Saturday 25 August 2007

it gives you a warm spot in your heart for bank robbers..

Frustration reigns! Some bloody sod has stolen my bankcard number and with it successfully emptied my checking account. I have been in communication with the bank via the online banking site as I think the more matters are in writing, the better shot you have at not having to ram your head into a brick wall and have your brains splatter and run down into the sewers. In spite of my saying, “Not mine. Not mine. Close the account.” They only managed to do so AFTER it was empty! Now when I call them to say, “You must send me new card straight away, use the Fed Ex please as I have no other source of cash down here.”

The bank person says, “Oh we can’t send that to you because there is no money in your account to cover the fifty dollar fee.”

‘There is no money in my account because YOU let someone empty it!” I moaned to no avail. Like talking to a brick, a brick with a very thick American-southern accent. Now I must deposit MORE money into my account that NOW is supposedly closed to the old number in order to facilitate the sending of a new card. Arghhhhh.

It continues as she says, “And where shall I send the papers?”
“Papers? What papers? The chap I emailed at the bank said all you needed was verbal confirmation to send the card, and start the dispute procedure TO GET MY MONEY BACK. Along with the bank fees you have charged me when you GAVE them more money on an overcharge.”

“Oh no Mam’ you have to fill out the papers and get them to us in ten days or you forfeit the money as we cannot dispute,” she says this like she is rattling it off a card.

“Are you mental? It takes two weeks for anything to get here and three weeks for it to get out!”

“We will be glad to fax it to you,” she says with a perky lilt.

“Oh sure let me just go down to me office where I have only one of the two internet connections in the Oudayas and pull a fax machine connected to what out of the air.” Patience is running a bit thin at this point. We can tell because the brogue gets thicker. “FAX machines are a bit thin on the ground here,” I say very slowly.

We left it that I will CALL BACK, because that is just so easy, when I have transferred money into the account at which time they will send the bloody card. Meanwhile I spent thirty minute this afternoon being led from one teleboutique to another by some lovely men who were being most helpful until I found a hole in the wall with the fax literally sitting over his head. This should be fun!

37 comments:

KarenO said...

Oh no!! I'm so sorry about this terrible mess and that it is so difficult to get it resolved. May that (insert all the ugly/dirty/foul words you can think of) thief be plagued by the itch of a thousand fleas in his nether regions!

lady macleod said...

karenO

what a wonderfully African curse! I love it, I am ashamed to say.

thank you for coming by.

Annie said...

Oh Lady M - this is awful. The violation of having your money taken and then the insult to injury of having to deal with Bank red tape. Very frustrating - I hope you get it resolved soon, and as for the thief? Karma baby!

lady macleod said...

annie

Karma indeed! I am breathing, and trying to remember it could be worse, it can always be worse..

thank you for coming by.

(that is one beautiful baby in your avatar)

jmb said...

How awful for you, it seems to be happening more and more these days. Being so far away, with few technical resources is certainly pain. I hope it gets sorted out soon.
regards
jmb

lady macleod said...

jmb

Thank you, but I'm sure it will get sorted out. It's more of an annoyance right now than anything dire. It's one of those things you just don't think will happen to you..

thank you for coming by.

Omega Mum said...

I hate to suggest this but would the name and shame threat via your world-renowned blog make them get their act together? (It would also make a very interesting piece for one of the US papers, I'd have thought. What would a soldier serving in Afghanistan be supposed to do, for example? No bank would much care for that sort of exposure). Not threatening, naturally, just mentioning it in a nice, brisk sorta way. Good luck, anyway.

wakeupandsmellthecoffee said...

Where is Karl Malden when you need him? What a mess. I hope you can get it sorted out.

Ian Lidster said...

I knew I liked you for a reason, newfound friend, and part of that is that you are as contemptuous of banks as am I.
Otherwise, I do hope you get this sorted out quickly.

jenny said...

Oh oh oh!! I'm with Kareno-- "Fleas! Head to the thief's nether regions!"

Always a pain to deal with people on the phone and frustrating to have red tape and such blocking your way. Hopefully you'll have all your funds returned to you soon!

Iota said...

Someone recently booked a few Easyjet flights using our credit card. Very annoying. The credit card company say we will be refunded, but we haven't seen the cash yet.

Kim said...

Bless your heart, Lady M. What a terrible pain in the derriere. I hope it's all resolved for you soon.

Mopsa said...

Aaargh indeed. Why do banks always seem to add to the frustration of these situations rather than pour salve on them?

sally in norfolk said...

So sorry to hear about this.... same thing happened to my son about 6 month ago, as he is young he did not have much money in his bank and it was only noticed when it had gone over drawn it was sorted easily but so much hassel.
makes you realise this could happen to any of us,think i will start keeping my money under my bed..lol :-)

debio said...

Oh no! Oh no!

I wish you all the luck in sorting this one.

lady macleod said...

debio

"Oh no!" indeed. Thank you for the good wishes and
thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

sally

I have thought of the under the mattress believe me, but the exchange rate down here is so bad just now....

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

mopsa

indeed! and I let them use my money, there should be something for that eh?

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

kaycle

and a pain in my wallet! thank you for the good wishes,

and thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

lota

How do they do that? Not being a thief it is all a mystery to me. I hope the flight lost their luggage...

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

jenny

Yes fleas indeed! "Soon" does not seem to be a word in the banking vocabulary unless you are giving THEM money! Just to stop the leak will make me happy at this point.

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

ian

Thank you for the affection, and good wishes. I do wish I could take Sally's advice and use the mattress, but so much money now is virtual.

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

WUASTC

thank you, and thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

omega mum

I like the way your mind thinks..

thank you for coming by.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

I do sympathise, dear Lady M. It sounds as bad as Italian bureaucracy!

Meg said...

Lady M-

Firstly, I'm so sorry for what has happened to you. Don't let the bank get away with being discourteous to you. They owe you that money back!

Secondly, how lucky for me to have found your blog! I am T-60 days from arriving in Morocco for a year. Do you have any suggestsions for me? Right now I'm thinking specifically about what to pack, but of couse I am thinking (and will be thinking) about how to act, really anything you can tell me about being a Westerner in Morocco.

I am so glad to read how positive you are about being in Morocco and wanting to stay. Planning this trip has been a rollercoaster for me and I am glad to have found someone who has mostly enjoyed it.

Elsie Button said...

oh m god, how bloody annoying. i hope you sort it out. what is it with banks and making life unbelieveably hard for the victim.

we had a nightmare with the bank in cuba, when we were travelling around cuba for our honeymoon. my bank in england had decided to block our bank card because they thought that there were 'suspicious' transations going on (which was in fact us buying things in cuba) and THEN the cuban bank thought that my signature didn't match my passport signature - it was a NIGHTMARE. we couldn't get any money for a few days and thought we'd be stuck where we were not able to get back to the airport etc. was in tears for about a week afterwards! not the best honeymoon!

good luck with the fax!

lady macleod said...

elsie

As I say, "things can always get worse", as you have proven! You poor thing! What a story. My little hiccup does not compare.

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

welshcakes

indeed!

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

meg

drop me a line with your details on my email and I shall be pleased to give you all the information I can. If you have time to glance back through my blog it may help as well.

Don't mind the roller coaster, forge ahead.

thank you for coming by.

James Higham said...

Lady M - this is pure "kill" stuff. Get out of credit altogether while you can. Doesn't help now but cuts your losses. So sorry for you about it.

Sparx said...

Oh, Lady M!! I'm so sorry! It's happened to me via a stolen cheque book...but at least I was in the same city as my bank manager. What a NIGHTMARE. My thoughts are with you.

What I do have is an e-fax so if someone sends me a fax it arrives as a scan. If they insist on a fax, if you like, they can fax to me and I can email it to you which at least gets it halfway done for you - let me know and I'll post an email address for you to contact me on.

Mutterings and Meanderings said...

Oh no Lady M! I do hope you get sorted out sooon.

lady macleod said...

M&M

thank you, I hope so as well!

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

sparx

Thank you for the offer, and I may well take you up on it. I have written them yet again, and I can't seem to get them moving! I am becoming somewhat distraught as I am running out of cash! If I can get them to respond (grrr) I shall contact you about the fax, thank you again, and

thank you for coming by.

lady macleod said...

sir james

good advice and thank you,

and thank you for coming by.

Heather Yaxley said...

Banks all over the world seem to lack the basic understanding that we are the customers and they are supposed to be custodians of our money.

I hope this soon gets resolved for you. But wouldn't it be good to see some government action that demands banks behave better?

There seems to be so little choice between them. Maybe we should wish a global plague of fleas on the bank execs.