Things are STILL on a streak of bad luck
Sep. 29th, 2014 01:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feng_shui_houseKept putting off paying bills, but decided to do it today. Looked at my credit card bill. Two charges. I kinda thought I HADNOT charged anything except the data restore, which wouldn't have shown up on the bill yet.
Metropcs? What is that?
I googled- it's a cell phone company. I never even heard of them, and the pay as you go cell phone I DO have is paid up until Feb. I could find no other things they do, and couldn't remember buying anything, so I called the credit card co. Customer Service # on the bill, asking if they could tell me what the bill was FOR, sometimes I forget.
They told me they had no more information than what was printed on the bill, I should call Metropcs.
I called Metropcs. And they said, if you can't give us an account number, we can't look anything up. I said, there's a long number under your name, that must refer to the item charged, can't you look that up?
No, ma'am, call your credit card company.
SO, back to square one. Called Billing Number the first one had given me. Credit card company wanted to know if family could have used the card. No. Did I give the card number to anyone? Only to well-respected online companies- like Amazon.com. Did I EVER have a Metropcs phone? No. Did I call Metropcs? Yes, they said they couldn't do anything. What's the name of the person I spoke to? (I didn't bother getting it, people who answer the phone will never give more than a first name- probably made up, at that).
I asked if they could give me a new card number. Well, it's possible, but there's no need, we'll dispute the charges, and that's not my department. How long would it take to get the new card if I did? 10-14 business days.
I'm thinking if this isn't a mistake, then it's someone somehow got my number & this was a 'test run'. But there are no other charges since, so I dunno, if you got away with it once, wouldn't you quickly go gas up your car, buy some expensive items, etc? I decided not to try changing the number just yet.
I DID buy a spare cell phone last year, but I never activated it, and it wasn't Metropcs anyway, but VirginMobile.
So, credit card company wanted my phone number- but couldn't give me the number that would call me (I won't answer unidentified phone numbers, that leads to a month of calls 6 times a day from spammers), and can't take my email to send me a message and I don't answermail set up (I don't want spammers to think my phone is active) and they don't send text messages, which I could get.
So, I gave them my cell, and I guess I'll just keep checking the bill & call them every once in a while to see if it's resolved. And watch my next bill closely. So far, all that should be on it is the $130 for the data recovery.
Well, THAT killed several hours and I still haven't paid my bills. Credit company says my balance is zero and not to pay the disputed bill, so Ok.
*sheesh*
(for a moment I wondered if the Data Recovery People had swiped my card number, but the disputed charges were placed on the 13th, and the Data business took place on the 22nd.)
EDIT: I just realized- this was on my back-up card, the one I keep in a hidden compartment in my wallet in case the main card gets de-magnetized, or otherwise broken. I haven't used it in MONTHS. Ok, that's... really smelling a rat, here.
I think I will call the credit card company tomorrow & see about getting a new card instead of that one.
Metropcs? What is that?
I googled- it's a cell phone company. I never even heard of them, and the pay as you go cell phone I DO have is paid up until Feb. I could find no other things they do, and couldn't remember buying anything, so I called the credit card co. Customer Service # on the bill, asking if they could tell me what the bill was FOR, sometimes I forget.
They told me they had no more information than what was printed on the bill, I should call Metropcs.
I called Metropcs. And they said, if you can't give us an account number, we can't look anything up. I said, there's a long number under your name, that must refer to the item charged, can't you look that up?
No, ma'am, call your credit card company.
SO, back to square one. Called Billing Number the first one had given me. Credit card company wanted to know if family could have used the card. No. Did I give the card number to anyone? Only to well-respected online companies- like Amazon.com. Did I EVER have a Metropcs phone? No. Did I call Metropcs? Yes, they said they couldn't do anything. What's the name of the person I spoke to? (I didn't bother getting it, people who answer the phone will never give more than a first name- probably made up, at that).
I asked if they could give me a new card number. Well, it's possible, but there's no need, we'll dispute the charges, and that's not my department. How long would it take to get the new card if I did? 10-14 business days.
I'm thinking if this isn't a mistake, then it's someone somehow got my number & this was a 'test run'. But there are no other charges since, so I dunno, if you got away with it once, wouldn't you quickly go gas up your car, buy some expensive items, etc? I decided not to try changing the number just yet.
I DID buy a spare cell phone last year, but I never activated it, and it wasn't Metropcs anyway, but VirginMobile.
So, credit card company wanted my phone number- but couldn't give me the number that would call me (I won't answer unidentified phone numbers, that leads to a month of calls 6 times a day from spammers), and can't take my email to send me a message and I don't answermail set up (I don't want spammers to think my phone is active) and they don't send text messages, which I could get.
So, I gave them my cell, and I guess I'll just keep checking the bill & call them every once in a while to see if it's resolved. And watch my next bill closely. So far, all that should be on it is the $130 for the data recovery.
Well, THAT killed several hours and I still haven't paid my bills. Credit company says my balance is zero and not to pay the disputed bill, so Ok.
*sheesh*
(for a moment I wondered if the Data Recovery People had swiped my card number, but the disputed charges were placed on the 13th, and the Data business took place on the 22nd.)
EDIT: I just realized- this was on my back-up card, the one I keep in a hidden compartment in my wallet in case the main card gets de-magnetized, or otherwise broken. I haven't used it in MONTHS. Ok, that's... really smelling a rat, here.
I think I will call the credit card company tomorrow & see about getting a new card instead of that one.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-29 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-09-29 09:52 pm (UTC)Well, on the bright side, I did catch it, whatever it is.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-30 10:58 am (UTC)That's my theory, anyway, after working in banks most of my working life and seeing a lot of that sort of thing happen.
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Date: 2014-09-30 02:47 pm (UTC)Didn't sleep worth beans last night, cuz I kept thinking about it- and I THINK I may have used the card at Target last December only a few days before the massive Target credit card data stealing became public news. When I wake up properly definitely am going to call the Fraud number I got yesterday and make sure they cancel the card and issue a new one for me.