The article also points out that more people are investing in gold, which at least makes sense. But may we suggest you consider moving your cash over to a credit union before you glue it behind the wallpaper in your bedroom? Just make sure you ask the credit union manager about their Texas ratio first, so you don't inadvertently put your savings at a greater risk.

"Savers Banking on Shoeboxes" [New York Post]
(Photo: Brian Branch Price | New York Post)

The problem with a permanent stop payment is that it places the responsibility on the bank to watch out for that specific check forever, or until their bank policies determine the check has expired. No, we don't think it should cost a consumer over $5 a month to ask the bank to catch the check, but is anyone really surprised that the fee would be set at a level that generates a profit?

Unfortunately—and this is what concerned Jennifer too—experienced scammers may also be aware of the six month window. Attorney Mary Beth Guard tells Bankrate:

"Say you wrote a check for a vacation scam. The scammers know you'll put a stop-payment on it, but they also know that unless there's a special agreement with your bank the order will be valid for only six months. They may wait until after six months to cash the check. If your checkbook is stolen it may be best to close the account and open a new one."

Which brings us to your other option. Jennifer says that she in fact "advised [my] fiance to close the account." We agree, but not because his current bank is behaving any worse than other banks. Depending on the amount of the check and your bank's check expiration policies, it may actually be a more cost effective solution.

Before you place a stop payment:

1. Determine the details of your bank's check expiration policy (or if it even has one);
2. Find out the stop payment fee;
3. Estimate the relative cost (in overall trouble as well as fees) of relocating your checking account to another bank, or in switching your account to a new number at the same bank.

Once you can figure out how many six month renewals it will take to block the check until it expires, you'll know the true cost of blocking that check, and you can determine whether getting a new account will be the cheaper choice.

You should also know that an oral stop payment order only lasts 14 days—you'll need to go into the bank and place a written order for the 6 month policy to kick in.

"Stopping a check payment is expensive" [Bankrate.com]
(Photo: Getty)

This customer wanted to remove his active mobileme address and turn one of his existing email only addresses into his main account. Here's how the chat went:

Brian: Hi Sheena!

Sheila H: Hello, Brian.

Sheila H: I understand you want to switch your main account and email only account, correct?

Brian: I have a little problem. I need to switch the main mobileme account to an email only account and switch one of my email only accounts to the main account. Is that possible?

Sheila H: Unfortunately, email only accounts are no longer available, so if you cancel your existing email only account, you will not be able to reactivate it.

Brian: I’m talking about current email only accounts. And I’ve been able to reactivate email only accounts since the Mac Plus was around.

Brian: Such as switching making yyyyy@me.com into the main account instead of xxxxxxxxxxx@me.com

Sheila H: I understand. However you wish to cancel one account and make it an email only account, that is not possible.

Brian: It’s the main account I wish to cancel. I want to keep the email only accounts.

Brian: Frankly, I’m being harassed and stalked and I just found out I the brain tumor I thought went away didn’t. So my day isn’t really peachy.

Sheila H: Not my problem. Okay. So let me clarify, you wish to cancel your main account (which will cancel your email only accounts), and reactivate your email only account as an Individual account, correct?

Brian: Yeah, um, thanks for the compassion, I just want to get rid of the email address on the main account. If I could convert one of my other email only accounts to a full account, that’d be great. Would that be free under the circumstances or would I just have to buy a whole new subscription to get it done and get started on my email to the Consumerist?

Sheila H: You will need to purchase a new membership because it’s a new account. However, you will receive a prorated refund for your current membership which will be applied to the card it was activated with.

Brian: That would be over six months at this point.

Sheila H: You will be credited for any unused portion of your prepaid membership. Would you like me to cancel?

Brian: Not right now, thanks. I’ll just visit an Apple Store fifty miles away. But thanks for the information and compassion. I hope Steve Jobs reads this.

You stay classy, Sheila!

(Photo: Getty)

I am writing to tell you about an experience I have recently had with UPS (United Parcel Service). I have had a shipping account with them for about 3 years. I use it maybe once a year to send the occasional item to family or friends. This is the story of the package that wasn’t mine.

I came home from a long weekend to find a voice mail on my home answering machine. The lady, who identified herself as Karen from the Damaged Claims department at UPS said that a package that I had shipped was reported as damaged by the recipient. It was to be sent back to me and I would have to take care of the claim. Immediately, I wondered to myself, did I ship something recently? No, I didn’t. Especially a 42” Plasma TV as that was what Karen indicated the package contained. I quickly called them back at the number provided, but the department was closed on Sundays.

First thing Monday on my way into work, I called the customer service center. I gave them the tracking number that Karen provided for me and the representative said that the call was accurate and that I would be receiving the package to fix or replace within the next few days. I told the representative (Paul) that I hadn’t shipped anything with UPS on my account in at least 6 months, let alone a 42” plasma TV! I told him this, but he didn’t believe me. I kept insisting that the package had nothing to do with me. I even referred to the tracking information (provided by UPS). I live in Medina, Ohio. Last time I checked, that is pretty far from Ontario, CA. “If I was the shipper, why would the package have come from Ontario, CA not Medina, Ohio?” I asked Paul. He told me that he would look into the situation and that I’d be on hold for about 5 minutes. I waited and waited, my morning drive was coming to an end and he finally came back on just before I walked into the office. He said that “someone had entered the wrong account information in the claim slip and that there was nothing they could do.” The package would be sent to my house, regardless of my non-existent involvement with it. I would then have to (on my own time) arrange for the package to be picked up, sign a piece of paper and hope that everything else went as planned. All I could do was agree, I had nothing to go on, nothing to say, I just said ok and hung up

Two days later, this massive TV showed up at my house. It sat outside in the rain on Tuesday night (I was at a friend’s house) and most of the day Wednesday. Finally around noon on Wednesday I made it home and made the call to customer service that the package was there and it needed to be picked up. I once again referenced the tracking number. This time, the representative apparently didn’t read the notes (or most likely there WERE NO NOTES) on this package. I had to explain the entire situation again. I told her that I didn’t care about the damage claim, I didn’t care where it was going, and I just wanted it off my porch. She made a call to the local depot, which ironically my dad has worked at for 27 years. About ten minutes later, a gentleman from Middleburg Heights depot called and said there would be someone there that afternoon to pick up the package. He said I would not have to be there to sign anything (what a relief) at least something was going right. At this point, I had spent 4.5 hours talking on the phone about, waiting at my house for and researching UPS’ problem. I thought it was over.

Two weeks passed and I didn’t really think about the situation. Until my American Express bill came. I checked the bill, as I normally do each month for the charges I made. I ran across two that immediately stood out: UPS – United Parcel Service. One charge was for 27.47 and the other was for 92.65. I immediately called American Express. The woman was so very nice (as they always are!). She said that since the charge hadn’t been billed yet, I couldn’t dispute it. Fine I thought, they’ve always been good before, I’ll just wait.

Meanwhile, I decided to call UPS to try to resolve the wrongful charges. I referenced the tracking number and again I had to explain the story. The agent was very, very nice this time. She was very helpful and understanding of my frustration. I was able to get the charges credited to my American Express and the situation was resolved.

I guess my moral of the story is that I spent over 5 hours of my time fixing a UPS mistake. And although I don’t ship thousands of dollars in packages a year, I should’ve still received better customer service. If nothing else, I would’ve expected that someone would’ve caught the error when none of the names involved with the package matched my account. In the end everything worked out ok, but it still frustrates me that stuff like this happens. I have a liking towards UPS, as I said my Dad has worked there for 27 years. However this incident really makes me want to shy away from using them again.

We sure hope the real shipper insured his 42-inch broken, drenched pile of fail.

1. Authorizing transactions via debit card even if it triggers an overdraft fee
"Debit card use triggers 46% of all overdrafts, according to the Center for Responsible Lending," writes SmartMoney. Keep an eye on your spending and never trust the bank to let you know if you've spent more than you have. As a "courtesy," they'll approve your transaction, then apply a fee.

SmartMoney suggests you ask your bank to set your debit overdraw amount to zero, so that any transaction that would be rejected in the real world will also be rejected by your bank.

2. Reordering transactions to maximize the number of them that can be considered overdrafts
"Banks justify the practice as a way to ensure the most important debits get processed first (say, so a mortgage payment doesn't bounce)." This is utter bullshit. Banks do this for one reason—to generate more revenue in overdraft fees from customers who screw up. Here's an example:

Say you start the day with $100 in your account. You buy a latte ($5), fill up on gas ($50), buy groceries ($35), swing by the drugstore ($8) and then the dry cleaner's ($25). Processed chronologically, only the last transaction triggers an overdraft. Reordered from high to low, however, three purchases do.

SmartMoney suggests two things to protect against this:

• Keep an extra $100 or so as "buffer money" in your account, and never plan on using it.
• Always make sure any deposits have shown up as available funds before you rely on them.

3. Extended overdraft fees
If you take too long to pay an overdraft fee, your bank may attach a second penalty fee. One suggestion is to attach a line of credit or savings account to automatically pay overdaft fees—but don't use the line of credit for anything other than overdraft protection.

4. High daily maximums
Many banks will allow you to generate multiple overdraft transactions in a single day—Chase, for exammple, sets no limit on the number of times they can charge you, and they increase the charges after the first transaction. SmartMoney suggests you negotiate these fees away by pointing out that the trouble stemmed from a single incident, and that the entire unpleasant affair is a rare occurrence for you. (It is rare, isn't it? Otherwise you're just giving money away to the bank.)

5. Taking a day or more to release funds on hold
This last one is triggered by merchants—hotels, gas stations—who place holds on your account before you complete the transaction. Banks, however, apparently have no technology available to release those holds in a timely manner, despite the fact that they're initially placed in mere seconds. If you conduct any business that generates holds on your funds, assume that money is spent until you can confirm it's been released again.

SmartMoney suggests you use a credit card to pay for things that trigger holds—"While it still counts against your available credit, it's more likely that account can withstand a tighter balance for the 24 hours or so it takes for the hold to clear."

Notice a trend here? Most of the suggestions SmartMoney makes to protect yourself amount to little more than socking more money away at the offending bank, or setting up more potential ways for something bad to happen in the form of unexpected fees. If your bank is practicing more than one or two of these bad habits, your best bet is to start looking for another bank or credit union, one that doesn't view you as its own personal ATM machine.

"5 Sneaky Overdraft Traps" [SmartMoney]
(Photo: Getty)

I've been a faithful Xbox Live Gold member since I first bought my Xbox 360 a few years ago. When I first signed up for my account I chose the annual option, so for the past two years I've paid my $49.99 like a good little gamer.

This year was probably going to be no different, but my billing ran into a little snag when my credit card on file was replaced. I started receiving emails from Microsoft telling me that I needed to update my card info so that I could be charged for the next year, but I kept forgetting. I finally received a final email saying that my account had been closed and at that point I could no longer sign onto Xbox Live. Honestly I couldn't care less about having a Live account, but I have a good amount of DLC, so I immediately gave Xbox Support a call so I could at least get switched to a free silver account so I wouldn't bork what I had already bought.

After a minute or two on hold (I called 1-800-4MY-XBOX) I got through to a very nice woman. I explained to her that my account had lapsed and that I just wanted to convert my Gold account to a Silver one. She said no problem, but informed me that I would need to speak with billing. "Not a problem," I thought, and I got forwarded immediately.

After another minute on hold I was through to the billing department. I was pretty impressed at the lack of hold time, considering it was a Sunday night, and I even made a comment to my brother over IM saying, "Wow, Xbox support is pretty good." Needless to say my comment was a bit premature.

I again explained my situation to the billing rep, and he asked me to sign on to http://billing.microsoft.com so I could update my billing information there. That seemed like a pretty simple request, and he said he would stay on the line with me to make sure that everything got updated properly. Again, I was impressed because most reps would just tell you where to go and hang up. He verified that my billing information was updated, and he told me that I would be charged $49.99 because I had an owing balance on my account. While all I wanted to do was convert to a Silver account (hopefully for no charges), I was half expecting this since my account had technically lapsed in June. I asked if it was possible to just pro-rate the two months that I was given service after my account lapsed, and I was told because I'm an annual member that wouldn't happen. Alright, fine, no big deal – it's just $50. The charge was put through and I figured all was set. Here's how the rest of the conversation went:

Me: Alright, so my account is settled. Since my account lapsed in June I'm assuming I should have about 10 months left of Xbox Live Gold service, right?

Rep: No.

Me: Ummm… what do you mean no? When I paid the $50 I was paying for service from June 2008 to June 2009. I understand that I won't get a full year of service from today, but how come you're telling me I'm not going to get Gold service at all?

Rep: By paying the $50 you settled your account. Your account has been reactivated as a Silver account.

Me: Okay, I understand that my account is now settled, but I just paid for 12 months of service. If you date that from June 2008 I should have a Gold account until June 2009.

Rep: No. When you paid the $50 that was just to settle the account and bring it current. Your account was almost sent to collections, so your payment stopped the process.

Me (Getting very pissed off right now): Okay, so what you're telling me is that I just paid $50 so you wouldn't send me to collections? With Xbox Live service you PRE-PAY for the service! If I'm paying you $50 I just PRE-PAID for services that you owe me. Now you're telling me all I did was stop you from sending me to collections?

Rep: Yes. However, now that your account is settled you can go ahead and purchase a Gold account if you want.

Me (To the point of ripping my hair out): So what you're telling me is that I just paid you $50, and if I want to get a Gold level account I will need to pay again for it even though I just paid you $50?!?

Rep: That would be correct sir.

Me (Trying not to yell at the guy so I can ask pertinent questions): Okay, that makes no sense, but let's continue. Can you tell me exactly what I was charged for? Was the $50 I just spent for Xbox Live Gold service, collections fees, account reactivation… what?

Rep: The charge will be for Xbox Live Gold service.

Me (Ready to rip his throat out through the phone): You just said that I was being charged for Xbox Live Gold service. If that's the case then how come I am not getting the balance of the months?

Rep: Because that charge was to bring your account current.

This ordeal continued for another 10 minutes. He told me that my payment was solely to bring my account "current." His rationale for not giving me the balance of the months on my account was that my account was almost sent to collections. Well, first off, my account was never sent to collections, so that's the biggest BS story I've ever heard. Second, how can you send me to collections on a debt for services that I was never given? Microsoft cut off my account when it went delinquent, and at the very least I got a free month out of them. I absolutely understand them wanting me to pay for that, but how can you send me to collections for an entire year of service that I haven't even used yet? I also asked him that if I had called last month to settle my account would I have been given the balance of the months. His answer? Yes. Rationale? Because my account wasn't being sent to collections last month.

After all of this I informed the rep that I would dispute the charge with my credit card company. He told me, "Fine, we get that all the time. However, we always win because we will show that it's a legitimate charge." I tried to argue with him saying that yes, while the charge itself is legitimate (I did authorize it), Microsoft is refusing to give me the services that I paid for, and that is grounds for a dispute resolution in my favor. He didn't really seem to care and I knew I was getting nowhere, so I just hung up at that point.

So where do I stand? Yesterday I was charged $50 for 12-months of Microsoft Xbox Live Gold service which should have been dated from June 2008. However, my account is currently at a Silver level, and the only way to upgrade the account is to pay again for Gold service.

There are several problems that come up with this entire phone call. First, I only had the choice to pay $49.99 to bring my account current even though there are monthly and quarterly payment options available. If I had been a month-to-month member I probably would've just paid for a single month and lost a month of service, not 10. If I had been paying via Xbox Live Cards that you buy at retailers nothing would've happened because there are no recurring payments. So for the most part, a dedicated customer who makes an annual commitment to the service gets screwed the hardest. Thanks Microsoft!

Yuck. You should probably call your credit card company and talk the issue over with them. We wouldn't be surprised if you were able to do a chargeback.

(Photo: Tengaport )

UPDATE: This complaint has been resolved.

• A) Connect the internet service and leave.
• B) Connect the internet service and check to see if the 74-year-old man has a separate account for the cable service.
• C) Accuse the 74-year-old man of stealing cable, and declare "I don't want to see your fucking bill" when the granddaughter tries to explain the situation.

So here's my story with Comcast:

My girlfriend and I were living in an apartment where we had Comcast Internet, Phone, and Digital Cable service. After our lease was up, we decided to move into my grandpa's house for a year or so to save some money to put down on a house. Anyways - I called Comcast and set a disconnect date at our apartment. My grandpa has basic extended cable through comcast, and for us, that's good enough. So I asked them to cancel the cable and phone line for us, and asked if they could just transfer the internet service and set an appointment for a tech to come out and hook up the internet at my Grandpa's. All went well. I was told a tech would be at my Grandpa's the following Tuesday between 10 and 1pm.

As most of us know, Comcast techs don't normally show up until about 2 minutes until that window is over, but this time - the guy actually showed up at about 10:05am. Great, I thought. I don't have to sit at home all day waiting for someone to show up. He pulls his truck into the alleyway and comes into the house to see where we want the line hooked up. I proceed to show him the spare bedroom where I'll be connecting the router. He obviously noticed my Grandfather watching cable tv in the living room.

He then tells me he's going outside to check the line on the poll. I go upstairs and about 5 minutes later, I come outside to witness my grandpa and the Comcast guy in a screaming match. The Comcast tech is threatening to leave and I ask "What the heck is going on?!" Well, my Grandpa starts telling me that he disconnected his cable and says we do not have a cable account with Comcast and basically accuses my Grandpa of hijacking cable. Okay, last time I checked, most 74 years old probably don't know how to hijack cable. So my Grandpa gets really upset and starts back for the house. I'm trying to find out from the Comcast tech what is going on and my Grandpa comes back out 2 seconds later with a Comcast bill in his hand. He goes to hand it to the Comcast tech and he rudely replies "Sir, I don't want to see your fucking bill. If you don't go back in your house and quit disrespecting me, I'm going to just leave."

Meanwhile, I ask my Grandpa to try and let me straighten it out and go inside for a minute because I could tell at this point he was getting really upset. So I continue to ask the guy what the hell is going on all the while he is telling me he isn't going back in the house to hook up my internet because he doesn't appreciate my Grandpa "disrespecting him". Well, from what I saw, my Grandpa didn't really deserve to get his cable turned off and treated in such a way. I finally talk him into hooking up the internet (I needed it for school as my homework is submitted online). But the issue still remains with my Grandpa's service. So I ask the tech why he thinks we don't have cable. He replies "When I look up the phone number on the account, it only shows internet, no cable television. That's a red flag mam."

So I immediately figure out what's going on. I tell him calmly "Okay, well you are looking under MY phone number. And yes, I only have internet service in my name seeing as I cancelled the phone and cable service. My grandfather has a SEPARATE Comcast account from me, on which he only has extended cable. If you would have let him show you the bill, maybe you would have noticed it is two separate account numbers!" I wanted it that way so then the internet bill comes in my name. It's just easier that way when paying bills.

He then rudely replies with "Mam, I don't really care. I'm doing my job, and I'm not stupid. Comcast will not allow two different accounts at the same address so I already know you are blatantly lying to me." Well obviously this was news to me. And he proceeds to just leave without turning back on my Grandpa's cable, which he PAYS for.

We have a Comcast center about 2 minutes from our house, so we drive over there. The lady proceeds to tell me she can't turn back on the cable because the account was flagged.

Alright, well obviously he saw 2 accounts if he specifically flagged my Grandpa's.

About six calls to Comcast later, and I finally get someone on the line willing to fix the situation. He tells me he has no idea what he was talking about and there isn't anything saying 2 Comcast accounts can't be at the same house. He turns my Grandpa's cable back on and gives him a $10 credit, which in all honesty, is kind of insulting for the crap the rep and the center gave us. Not only was the tech wrong, but he treated my Grandfather like crap.

Who the hell is Comcast hiring these days?

Update: Ally writes:

The Comcast Corporate office called me this morning, and I'm more than happy with the way they are resolving the issue. They have credited or accounts for a period of time, and I have received a verbal apology from every single person I have spoken with.

Then a little while ago, I also got another call from the local Comcast branch apologizing as well as stating they are interviewing the tech about the situation.

To those telling me to switch - this is the ONLY issue I have ever had with Comcast. I've never had an issue with their service other than a few outages here and there, and last time I checked, you'll get that with any service provider from time to time. Any other tech I've ever had come to my house has always been more than polite and did the job they were there to do. The way the situation is being handled is fine with me. It was more an issue with a specific tech than with Comcast service. As of right now, I'm giving Comcast the benefit of the doubt and trusting they handle the situation.

Several of the people from Comcast I spoke with openly stated there are things that need improvement. They didn't question me, and did what needed to be done to resolve the issue. As of now, that's really all I wanted.

(Photo: Getty)

Bill writes:

I read the Consumerist daily and have learned about Sprint's crappy customer service. However, I am a Sprint third-party vendor (i.e. I'm not on Sprint's payroll...but I sell their stuff), and I was happy with their 99.99 "Simply Everything" plan, so I signed up.

Cut to a month later; I paid my two bills in time, in full, and added extra to my payments to keep a negative balance. You never know when you'll need to miss a month for unexpected expenses, and in this day and age, better safe than sorry. To this date, I had a -$50 balance...at least, I was under the impression I was.

On my way to work this morning, my phone was shut off for "exceeding my account spending limit." Hmmm...I'm being cut off because I pay ahead?!?! Ok, ok, in their defense, maybe it was a malfunction...

Nope. I called customer service and the CSR explained "well, you did have 3000 texts last month." I explained I had the unlimited package, to which he said "ummm...well no you don't...wait, you do...let me get my supervisor..." Fortunately, the CSR gave me the benefit of the doubt and reactivated my phone, but even then explained that "it will probably shut back off in a couple of days." I actually give kudos to the CSR...he was professional and helpful...for once.

I bring up two points in my tip: Sprint CSRs are actually pretty decent (at least THAT one), but I still didn't know paying ahead gets your service cut off.

Don't run a negative balance; you essentially give companies an interest-free loan at your expense. Leave the money where it belongs: in your account, earning interest.

If Sprint keeps disconnecting your service after your balance is restored, call our super-special executive customer service hotline set up just for readers, at: (703) 433-4401.

(Photo: Getty)

Jenn's checking account with Bank of America recently had a policy change designed to increase overdraft fees, and it worked: sometime between Friday night and Saturday morning she was hit with 6 NSF charges going back the previous 48 hours, because she was about 15 minutes late transferring funds into her account the day before. Technically she had broken the new policy, but Jenn hadn't realized or remembered that there was a policy change and she was taken by surprise. She decided to try to reason with BoA's corporate office about the fees, and explain why she thought they were unfair.

Today, she let us know that her letter worked: "Just got off the phone with BoA Corporate in Boston. They're refunding everything! It pays to write."

We think it's worth looking at her letter as an example of how to present your side of an issue to a large company. Jenn is polite, and her letter is professional and well-written. She makes a point of explaining why she chose to become a BoA customer in the first place, and how she's been an advocate for them in the past—and then points out that this policy change has the effect of ruining her goodwill toward the company by making them "just like every other bank. It's the reason I left Chase."

Of course, Bank of America isn't rescinding the new policy, so it's not like Jenn's letter changed the world or anything. But it does show that it occasionally pays to write a solid letter to the corporate office if you can't resolve your issue at a branch.

May 7, 2008 
Dear Mr. Lewis, 

I am writing you to lodge a formal complaint about 6 overdraft fees that were recently charged to my account. 

I am a dedicated online banker.  I love Bank of America’s to-the-minute online status updates.  It is just one of the many reasons I switched to BoA from Chase two years ago.  I am also an artist, who though salaried, lives to the penny every month to make ends meet.  I check my bank account online every single day.  Sometimes three or four times a day. 

Since joining BoA I have operated under the “as long as there is a positive amount in the account at the end of the day, you won’t get charged an overdraft fee” rule.  Up until last week, that was true.  I frequently buy a sandwich for lunch at noon if I know I’ll be able to deposit $20 by 5pm.  So I was completely shocked to see two overdraft charges show up on a Saturday morning when on Friday night my account was in the black.  What’s worse is that the two fees were charged for transactions made on Thursday and so were backdated, thus also overdrafting every transaction I made on Friday accumulating another four $35 fees! 

Yesterday I went into the Lincoln & Ashland branch in Chicago, IL to dispute the fact that I was charged overdraft fees on a positive account.  My account details were printed and scoured by 3 different CSRs.  No one could understand the charges.  But no one could do anything about them.  They then made a call to Account Services and discovered that apparently the fees were legitimate because of a new rule just instated last month that removes available funds from the account the minute the card is swiped.  So because I had bought some lunch just before I transferred money into my account to cover it I was penalized $210 for what amounted to a 15 minute technicality.  The CSRs sent me away and told me to plead my case to the customer service number.  At the 800-number I was eventually able to talk to “a manager” Jessica, who read me the verbiage that had appeared on customer statements about this change.  So, indeed, the charges are apparently my fault.  Thankfully, Jessica gave me a courtesy refund for 3 of them, which helps a little. 

My complaint is about this new policy.  It makes you just like every other bank.  It is the reason I left Chase.  I thought BoA was different!  And I have recommended BoA to MANY of my artist friends because of that flexibility and that, until now, I have had nothing but wonderful experiences with your employees and with my account management. 

Unfortunately, the remaining $105 that is now tied up in fees will ensure that my rent check this month bounces which means I will be charged more fees in addition to NSF fees from my rental company, and it is all I had budgeted for food for the first two weeks of this month.  The good news is I just got a promotion at work which will, in another month, enable me to pick up and repay this set-back, sign up for automatic deposits, get money into my Savings account that might actually stay there and start to invest in some sort of stability for my future. 

I’m just going to have to think long and hard about whether I want to continue doing all of those things with your bank. 

Thank you for your time. 

Jennifer

(Photo: The Consumerist)

She writes:

I handle the credit card accounts for my company. We had an inactive American Express Delta Sky Miles card that hadn't been used in several years. (3 to be exact) I called AMEX and closed the account informing the CSR that our company had another AMEX account and that was our primary. I was assured the account was closed and moved on.

Come March, our production manager made a small purchase from a company whom we use infrequently and may have had this old account number in their database (a disturbing thought). Now our production manager does not have the old card in his possession, nor does he have the old account number anywhere. One individual, our CEO, had exclusively used this particular AMEX.

I immediately called the vendor and American Express wanting to know how a transaction could clear on a closed account. The American Express CSR informed me that the account was indeed closed, but it was not uncommon for transactions to go through. I was told that recurring transactions will go through. I told the CSR the story that this was a company we infrequently purchase from, and that this card had not been used in years.

The just from AMEX – Since this was a phone order and the physical card was not used to make this purchase the transaction would have been approved. Apparently the vendor also used a dummy expiration date as the old card expired in 2007. Since the vendor keyed in the account number the transaction was permitted to go through. I told American Express that this was an appalling practice – a closed account – especially one closed 6 months ago – was a closed account and any transaction put to that number should have been declined. The CSR kept insisting that it was my responsibility to make sure all vendors eliminated the old information. This is absurd. Oh, and the CSR told me that this happens all of the time. Many of the credit card transactions machine do not require the security code to process a keyed transaction – just a number and date.

I have sent emails to whatever executives I could find at American Express, and I wanted to alert your site to this wonderful practice. I mean I had heard about ISP's and television services not actually canceling your account, but a credit card company? Seems like bad business practice if you ask me.

American Express isn't alone in keeping zombie accounts on life support. Bank of America's never-die accounts are also known for their miraculous rejuvenations, complete with unexpected service fees. The tactic lets creditors cling to customers, while appearing to oblige their reasonable requests to close their accounts. It's a disgusting practice that should be outlawed.

(Photo: danesparza)

John doesn't know how the account was opened without his permission, but the former bank manager did have the relevant information needed to open an account. John writes:

We are a startup company that is currently out doing a Series B raise in order to commercialize a product we have in-licensed. The bank manager from our current bank left to join Wachovia. We were always happy with his service and we were not surprised when he contacted us and tried to get us to switch our banking to Wachovia. We indicated that the current timing was not good due to our financing. What we did not know was that he took upon himself to open an account for the company "in order to ensure certain money rates". Boy were we surprised when we got a $12 fee for being below the minimum balance requirements. We joked that as a startup it was nice to know that our "future bank" would be more than happy to take our last $12 as a fee. We contacted our banker friend and he said he would close the account. We are now up to $24.05 in fees and a collection agency has called. Needless to say Wachovia will not be getting our business.

(Photo: epicharmus)

One reader, Meiran, put it this way: "I'm rather impressed by their reaction, it seems like most modern companies would attempt to push this under the rug and pretend it didn't happen, leaving customers to wonder what those strange charges on their statements are."

According to Wikipedia, the company is mostly owned by McDonald's and Coinstar, so it's not like this is an example of a start-up that's never encountered the heavy hand of corporate influence. This means Redbox's board of directors intentionally chose to be proactive on the matter. They seem to have figured out something that lots of other companies still struggle with, which is that if you empower your customers to help protect themselves, they'll help protect you, too. We wouldn't be surprised if the next time a skimmer is detected, the alert comes from a customer who remembers Redbox's email.

"Redbox Security Alert - Credit Card Skimmer Attempt" [redbox](Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)

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We join Kevin as he calls National City to see if they can help him access his account:

So I dial the number provided and find that it dumps me into the standard no apparent way out IVR phone system and I find that no option on the main menu pertains to getting help with the web site. Hmmm. What to do, what to do. So I proceed to bang on the 0 till the phone rings again. Now I am dropped into the queue waiting for a live body. A lovely lady with a very thick accent who we shall call Maria comes on the line and offers her assistance. "How may I help you?" She asks. I proceed to explain my predicament and she quickly says "no problem, let me pull that up and see what is the matter."

After some furious tapping on her end she comes back with "oh I am sorry sir you don't seem to be registered on our web site." To which I quickly respond "thats funny then how was I able to access the site in the past without an account?" A perplexed Maria comes back with "oh well we installed a new program back in October and if you haven't used the system since then you will need to register." I reminded Maria that I had already tried that and that the system was saying that there is already an account set up, I am just the dork who cant remember one of his 63 user id's on a site that is at the bottom on my regular use list. An even more perplexed Maria comes back with "have you tried to register again?" Of course I reminded Maria again of why I was calling. Then the hammer is dropped. Maria proceeds to tell me "I am sorry sir there is nothing else I can do for you then since you don't have an account on the system."

At this point my jovial mood was beginning to sour and in an effort to not resort to verbal abuse I asked "is there another group that I can be transferred to that can help me resolve this problem?" Maria regretfully explains in no uncertain terms NO. My only option is to have Maria send an email to some mythological group that might be able to sprinkle some pixie dust and banish the ghosts in the database that are holding my records hostage. I ask for the email address so that I may contact them directly and Maria informs me that "it is an internal address and cannot be given out. " So needless to say I do not have the information I am looking for but I am now more concerned about the validity of the records they have about my mortgage. Does it make you nervous that a company like National City Mortgage who are in the business of maintaining millions of records of billions of dollars of mortgage payments. balances and such cant get a simple join between my account and my login that their interface can find but their backend side cant? Am I just stuck in cyber limbo?

So what is really burning me at the moment is that I have no recourse. There apparently isn't anyone I can talk to to help resolve this and am now at the mercy of some group of guys probably a lot like me that have a lot of other stuff to deal with then to research something that they will get and attribute to a problem on my end and I will fall to the bottom of the pile because I cant have the conversation with them directly.

National City Mortgage has ghosts in their database. [Gray Drake]

It's amazing, really, that someone didn't think to aggregate "public personal" data like this before. Flock sort of does it, but it's an entire web browser, and it only uses your own accounts' buddy lists in a very unsneaky way.
 
If you're like Matthew and want zero visibility on your accounts, you're going to have to do some low-tech account manipulation, like using custom addresses for each service so that no two accounts share the same address.
 
Identifight.org
 
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In the past year, my Macy*s store account credit limit has adjusted four times without my knowledge. Each time the credit limit has dropped from $1,500 to $1,200 to $1,000 to $800. Each time the drop occurred I only found out because I was in Macy*s and the cashier rudely told me my card declined. Rather than helping me with the situation they sent me up to their 'courtesy' phones that are linked straight to their credit department. Each time was equally embarrassing and felt like I was being sent to the principal's office for my due punishment. Each time I called I got the bad news.

So when I called the credit department in store today they told me my limit had be downgraded again and that they'd transfer me to the credit department (I thought I was already speaking to them) to see if I could have an increase. The man rudely advised me no I could not - not like I exactly asked considering I was simply transfered away from the original agent. So that was that, I left the store head hung low without a purchase in hand. I will not buy their merchandise without their coupons because its simply overpriced otherwise and you can only use the coupons with their stupid credit card.

Well, today I was fed up with this ever moving credit line that leads only to in store embarrassment. As I headed to the parking lot my temper boiled. I made a special trip out to the mall and spent a lot of time, that I did not have, finding the items I wanted to purchase. Having been the fourth time this happened to me was enough! As soon as I got in the car I called the credit department on my own cell phone and went into a tirade. I lit into them for not advising me of my credit limit decrease, especially considering just three days before I received a brand new Macy*s platinum card in the mail, where they had the perfect opportunity to let me know it was now only $800. The women on the other end became insta-defensive of Macy*s inane and unpublished procedures on not letting their customers know their credit limit. I said that I was sick of being embarrassed by rude customer services associates and like a well trained robot she read from her 'Customer Service 101" script of platitudes and fake apologies. I was then extremely angry and screamed you can be as "nice" as you think you are being, but shove it - cancel my account! I won't be embarrassed in your store again!" She then replied off of her script again "If I issue you a 15% off shopping pass, is their anyway I can prevent you from closing your account today?" I said "No! I already have about 20 stupid coupons at home that all have about a 112 exclusions anyway - plus my card doesn't work!" She then retorted angrily "Well the account is closed!" I then hung up.

They do not publish your credit limit on there website where you can check your account activity, nor when they issue you a new card. I know this for a fact because in the past year I got upgraded from their basic card to a gold card and then last week to a platinum card. So as I ascended their credit ladder of customer proof of purchase I was downgraded in credit limit (each upgrade corresponds with a dollar amount spent during the past year). I do not receive paper statements so I have no idea if they publish the credit limit there; I rely on my online statements as I do not like crap clogging up my mailbox.

Macy*s and I are friends off! I spent ungodly amounts of money at that store in my life especially considering what I earn per year as a student! Nothing makes me instantly pissed like a customer service person reading a script like a robot. They have no compassion for people and their problems. I have worked countless jobs in customer service from being a bagger at a grocer to one of those people on the other end of the phone in a call in center and it takes not an ounce of effort to show a person compassion for the misgivings of the company - might I add without giving the company an admitted black eye either. From the original customer associate in the store that sent me away to the courtesy phones to the three other people I spoke along the rocky road to account closure they could have easily assuaged the situation. Anything from a mere "I'm sorry about that, I'll certainly let my supervisor know of your concerns regarding our policy on advising customers of their credit limits - can I have you contact information so we can get back to you?" Or, "You had a rude associate in the store? Do you know their name so we can address this so you or any other customer never gets embarrassed again!"

Oh well, just another bad customer service experience and another store that will lose my business. I didn't really need the extra debt anyway!

(Photo: Getty)

My wife and I have our own separate bank accounts and a center, shared account, all with PNC. We can move money from each account to the other freely. Our employer is small enough that direct deposit is not offered, so we deposit our paychecks at our local branch every other Saturday. As we keep a large(ish) balance in the center account, we are able to deposit both of our checks as cash (basically, cash them then immediately deposit them, only the bank does it all). The funds are available immediately, and the transaction is recorded first thing Monday morning.

When we deposited our checks this Saturday, the teller was new and slow. He processed my wife's deposit and then looked to have processed mine. He handed me a receipt that I have since lost that showed that my check had been processed. When I looked on Monday, my check had not shown up. When I looked again this morning, my check still had not shown. My wife's showed normally.

I contacted the branch this afternoon, and the woman who answered was polite but insistent that she could do nothing without the receipt. I came home and searched all of hell and half of Georgia for the receipt, but to no avail. We called corporate customer service, which has apparently been outsourced, and the person on the phone was again insistent that we have the receipt. They have put through a request to find the physical check and find out what happened to it.

Here is my fear: if they find the check and it shows that it was processed as cash, what is stopping them from just saying they handed me the cash? I'm not a banker so I don't know the process. Does my deposit slip stay with the check? In a situation such as mine, where I've endorsed the check with a signature so it may be deposited as cash, what are the safeguards in place to keep a teller from faking the deposit and receipt, pocketing the cash and concealing/destroying the deposit slip?

I realize I should have held on to the receipt, but can something like this really be held up by lack of a scrip of paper?

If the check has been cashed, you should treat the issue as a potential crime and report it as such immediately to the bank manager, and then to the executive level; there should be a video record of your transaction to review whether or not you were handed cash. If you need to reach high-level members of PNC, try searching EDGAR. We had to drill down several layers to reach this sample phone number, and we can't confirm that this person is even affiliated with your bank, but it's an example of the kind of data you can find if you dig deeply enough.

Readers, any other ideas? It seems a little early right now to call your lawyer, but if your employer confirms the check was processed, you might want to contact one for professional advice.

I opened a WaMu checking account on Friday, February 29th of this year with a $106.00 opening deposit .I opened this account for my auto-pay setup with my university credit union. With me having to take a semester off because my parents credit didn't qualify for private Sallie-Mae type student loans ( which in fact could be a blessing in disquise) , im now 300 miles away from the said credit union . So, I deposit the exact amount of my car payment ( again, $106), then fax the WaMu account number to the credit union.

The next Tuedsay, March 4th, I call the WaMu automated system to check my balance.
Which claims , both in 'Available Balance' and 'Account Balance', that I have $106.00 in the account.

Now frantic that the credit union made a mistake, I call the credit union. The CU representative tells me, much to my surprise, that the payment was recieved for $106.56 (doh ! ) from WaMu and that all is well. At least on their end.

So, I give WaMu the benefit of the doubt. Aware that I am .56 short , and fully expecting a fee because of it, yesterday (the 6th) I deposit $140 into the account , so as to cover the NSF fee and the next months car payment. Imagine my shock when I see the balance slip showing $246.00 in the account!

So I ask if theres a pending withdrawal on the account. The teller shows me her screen, which shows the $106.00 opening deposit, a $32 NSF fee, a $32 NSF fee reversal, and the $140 deposit I just made.

To boot, the WaMu teller is confused herself, wondering why theres a negative fee (and reversal)when , according to her screen, I never entered the red.

The real, logical reason this is the case is because the automated withdrawal left me .56 cents short ,which triggered an NSF fee, then was reversed automatically ( Your first NSF as a new customer with WaMu is forgiven,so not all fine print is bad ).Except none of this activity , according to WaMu's computer system, ever happened.

So the senior branch sales,er manager tries and fails to explain why their system can't tell me how much money I REALLY have.

I ask again, why is it showing, both in 'Available' and 'Account" balances $240.00 when I know for fact that its $106.56 less. 30 minutes later, the closest thing I heard to an explanation is that, because I opened my account on a Friday, nothings gonna post until maybe Saturday.(Never mind that Saturday is NOT a business day).He then amended his statement by saying that by Thursday night , it should all be updated.

Not wanted to be late for work, I bid a calm goodbye.

This morning, I call the WaMu automated system this morning (Friday, March 7th) and its still 'lying' to me.

Available balance :$246.00
Account Balance: $246.00

I understand that it is up to the consumer to keep track of how much money they have. But how can I, or any other responsible consumer, be responsible for their money if the very company that holds the money can't tell me how much I have? Imagine if the Swiss banks treated their clients like this?

Granted, I didn't lose any money in this process, but what If I had trusted the WaMu balance, and budgeted accordingly? Id be staring down the barrel of multiple overdrafts, each with a lovely $32 NSF attached to them.

Bottom line? If you don't already track your own expenses, start now. And don't even bother calling the bank if you're a WaMu customer.

(Photo: Getty)

First, here's Emily's original email from two days ago:

I am sitting here in amazement after reading your post "HSBC Won't Tell You Someone in Bulgaria is Stealing $2,000 From You" because the exact same thing happened to me today, just substitute Pasadena and Canada for Bulgaria. I logged in to my personal internet banking this afternoon to review my account so that I could pay some bills. I noticed that my bank balance was about $3600 while my available balance was $300. There were no transactions listed after Friday, 2/15. I knew I had used my debit/atm card all weekend, all around Manhattan and Brooklyn. I called customer service and encountered, almost to a script, the same spiel as your reader from someone named "Dar". There was some sort of hold, but he couldn't get information about it. Eventually he found that there were two withdrawals of $500 each at a Wachovia bank that seemed suspicious. I confirmed that I had not made those withdrawals. He was not able to tell me what state the withdrawals were made in. I asked if the best thing to do would be to go to an HSBC ATM and take out the last $300 in my account, so that I wouldn't lose that too- he agreed. So, I left work early to get to the ATM. Dar advised that because today is a national holiday in the US, none of this information would process in my account until at least 6 am Tuesday, but that I would not be able to file a fraud report until WEDNESDAY! He had no answer for me when I asked why I hadn't been alerted to suspicious activity when my card had been used on opposite coasts and in ANOTHER COUNTRY all during the same weekend.

The ATM did not allow me to make any withdrawals. I tried various amounts from $300 down to $60 and each time got an error message that the "Amount Requested Exceeded the Limit". I called customer service again and this time was luckily connected to someone named Maria (and I hate to say this, but Maria, unlike Dar, sounded like a native English speaker). Maria went through various fraudulent transactions- $800 withdrawal in Pasadena, $500 twice in Canada, another $62 in Pasadena, as well as $1000 in Santa Monica. She was able to process a fraud report today- interesting, since Dar said that couldn't be done until Wednesday! My account will not be credited for 10-11 business days and I should receive a new card in 7-10 days. I also was able to immediately change my PIN. I was told that I would be able to withdraw the remaining amount from the branch tomorrow morning. (let's hope).

On Tuesday morning, I went to a local branch to get additional information and withdraw the remaining balance in my account. The associate at the local branch was helpful and contacted the fraud department on my behalf. Eventually I was provided with the name of the Fraud Investigator handling my case. I tried calling her several times on Tuesday afternoon, but kept getting voicemail. I left a voicemail around 5 pm. I attempted to call her again this morning. When I got voicemail, I dialed a random extension, to try to get to speak to a person (there is no operator). I did get someone in the Internet Banking department, who was kind enough to get me connected to someone in the fraud department (after both he and I waited on hold for about 30 minutes- no exaggeration). I was connected to someone named Ella _____, who said that she only dealt with Fraud in applications, so therefore she wouldn't be able to help me. As I tried to explain the situation, Ms. _____ was hostile toward me and escalated the tone of the conversation unneccesarily. I attempted to deescalate the conversation by explaining that I was quite upset that almost my entire bank account had been drained, that I was having a very hard time reaching someone who could help me and that her tone was not exactly helpful. She was then able to connect me to the Investigator handling my case, Sharon _____.

Ms. _____ was kind and helpful and explained that the extent of this fraud was essentially unprecedented for HSBC. She said that their fraud department was so overwhelmed, it was "still in the developing stage of how we're going to handle" it. I asked if she knew how many customers were affected and she stated "we don't even know." I asked if the magnitude of the fraud would delay the bank's ability to get everyone's account credited. She assured me that the bank's first priority was to credit every affected customer within 10 days. She explained that the bank was "probably" going to forego its usual requirements of paperwork such as fraud affidavits for affected customers, because the fraud here was obvious.

Ms. _____ stated that HSBC was trying to contact its customers and would be sending a letter regarding the fraud, but that it was so widespread that it didn't have the manpower to make a phone call to each affected customer, particularly where the focus was on trying to get the accounts credited. She advised that I monitor my account daily to check for the credit, because I would likely not receive notification from HSBC about it.

I'm appreciative of the information that I was able to receive today, and the reassurance that HSBC's priority was to get accounts credited as quickly as possible. However, I am dumbfounded that it took me three days to get the "full story" from HSBC, due to no lack of effort on my part. I think that the media needs to be alerted of this fraud, as HSBC is not able to contact all of its customers. People may be affected and not even know it yet. I obviously plan to change banks after this debacle, but do want to see that this is made public.

Snapfish, a site in which I don't even put my own photos on, but only have an account to look at the photos sent to me by others, is now threatening to delete "my photos" and deactivate my account if I don't buy prints from them.

What does that say about the popularity of the service if they have to threaten customers with photo deletion in order to get them to purchase photos on the site. (But keep in mind if you buy photos from HP links, that doesn't count . . . even though Snapfish is owned by HP.) Does Flikr do this? Does Picasa Web Albums do this? No. Perhaps that is why I actually keep all my important photos on that service and not Snapfish.

Kayako makes a pretty awesome support suite that came highly recommended to me from a couple of friends. I will say first off that their support software is top notch and feature packed, and I have no qualms with their product.

Their customer support, however, leaves much to be desired.

Kayako offers a few options for their products- monthly hosted, monthly and yearly leased, owned. We opted for the monthly leased option as we didn't want to plunk down the hefty $499 price for the owned license. Our major problem with all versions of the Kayako software was that it required either the Zend or Ioncube decoders to be installed on our server in order to run their software- all versions have "encoded" files that require the decoder running to use, including the owned license.

The decoders were causing a performance hit that we didn't like. We looked around, found another support suite that did not have encoded code, and installed it. It worked. The owned version of it cost 1/4 the price of Kayako. It didn't require any performance robbing decoders. We decided to go with it and drop Kayako.

This is where the pain began. First, there is no cancel button on their website. The only way to cancel is to contact their support email:

A few days ago, my first email:

I want to cancel this account. Please cancel all renewals of this license immediately.

Their reply:

Can you please let us know the reason for the cancellation of your eSupport License? If you have any issues regarding the product, we will be more than glad to assist you in that.

Waiting for your response.

Ok, you want to know why. I understand that- cool.

My second email:

We have decided to go with a solution that has 100% access to the source code unencoded. We have already made this decision and migrated to the new solution.

Please cancel the account immediately.

The key phrases in this email being "we have already migrated to a new solution" and "cancel the account immediately".

Their second response:

In case of the Owned license, you will get 99% of open source code. You can modify the source code to customize the software as per your requirement. The 1% source code which is not provided includes the license management files and they are not provided to stop the piracy of the software. Please let me know if you are interested in buying the Owned license as we have some special offers for the day or you want us to cancel your eSupport Monthly Leased license.

Awaiting your response.

I'll be the first to admit I snapped a little bit after this one. I already told them twice to cancel the account, I already told them we migrated to another solution. I know that in a couple days I am going to be re-billed for the leased license if they do not cancel my account. Now it just smells like they are trying to draw this out and get another payment from me when I have already removed their software from my server, installed another solution, and just want to move on with my life.

My third email:

I can not believe you badger your customers like this. I don't want to talk about it or see special offers.

CANCEL THE MONTHLY LEASED LICENSE NOW.

If I receive another charge from your company I will file a fraud claim with my bank and perform a charge back. You have guaranteed that I will never be a customer of Kayako in the future, and I will go out of my way to share this experience with others.

Today I was billed again after repeatedly asking them to cancel the account. Kayko has not replied to my previous email or canceled my account.

My final email before I perform a chargeback with my bank:

I was just billed again for this license after I have asked you repeatedly to cancel.

You have 24 hours to refund my payment before I file fraud with Worldpay and my credit card company.

I am waiting for your response.

Screw you Kayako. Take it from someone else who runs a service that does monthly billing- This is not how you treat customers.

You have effectively taken a customer that was pleased with your software but couldn't use it due to a compatibility issue and turned him into someone who is going to badmouth you to everyone he comes in contact with everywhere he goes online. I'll get my money back anyway, and all you will have to show for it is bad press. Keep up the good work jerks.

As expected, the CSR didn't make canceling the card easy: "He spent roughly 30 minutes trying to convince me to keep my account open, offering me all these 'features.'" Finally the account was closed and Quenten was told to make sure all automatic withdrawals "such as AOL" were moved to another card or canceled. The CSR didn't mention any specific monthly charges, however.

Today in the mail I received a letter from Capital One stating that I have been sent to collections for owing $38.00. I figure this is a mistake because I closed my account, and have not received an email (I am on paperless billing), or a bill in the mail. I called the 1-800 number, as it turns out when I signed up for the card, I didn't opt out for "Total Protection", which is a very small fee that you pay each month, so that if you are unemployed and can not make a payment you are covered. So 20 days after I called to close my account "Total Protection" made a charge to my card for a whole 38 cents. Then they charged me another 38 cents for the month of January. This has ballooned to $38.00 now because of late fees. Speaking to the Capital One representative tonight, apparently when you "close" your account, it is not really closed. They leave it open for at least one billing cycle, to allow for any automatic withdrawals to continue. So several questions came to mind, and you won't believe the answers,

1. If "Total Protection" was added to my card through Capital One five years ago when I signed up for it, shouldn't it be closed when I closed my card? I assumed that since "Total Protection" was offered by Capital One that they where the same company.

Apparently not, "Total Protection" is a separate company, and Capital One will enroll you, but they will not inform the outside company you have closed your account.

2. Why was I not informed when I closed my account about "Total Protection" and given the number to call?

All Capital One is required to do (according to them) is read a generic discloser that states you should have all automatic withdraws stopped. They could not explain to me how I was to know that Total Protection service was not being offered by Capital One. When I asked how was I supposed to know the phone number to call this outside vendor, they told me I should have asked them when I closed my account. The Capital One rep. then gave me the phone number to call.

3. Why was I never sent a statement, paperless or otherwise, during the last two months I have been late?

Because my account was in a "closed status" they do not send out statements.

Something is wrong here, if they still allow charges to your account, and one is made shouldn't they send me a statement?

When I called the "Total Protection" company they informed me that it is Capital One's job to tell me I have this on my account and supply me with the phone number when I call to close my account, he then reversed the charges for the last two months. So now I am stuck with a collection on my credit report, and $38.00 worth of fees from Capital One, and a card still open. I really don't feel I should pay these fees when I was never sent a statement about them.

(Thanks to Quenten!)

The company has given seven percent of its credit card customers 35 days' notice that it was ending their card agreements, [an Egg spokesman] said. "The credit profiles of affected customers had deteriorated between the time they joined Egg and the acquisition (by Citigroup) in May [2007]."

"Web bank Egg withdraws cards from riskier customers" [Reuters]
(Egg: Getty)

I found the phone a few days ago and since it seems to a perfectly working phone, I thought I would put it to use as an emergency cell phone. I called Virgin to reactivate it.

They were unable to activate the phone because my sister's account is still open. The phone has not been in use, turned on, nor have any minutes have been added to it since July of 2007. The problem, a minutes promotion went through and extended the life of the account.

I explained to the rep that I had already been through this in July and again, I asked to close the account. The Customer Rep asked me to provide her security information to confirm ownership. I explained again, that she passed away in April of 2007 and I would just like to close down her account, especially as it had been inactive for so long. I didn't really care about the phone, but for heaven's sake, I would like the account closed The representative countered that I could just add minutes to her account, since it really didn't matter whose name was on it if I wanted to use the phone to make calls.

I declined his offer and hung up as I could not wait to get a supervisor on the telephone at that time.

I called back later and pursued the matter with a supervisor. She was very pleasant, but she explained that the only way I could close a phone that had not been in use for over 6 months was to wait out the remainder of time on the account which they assured me would be by the end of Feb.. To close the account now, it would require mailing a certified death certificate to the corporate office and making them push through the closure. I could not simply mail a certificate to them in July of last year or fax one to them now.

Now I appreciate that Virgin Mobile is protecting its customers from potential fraud, but this is ridiculous. My stepsister has been dead for nearly 10 months. In order to close her bank account, all I had to do was bring a death certificate into the branch. Closing credit cards required similar action.

If Virgin says that a phone account will be rendered inactive after 90 days, then it should be rendered inactive after 90 days. I should not be dealing with it months later and being asked to give personal information about her when I have offered to send them proof of her passing.

Tom, friend of the blog, and master of the internet, was among those affected:

Well, this morning I got a billing email from them:

This is just a notice that your DreamHost [redacted] ("zug's Account") has a balance of $380.87 (including any charges not due until 2009-01-14), with $340.97 due (since 2008-12-14).

You also have $321.02 past due (owed since 2008-11-14), and if by 2009-01-14 you do not pay at least the $321.02 part, your account will be automatically suspended until payment is received.

Ok, that's confusing... WTF, I ask myself. Looking farther into things...

WHAT DO YOU OWE MONEY FOR?

We have the last payment on this account to be $12.46 on 2008-01-15 06:48:38.

Since then the following charges have been made to the account:

2008-01-18 - $19.95 for "CODE MONSTER!" through 2008-02-17.

2008-01-18 - $19.95 for "CODE MONSTER!" through 2008-02-17.

2008-02-18 - $19.95 for "CODE MONSTER!" through 2008-03-17.

2008-02-18 - $19.95 for "CODE MONSTER!" through 2008-03-17.....

From Dreamhost's blog:

I'm very very sorry, we're very very sorry, and I'm sure you're very very sorry this happened. I really am. I understand the sort of problems that an unexpected large charge to your credit card (or worse yet, your debit card) can cause. If the tone of this blog post seemed a little light, I apologize I don't mean to offend and I realize how serious an issue this is. I've been up since 3:50am trying to undo the damage and maybe I'm a little shell-shocked.

A new service is running right now (in parallel on all the controllers) that fixes all those future charges, re-enables your account if it was erroneously suspended, and if your credit card was automatically rebilled, refunds the payment automatically. You don't have to contact us or your bank, and you'll get an email when your account is finished fixing up. It's going to take several more hours to complete. There are (or were, after this incident) a lot of you these days!

If, because of this billing mistake, you somehow incurred some fees from your bank or credit card company, please let us know after tomorrow (today we are just replying to all 10,000+ billing messages with a generic explanation) and we'll do our best to make it right for you.

Dreamhost fucks up bigtime! [ScatteredGenius]
Um, Whoops. [Dreamhost Blog]
Billing Issues (846 comments) [Dreamhost Status]

I thought I would pass along a problem I ran into today. I received a couple phone calls from Chase Bank fraud department concerning 2 credit cards I have with them (Amazon Visa and Chase Freedom Card). They reported (in a separate call for each card) that both cards are suspected of being compromised and that they are being closed.

That will result in them sending me a new card and new account for each. They were not able to tell me what the breach was, but did confirm I had no fraudulent charges on either card. I thought it might be worth warning the Consumerist readers to be on the lookout for problems with their Chase Credit Cards.

(Photo:meghannmarco)

A WHOIS search for EurekaInfo.net turns up a generic registration for Hostgator in Houston, Texas. The website is a plain-looking business site for a company that seems to sell database marketing services, located at 411 Theodore Fremd Ave, Rye, New York 10580. That address is just a generic office building. We called the 866 number and got a simple "Leave a message or press a button to fax" recording (click here to download a 324kb wav recording of the call—but we warn you, it's very boring.)

We have no idea if Eureka is involved in the scam or also a victim of it, but be sure to check your statements—these charges are popping up right now, and some of the people posting to 800notes.com just noticed them today.

(Thanks to Paul!)

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