We use one credit card, mostly for gasoline. We pay it in full every month, so there's no interest to worry about. We get air miles or money back for using the card; I always take the money. If we are going to make some major purchase, I will often put it on the card and then get online and pay it two days later, just so I get more money back from Visa. In other words, that credit card company is losing money on us.
I peeked at my bill this morning and there was a pending charge of $155 from Ancestry.com. Now, as far as I know, I have never signed up for a paid account there. I didn't see a phone number for Ancestry.com, so I started looking for a customer service number for the credit card. As I was poking around the site, a popup thingie appeared telling me I could chat with an agent online.
This same thing happened on the ATT website when I was setting up an account there.
Believe it or not, I LOVE this method of communicating. After years of talking in chat rooms and instant messages, typing comes as naturally to me as breathing. My experience this morning was a positive one, as it was with ATT.
Communicating in this manner, you don't have to worry about being able to hear the person. If he is in India, you don't have to decipher what he's saying. No problems with a foreign accent with the written (typed) word. Another benefit to this online chatting is that the person I'm talking to doesn't have to hear my screaming or crying. I don't intentionally raise my voice when I'm upset, it just happens. Yes, I get extremely upset when a charge shows up on my credit card that I had nothing to do with.
So this morning my customer service person asked for the vital information he needed to make sure it was really me and gave me a phone number for Ancestry.com. I called, but they don't start answering phones until 10 A.M.
Turns out I didn't need the number because when I went to the website and went to my account, I was able to get online and fix the problem. Problem solved. I do have an account at Ancestry.com that costs me nothing; it's linked to the information my cousin Pauline puts on the site.
Now I could use a nap.
There are more horses coming to our property in May: Adam, who has kept his horses here for several years, has a lady friend who needs a new place to keep her animals. If it's another drought year, I may have to sell every cow but Bonnie, but we'll hope for the best. One thing about it, we won't have to supply hay for the horses; the owners are responsible for that.
Glad you got the problem sorted out. That's not a good way to start the day, but at least you got to the bottom of it all. We'll hope that this is not another drought year. Last year did quite enough damage and folks are still trying to recover from that. Hope your Monday is a great one with no more problems
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't sell all of your cattle. I love looking at them .Are you renting to the horse fellow? I would not want a bunch of horses they can be a pain.
ReplyDeletePatsy, we make more money on the horses than we do on the cows. I intend to keep Bonnie as long as she will give me a calf every year, since she isn't worth anything as far as selling her: She has two bad quarters. If it rains, I probably won't sell anything till fall. Adam's horses are no problem, and his girl friend's horses are with cattle now, so they should be OK also. This will be a raise for us, and as you know, if you are on social security, you grab every raise you can get.
ReplyDeleteI like that chat function too--I can print it so I have proof IN WRITING!
ReplyDeleteThis has nothing to do with this post of yours (but yes, I have used on-line chat in the past to get some help and it was very helpful indeed.) The photos you posted a few posts ago are just hilarious. I really enjoyed looking them, especially the one with all of the African animals with your cows. I've played around with photos myself -- mostly moving people's heads from one group shot to another group shot so everybody looks good, but this guy is very gifted
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