved on the back, so I live in hope that the good people of Appledore will come through for me. We’ll see.

I also contacted my insurance company to see about recovering my excess now I have my car back. They informed me that the liability is in dispute by the third party. I fail to see how he can dispute that he was at fault when I was stopped, handbrake on, while he hurtled into me at speed!!! Trouble is in many cases of country lane bumps they tend to go knock for knock, but I am furious. I shall dispute the dispute. This could go on for ages.............yawn!

I also contacted my credit card company to ask why they had charged so much interest on my latest statement. Almost £100 when my balance was less that £800. I have paid off most of the balance and was amazed to see that I am paying more interest now than when my balance was 10 times this amount! I phoned and got a call center in India. I explained the situation and got a very quiet, barely audible response from the lady at the other end. She got her supervisor to explain it to me. She spoke very good English (still very quiet) but it was total gobbledegook. Apparently I am being charged on the balance back in December and to avoid being charged so much should have paid off the balance last month. How is that supposed to work? I told her that if I paid of the minimum amount that they suggested (£25.00) then I would be paying this bill for the rest of my life. She made no sense with her stock answers and I shouted that it was bullshit and that they can keep their card and hung up. I cut up my card in a fit of pique. Then I burst into tears. It seems to me that I am being punished for trying to pay off my credit card, they would prefer for me to be in debt. I still don’t understand it but they have me over a barrel. I am paying off this balance and never using the card again (well I can’t it’s in little pieces on the kitchen table!). Pin It

8 comments:

Ziz said...

ugh! isn't that just like credit card companies though?? I hate the lot of them! :o)

lettuce said...

Some days its best to just not get up - but you never know its one of those days till its too late...

Woo Gilchrist said...

Dons, I had a similar problem with NatWest, I went £40 overdrawn through a mistake (not mine) and because the £40 consisted of about 8 small payments on Paypal, they charged me £38 PER ITEM, making me almost £400 Overdrawn!!!! Then they charged me for being overdrawn and for the letter they sent me! I was so furious I wrote to the bank who sent me a really snotty 2 line reply which basically said TOUGH. I wrote a right stinker to their head office and got the whole lot back. Bastards. Who needs that kind of crap!

Tanya said...

Oh honey bun, bad bad day, I'll ring you later and try to catch you....bad news about the Ipod, I know you love your little pink thing :-( I'm sure some honest person will hand it in, wait and see, speak soon..

ramblingwoman said...

Oh Dons, that is a bad day. Losing the iPod is just awful, awful awful. I know this is obvious but have checked in the car? It might have slid down between the seat and the door...that happens alot to me, purses, phones the lot.

We have NO credit cards or store cards. Have learnt from bitter experience how expensive they are. We do have a card which works as a 'charge' card which automatically gets paid off each month which enables us to get large stuff such as furniture, holidays etc.
But those Indian call centres/customer helplines are SO frustrating - they seem to be reading lines and can't veer from the script!

And such a pain with the insurance. Hope it comes out OK, but it's always such a long process and time consuming. Goodluck. x

Molly Bloom said...

Banks are just capitalists, who don't deserve our custom. I think we should go back to the old days when people kept their money under their mattress. I hope you find your ipod.

Gretel said...

Ugh, what a crap week! I would try writing an actual polite but angry letter to the card company, also mentioning your frustration with the call center (it drives you mad, doesn't it). I think letters have a biggger impact nowadys, bbecasue people write less of them.
It is horrid losing things...would it be over optimistic to put a card in the Appledore Co-op/Post Office? Always worth a go.

Molly Bloom said...

I wonder if you found your i-pod. You can have any of my biscuits if you like.