klsiegel320 (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
klsiegel320) wrote2003-09-04 12:22 am
klsiegel320) wrote2003-09-04 12:22 am
)(*&$^)%*&^)@#$)(& Credit Card Companies!!!
Sigh...I just love how my credit card company is trying to protect me from myself - not!
I've been using one particular card for travel - something that I've been doing a lot of, lately, as you all know (I think). And three times in the space of two months, that card got suspended because the credit card company's "fraud prevention" system flagged "suspicious" activity and attempted to verify transactions. It's an automated system, and it attempted to verify transactions by calling my home phone number in the middle of the day when no one is home, then suspending the card when there was no one to answer the phone - without notifying me in any other way, so that I was out attempting to use the card and getting declined and being humiliated in public.
Each time I called, increasingly irate, and asked them to stop protecting me from myself - I know what I'm doing. Each time, they assured me they would put a notation on the account to the effect that I was traveling in Atlanta, GA, etc., etc.
And then, today, they did it again. Now, they didn't decline the $1875 rent charge for my corporate apartment, nor anything else large. No - they declined a $49 charge for a few balls of crochet thread. Declined it and then called to ask if that was supposed to have been an allowed charge - in the middle of the day, when no one was home. The system called back after my husband arrived home, and he indicated that this was in fact an accepted charge - but they still declined my card when I tried to order dinner in at the apartment in Atlanta.
Needless to say, when I called I was livid, and I was in no mood to be placated. I'm counting on that card for rent, for my car, for food. I'm depending on automatic charges being processed. I will be charged financial penalties if Avis tries to charge my rental car and the charge is declined - and they're not going to waive that fee just because I explain that really, the credit is there, it's just my card company trying to protect me. I explained all this, and I was not disposed to be gentle or particularly polite about it - having explained it at least three times already, apparently to no avail. For the most part, the Customer Service Rep. was reasonable - although at one point she made some snarky remark about seeing charge after charge coming in for two days straight...that's eight transactions in six days...maybe as many as ten...but she did agree to call the merchant whose charge was declined, explain that it was the company's fault and not mine, and get the charge cleared.
I'm still aggravated. I appreciate that they're trying to prevent fraud - but their method for preventing fraud is to shoot first and ask question later, and then apologize unconvincingly for any inconvenience they may have caused. After all, she said, the system doesn't know I'm traveling. That's why they rely on their customers to tell them these things - like I have to clear it with them when I travel? Like I have to call up every time I plan to go shopping, to make sure I don't get the card suspended trying to get groceries and supplies for the week? Grrrr....
I'm going to call customer service and bargain for a better interest rate, on the grounds that I'm currently rather dissatisfied with their idea of customer service - the CSR I spoke with claimed there was no notation in my file that I'm traveling on business. I find this fascinating, considering the number of times I've asked for that notation to be added.
Sigh...just one more lovely facet of business travel...
I've been using one particular card for travel - something that I've been doing a lot of, lately, as you all know (I think). And three times in the space of two months, that card got suspended because the credit card company's "fraud prevention" system flagged "suspicious" activity and attempted to verify transactions. It's an automated system, and it attempted to verify transactions by calling my home phone number in the middle of the day when no one is home, then suspending the card when there was no one to answer the phone - without notifying me in any other way, so that I was out attempting to use the card and getting declined and being humiliated in public.
Each time I called, increasingly irate, and asked them to stop protecting me from myself - I know what I'm doing. Each time, they assured me they would put a notation on the account to the effect that I was traveling in Atlanta, GA, etc., etc.
And then, today, they did it again. Now, they didn't decline the $1875 rent charge for my corporate apartment, nor anything else large. No - they declined a $49 charge for a few balls of crochet thread. Declined it and then called to ask if that was supposed to have been an allowed charge - in the middle of the day, when no one was home. The system called back after my husband arrived home, and he indicated that this was in fact an accepted charge - but they still declined my card when I tried to order dinner in at the apartment in Atlanta.
Needless to say, when I called I was livid, and I was in no mood to be placated. I'm counting on that card for rent, for my car, for food. I'm depending on automatic charges being processed. I will be charged financial penalties if Avis tries to charge my rental car and the charge is declined - and they're not going to waive that fee just because I explain that really, the credit is there, it's just my card company trying to protect me. I explained all this, and I was not disposed to be gentle or particularly polite about it - having explained it at least three times already, apparently to no avail. For the most part, the Customer Service Rep. was reasonable - although at one point she made some snarky remark about seeing charge after charge coming in for two days straight...that's eight transactions in six days...maybe as many as ten...but she did agree to call the merchant whose charge was declined, explain that it was the company's fault and not mine, and get the charge cleared.
I'm still aggravated. I appreciate that they're trying to prevent fraud - but their method for preventing fraud is to shoot first and ask question later, and then apologize unconvincingly for any inconvenience they may have caused. After all, she said, the system doesn't know I'm traveling. That's why they rely on their customers to tell them these things - like I have to clear it with them when I travel? Like I have to call up every time I plan to go shopping, to make sure I don't get the card suspended trying to get groceries and supplies for the week? Grrrr....
I'm going to call customer service and bargain for a better interest rate, on the grounds that I'm currently rather dissatisfied with their idea of customer service - the CSR I spoke with claimed there was no notation in my file that I'm traveling on business. I find this fascinating, considering the number of times I've asked for that notation to be added.
Sigh...just one more lovely facet of business travel...