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I haven't posted in what feels like ages because I am working on the next travel post (Boe!) and feel guilty if I post something else (see the guilt shine down now?) until I get it done. Argh.
But, too bad. This is a quickie.
Y'all be sure and keep close eyes on your checking account. There's a company out there called TGEveryDay Value, and they are scamming effing thieves. They yanked $149.99 out of one of my accounts last Friday--the one that happened to be seriously depleted after my vacation. I had left 50 bucks in there to keep it warm and toasty until payday (today), knowing there would be no hits. Well, I was wrong.
When I saw that I was suddenly overdrawn on that account, I rather freaked. I do not get angry. Sure, I get pissed, I get flustered and ranty, but this angry? Very angry. Shaking angry. FURIOUS angry. I called the number that was conveniently on my account. Livid. Shaking. At work in my cube. Freaking Stephnie (no 'a', really!) out because I do not DO angry.
In a bored, monotone voice, the woman who I talked to said, "You cashed one of our checks for $9.99, which signed you up for our service."
Uh, WTF?
I saw that check. I see checks like that all the time in my mail, and I throw those %$#@ things OUT. I told her, "NO WAY." (and many other things). I told her I did NOT, that I wanted my money returned IMMEDIATELY!!
She proceeded, same bored, monotone voice, to try and get me to stay with them. I interrupted her, said, "Give me my money back. NO, why the HELL would I want to STAY with you thieves?)
Stephnie probably got up from her chair at this point to listen more closely...
That woman (bored monotone) STILL tried to talk me out of it! I was angry before, I was ready to get violent by this point! OMG!
I FINALLY got her to shut up about that and send me to the higher up to cancel 'my' account. I was told it would be 7-10 days. I said HELL NO. Furious (this time, guy bored monotone). I wanted it BACK RIGHT NOW. I got it back Wednesday, but the damage had been done.
Called bank. Filed dispute. Told that I would not be charged the NSF, yadda yadda, call back when I get the money back.
Time passes. Am still angry but dealing. Payday is coming (Thursdays). My friend Tammie jumped on the internet and did some searches and found thousands of hits about this company's underhanded tactics, many people expressing that the same thing that happened to me, happened to them. That there might be a possible connection between Chase Bank (my bank) and these things. Given I never got a clear explanation as to how this so-called check was approved...I wonder.
So, this morning, confident and happy that the money was back, I just had to call the dispute line to tell them all was well and please refund the $35 as promised, I went on the bank to check my account. It was frozen. Solid. Couldn't touch it. Thank goodness I had enough gas in my car. I called them, was told "Fossil Creek Branch put a hold on your account."
?
Growling, I called the boss, told him I'd be late, then headed for the bank. Got there and heard this. "We don't have a hold on your account! La la la all is great!"
Got a new debit card for my account, still bewildered about the damn mess, but...thought okay well maybe all is okay. Great! New debit card has United on it...can earn bonus miles with every purchase (toward next trip to see N of course!).
So, confused, bewildered, glad the whole ordeal was over, full of hate for TGValues, I headed to work. Went to check my account...
Frozen.
?
Called the bank. This time, C was getting upset. Told yet another person the whole thing...she said, "Okay darling, hold on," pulled up my account...and started to laugh. "Here it is! Right here, frozen by Fossil Creek branch!"
*thunk*
I started to cry. Okay not really, just...DAMMIT! Thankfully, THIS person FINALLY HELPED ME! My account is clear. I got my $35 bucks back, no more frozen, end of drama. For now.
Those thieving bastards cost me 2 hours of vacation time (okay 1, I made the other up already), my sanity, etc., and now, based on the complaints I saw on the internet, it is entirely possible that now that they have my info, might try again. I can't change that account as that is the one hooked up with everything, with Lockheed which someday will be dumping money into it regularly, etc.
I am just lucky I caught it when I did! Some of those who dealt with this mess had let an awful lot of money slip away before they realized it.
Deep breath.
Keep an eagle eye out for that company. If you shop online, watch out for that extra little 'click here' thingy that some people fell for. If you get those damn checks in the mail, shred them to bits. I threw mine out with alot of other post-vacation trash at a gas station. Probably that's where I made the mistake (though I still can't figure out how they deposited it...but they did. I do know that much!).
The saving grace for the day was Nick reading to me his fic that's in his lj. It was awesome and complete with voices (he does a great Ianto!).
But, too bad. This is a quickie.
Y'all be sure and keep close eyes on your checking account. There's a company out there called TGEveryDay Value, and they are scamming effing thieves. They yanked $149.99 out of one of my accounts last Friday--the one that happened to be seriously depleted after my vacation. I had left 50 bucks in there to keep it warm and toasty until payday (today), knowing there would be no hits. Well, I was wrong.
When I saw that I was suddenly overdrawn on that account, I rather freaked. I do not get angry. Sure, I get pissed, I get flustered and ranty, but this angry? Very angry. Shaking angry. FURIOUS angry. I called the number that was conveniently on my account. Livid. Shaking. At work in my cube. Freaking Stephnie (no 'a', really!) out because I do not DO angry.
In a bored, monotone voice, the woman who I talked to said, "You cashed one of our checks for $9.99, which signed you up for our service."
Uh, WTF?
I saw that check. I see checks like that all the time in my mail, and I throw those %$#@ things OUT. I told her, "NO WAY." (and many other things). I told her I did NOT, that I wanted my money returned IMMEDIATELY!!
She proceeded, same bored, monotone voice, to try and get me to stay with them. I interrupted her, said, "Give me my money back. NO, why the HELL would I want to STAY with you thieves?)
Stephnie probably got up from her chair at this point to listen more closely...
That woman (bored monotone) STILL tried to talk me out of it! I was angry before, I was ready to get violent by this point! OMG!
I FINALLY got her to shut up about that and send me to the higher up to cancel 'my' account. I was told it would be 7-10 days. I said HELL NO. Furious (this time, guy bored monotone). I wanted it BACK RIGHT NOW. I got it back Wednesday, but the damage had been done.
Called bank. Filed dispute. Told that I would not be charged the NSF, yadda yadda, call back when I get the money back.
Time passes. Am still angry but dealing. Payday is coming (Thursdays). My friend Tammie jumped on the internet and did some searches and found thousands of hits about this company's underhanded tactics, many people expressing that the same thing that happened to me, happened to them. That there might be a possible connection between Chase Bank (my bank) and these things. Given I never got a clear explanation as to how this so-called check was approved...I wonder.
So, this morning, confident and happy that the money was back, I just had to call the dispute line to tell them all was well and please refund the $35 as promised, I went on the bank to check my account. It was frozen. Solid. Couldn't touch it. Thank goodness I had enough gas in my car. I called them, was told "Fossil Creek Branch put a hold on your account."
?
Growling, I called the boss, told him I'd be late, then headed for the bank. Got there and heard this. "We don't have a hold on your account! La la la all is great!"
Got a new debit card for my account, still bewildered about the damn mess, but...thought okay well maybe all is okay. Great! New debit card has United on it...can earn bonus miles with every purchase (toward next trip to see N of course!).
So, confused, bewildered, glad the whole ordeal was over, full of hate for TGValues, I headed to work. Went to check my account...
Frozen.
?
Called the bank. This time, C was getting upset. Told yet another person the whole thing...she said, "Okay darling, hold on," pulled up my account...and started to laugh. "Here it is! Right here, frozen by Fossil Creek branch!"
*thunk*
I started to cry. Okay not really, just...DAMMIT! Thankfully, THIS person FINALLY HELPED ME! My account is clear. I got my $35 bucks back, no more frozen, end of drama. For now.
Those thieving bastards cost me 2 hours of vacation time (okay 1, I made the other up already), my sanity, etc., and now, based on the complaints I saw on the internet, it is entirely possible that now that they have my info, might try again. I can't change that account as that is the one hooked up with everything, with Lockheed which someday will be dumping money into it regularly, etc.
I am just lucky I caught it when I did! Some of those who dealt with this mess had let an awful lot of money slip away before they realized it.
Deep breath.
Keep an eagle eye out for that company. If you shop online, watch out for that extra little 'click here' thingy that some people fell for. If you get those damn checks in the mail, shred them to bits. I threw mine out with alot of other post-vacation trash at a gas station. Probably that's where I made the mistake (though I still can't figure out how they deposited it...but they did. I do know that much!).
The saving grace for the day was Nick reading to me his fic that's in his lj. It was awesome and complete with voices (he does a great Ianto!).
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(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 02:51 am (UTC)see, that is one thing that always freaks me out about doing any type of online banking or shopping, and even then you're not safe
jeez
glad you got it sorted out in the end
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 02:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 04:08 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 04:22 am (UTC)When we were in DC 2 weeks again, my mother in law left her wallet at hom in TX, but she had her drivers license, and the room was prepaid with a credit card. So when we get to the hotel, they say, "well we need a credit card." My MIL says, "I don't have one, but the room is prepaid. I have my credit card number memorised, so I could write it down for verification." She gives them the last 4 digits and they don't match.
Keep in mind that she has her DRIVER'S LICENSE AND THE ROOM IS PAID FOR.
It doesn't match, because the reservation was made through travelocity, and they take your number and then use their account to pay, which I guess is safe, but doesn't help us.
SHE HAD HER DRIVER'S LICENSE. I don't get it. It was under her name, her very very asian name, and she had identification. The room was paid for. In the end, they just warned us that we couldn't charge anything on the acct, which we wouldn't have.
Anyway, it's like, in the face of computers, common sense flies out the window.
Gah. why? Why?
Also, Nick should podcast that Ianto.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 04:29 am (UTC)Glad you were able to finally get it sorted.
Pat did something similar online and it cost him about $150. Next time he'll read the fine print.
Though I told him there shouldn't BE a next time.
*hugs*
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 04:54 am (UTC)Thanks for the warning, also.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 06:44 am (UTC)I still don't understand how they could steal your money. Did you click on any button? I rip apart every piece of paper I throw away. And I use different trash bins when I'm in public.
If you are afraid that they will try to pull off the same thing again with your data, would it help to open a new bank account and close the old one? It would be a complete nuisance with having to renew all the regular payments from this account, but at least your data would be safe again.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 10:51 am (UTC)I'm thinking I'm grateful that we do not use checks over here much, especially if they can actually be used against your account!
Hope your week gets better.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 12:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 08:30 pm (UTC)I try to be very anal with my bank statements and activity :-X
Sorry for the headache!!!!!! So not worth it
(no subject)
Date: 2009-08-07 10:18 pm (UTC)