So, small business owners often have to "float" expenses. Our new magazine has a line of credit, but when I draw on it the magazine will have to pay interest starting the day I make the draw. Whereas if I put the expense on another credit card, say, for instance, one that I pay off every month and therefore never have to pay interest on....well, the company will not have interest charges for that amount for 3-5 weeks, until I file for reimbursement.
So.....
Last Thursday I filled out the authorization to put the magazine pre-bill (half of the cost of printing an issue) on my personal credit card. I noticed that the expiration date was two weeks hence. I called the company. "Please send new cards....and by the way, please let the fraud division know that today a charge larger than my usual monthly total will come through. "No problem, Ms. Stewart" (cardholder since 1998).
About 30 minutes later the phone rang. It was a supervisor from the credit card company. He informed me, regretfully, that the customer service rep had accidentally/inadvertently cancelled my card. Oops. I told him about the abnormally large charge, and basically laid a big guilt-trip on him about holding up the publication of the magazine (publishing world strange fact: you don't get your real bill until you submit all materials, and then it is due immediately or you delay printing.
After an hour on the phone and a 3-way with fabulous Missy at the printers, I had had a new card issued, used to pay the printer via phone, and then cancelled because the fraud division requires that when a card is "compromised" by being given out by phone. A new card was issued. I asked for overnight delivery. The rep knew I was traveling the next day and wanted to send the new cards to my destination--but I was going to the Outer Banks, and honestly didn't know my destination address. "Send them to my husband's office."
No cards arrived the next day, a Friday. I spent most of the weekend trying to call the supervisor. On Monday I got rather nasty when I received email notification that Amazon was gonna pull my latest purchase off my Kindle because the card had failed. Finally I called the 800 number on the back of my (3x) expired card, explained what had happened, and was immediately patched thru to another supervisor. He said the card order had been cancelled (!) because I had not answered either of two calls from the fraud division to confirm that I had ordered cards sent to my husband's office. Um, even though I had TOLD them that I would be traveling. The order for the 4th replacement cards was issued.
The next day an overnight package arrived. A credit card. Mine only. I had another exchange and ordered a card for my husband, who is traveling this week.
Next time, the company can pay the darn interest.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
I left my children in the care of an axe murderer
Well, not quite. But after the long pause in my blog posts, I needed something to get your attention. In 2003, my spouse and I moved to Winston-Salem from the Triangle. We went back to visit soon after, and we left our young sons (then 2 and 4) with our dear friends' trusted housekeeper and regular sitter, Barbara. After all, whom could we trust to watch 4 active boys while the adults went for dinner?
My friends had recommended Barbara enthusiastically a few years before. I had her clean my house once or twice, but I worked from home and I was not impressed with her industriousness. Even though she was the darling of our supper club group, I never engaged her again except for that one night when she watched the boys.
About a year later my friend called. "I just want you to know that I recommended Barbara to you, but my spouse and I have discovered that she has been embezzling from us. We have turned the matter over to the sheriff. You might want to check your financial records." I thanked her for the call, and assured her that our finances were so tight at the time that I would have noticed $10 missing. Barbara had found their checkbook in the kitchen drawer and had been writing duplicate checks for her services for about two years. It was five-figure deal.
About two months later, Barbara made the news. It seems another client noticed something missing. Elderly sisters residing at Farrington (south of Chapel Hill) apparently invited their neighbor over to serve as a witness when they confronted Barbara over missing funds. Barbara beat the shit out of all three (with a cane, not an axe). The sisters later died, but their witness survived. Barbara had told the police that "a black man" had committed the mayhem.....a local school was in lock-down for hours because of this.
It came out in the court case that Barbara had previously embezzled from an elderly client. She had a criminal record, and a court order not to work or be unsupervised around the elderly. Did we check her background? No---she came highly recommended.
So there you have it. I left my children with a cane murderer. What does that say about me as a parent?
My friends had recommended Barbara enthusiastically a few years before. I had her clean my house once or twice, but I worked from home and I was not impressed with her industriousness. Even though she was the darling of our supper club group, I never engaged her again except for that one night when she watched the boys.
About a year later my friend called. "I just want you to know that I recommended Barbara to you, but my spouse and I have discovered that she has been embezzling from us. We have turned the matter over to the sheriff. You might want to check your financial records." I thanked her for the call, and assured her that our finances were so tight at the time that I would have noticed $10 missing. Barbara had found their checkbook in the kitchen drawer and had been writing duplicate checks for her services for about two years. It was five-figure deal.
About two months later, Barbara made the news. It seems another client noticed something missing. Elderly sisters residing at Farrington (south of Chapel Hill) apparently invited their neighbor over to serve as a witness when they confronted Barbara over missing funds. Barbara beat the shit out of all three (with a cane, not an axe). The sisters later died, but their witness survived. Barbara had told the police that "a black man" had committed the mayhem.....a local school was in lock-down for hours because of this.
It came out in the court case that Barbara had previously embezzled from an elderly client. She had a criminal record, and a court order not to work or be unsupervised around the elderly. Did we check her background? No---she came highly recommended.
So there you have it. I left my children with a cane murderer. What does that say about me as a parent?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)