1-800 Welcome To Hell – If You Want To Hear A Duck Quack Press 7

by annemariedemyen, posted in September 2002

So, I am on day two of trying to reach the Visa fraud department and Molly came trucking in with a quacking duck. We have never gotten her, or any of our dogs, a quacking duck. Go figure, but it reminded me of the time my sister Lorraine sent me a 1-800 phone number with an option to hear a duck quack. I did. Option 7 was indeed a quacking duck. It was probably the only time EVER that a 1-800 number did not leave me fit to be tied.

Meanwhile, back to Visa. Apparently, their fraud department found one of our purchases questionable so they blocked our Visa cards. I am not sure if it was Dollarama or Walmart that put them over the edge but here we are! Sitting on hold. Yesterday, they offered a call back option. I tried that. Three hours later I received an automated call that put me through to an automated message manager, that hung up on me. I have even been to our bank – twice! They gave me a super duper ‘special’ 1-800 number to call. That’s working well for me.

I got my first credit card when I struck out on my own with my three teenagers. I didn’t particularly want a credit card, but I did want to rent a vehicle, a hotel room, or the occasional movie. A credit card was a necessity. I tried my bank and any other options available to procure a credit card. Because I had no credit history AND three teenagers, I was deemed financially irresponsible. Finally, my boss went to his bank and told them to give me a damn credit card or he was pulling all of his business and personal accounts. That did it. I got a credit card. A basic $500. Visa.

After I got my card, I would see other people whip out their Platinum credit cards and I would think – WOW! – they must be important to have a Platinum Credit Card.

Over the years, I seldom used my credit card. When I did, I paid it off right away. The Visa people loved me. Everytime I used my card they upped my credit limit. I went from Basic to Gold to PLATINUM. I whipped out my Platinum card last week, leaned over to Dan, and said “Do you think anybody thinks I am important?”

Anyway, with my Platinum card came points to collect for travel. When we decided to go to Costa Rica to visit Dan’s sister, we decided we should start using our credit cards to accumulate these points, so we started to use them for everything. We don’t buy that much but eventually we had the points to fly to Costa Rica – just as the pandemic shut down the airlines and Dan’s sister moved back to Canada. No need to travel to Costa Rica now. But, we are still in the habit of using our credit cards. Until now!

Now we cannot use our credit cards because they are blocked and I cannot get through to that one person on the planet who can actually fix this.

So, questions of the day… Is MasterCard just as bad? Has anyone ever had an issue with any credit card and come to a painless resolution?

That’s it for today. I obviously have to go back to the bank and get ugly. 👿

Take care and have a great day! 💞🌞

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35 thoughts on “1-800 Welcome To Hell – If You Want To Hear A Duck Quack Press 7”

  9. Our GSD loved the quacking ducks, and really, any toy that squeaked. Kate, the lab would perform squeakerectomies on them if she was able to get her paws and mouth on it, however. Hopefully, you have resolved the bank issue, if not the mystery of where Molly found the duck!

    Liked by 1 person

  10. I just had this happen when I charged my Visa card for Tupperware! Can you imagine, Tupperware and they declined to pay for it. Luckily, I caught it soon enough. They must have some new software that some “genius” thought up and are eager to try it out. Enough said!

    Liked by 1 person

  13. They blocked our cards because I (apparently) tried to use mine to book a $4800. Trip to the Middle East. 😂 Fortunately, I have been using Visa long enough that it stood out as a questionable purchase. Not as questionable as Tupperware maybe. 🙄

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  15. They have shut down a lot around here as well. It wouldn’t be so bad if there were actual call centres that you could call when you need assistance. But yes, I was lucky my branch was open today and that I finally hooked up with a woman who got things put right with Visa. (I hope). Will see if Dan’s card works tomorrow and I am supposed to get a new one on Tuesday. 👍🏻

    Liked by 1 person

  18. That really sucks Anne! I’ve had this happen twice to our MasterCard. For me, I just called the number on the back of the card and selected the department for fraud or report it stolen. The problem got fixed however the pain in the ass part is then they cancel out the card and we had to wait for a new one in the mail. I totally get it but this last time was Christmas time and very inconvenient, took about a week. Hope all gets resolved.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. Thanks Jackie! It is supposedly fixed. The last woman I talked to at the bank seemed to totally have her shit together. Dan’s card should be working and I should get a call to pick up my new one on Tuesday. Mostly it just freaked me out because I had NO idea why our cards weren’t working and no way to contact anyone. Not only could I not get hold of Visa, I couldn’t get hold of our bank (and couldn’t leave home because I didn’t want to miss the callback from Visa). I could go online and book an appointment with our bank, but the earliest date available was October 11th. 😳 We could live without these cards (we have others, but I wanted to know what the heck was wrong with them). So glad it is resolved and I know what the issue was. 😊. Take care and get some rest tonight. I am so sorry about your flashback – I totally get that. 😢 Happy you got BK! Dan took me to Smitty’s after mine. 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  22. I totally understand wanting to know what the heck was going on! When mine got put on hold before Christmas I was in line at Aldi checking out with a cart load. My card kept getting denied and I had no idea why. I was so embarrassed as I was holding the line up and then had to remove enough items until I had the amount of cash that was in my purse which was $65. The lady behind me offered to pay for my items. I know it likely showed how embarrassed I was. I told her how much I appreciated the gesture but I do have the money to cover this, just not sure why my card is denied. I get home and the cc called my home phone to say they did put my card on hold due to a possible fraud, which it was. I updated to my cell number so hopefully that wont happen again. I can see how frustrating all those calls just to get an answer! Glad it’s resolved. 😊

    Liked by 1 person

  24. That was fortunate for you. Someone tried to use my Visa to book a flight to the Middle East. Visa declined to pay and blocked our cards because of the suspicious transaction. The only problem was nobody bothered to inform us so I was flipping out for two days because our cards were not working and I had no idea who had control of our information.

    Liked by 1 person

  28. Thank you, Mags. It should be all good now. They unlocked Dan’s yesterday (should never have locked his) and I have a new card coming early next week. I am glad that they locked mine since someone had gotten my information and was trying to book an expensive trip, but it is rediculous that Visa did not contact me, that I cannot contact Visa or my bank when I need to, that it takes 3 trips to the bank to talk to one person who is competent, and that my bank will book appointments online but they are booked up for THREE WEEKS. That is just mind boggling! But I am so relieved that all is resolved and I know it isn’t some lowlife who got control of our account somehow.

    Liked by 1 person

  31. I am glad that this was caught. But, it makes me wonder what kind of sh*tshow it would be if I ever wanted to buy a ticket to the Middle East – or like anywhere out of Saskatchewan. 😂

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