You would think that after Chase goes through the trouble of reissuing new Visa debit cards to replace its MasterCards, they might also take the precaution of deactivating the old card when the new one is activated. Not so, Disappointed in NYC writes. When our reader tried to cancel Vonage, they wanted to charge a cancellation fee. He refused but they still charged his old Chase Mastercard. Chase CSR said the Vonage charge went through but nothing else would.

Is this a security issue? We think not. We just received our new gold WaMu Mastercard to replace the WaMu Visa, and the letter informed as that as a courtesy, they will let recurring payments and the like be charged for one month on the old card.

Are you reading, John Dillinger? This kind of annoying crap is the fallout from your supposedly victimless crime.

Disappointed’s full letter, after the jump…

So Visa bribed Chase away from using MasterCard and the net result was that all the existing Chase debit cards have been replaced with these shiny gold cards with the Visa logo that look more important than they probably are. I activated mine yesterday – one assumes that since the new debit card with the brand new account number and expiration date are now in play, the old card would be no good. I even called Chase customer service to confirm that.
When cancelling my lousy Vonage service they tried to charge me the cancellation fee. I refused and they charged my Chase MasterCard, which I was reassured couldn’t be used. Guess what? It went through! I had to call Chase who told me, yes Vonage went through but no, nothing else would. Could they really guarantee that? Probably not. I had to hang around while the customer service rep contacted security to make sure the card was cancelled.

So now if people don’t want 2 Chase debit cards around they need to physically call and cancel their old card. I have to say I’m really disappointed with Chase. As for Vonage, I hope their stock plunge kills their lame static-y service and constant outages. Plus they owe me a $50 rebate which I have yet to see.

Sincerely,
Disappointed in NYC

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