About those fabulous cookies…...

Okay, you know those FABULOUS cookies I got at the Porter Flea market last week? I bought two packets of five cookies each for $10. Only today, I am balancing my bank statement and see that I was charged $100.06 for those cookies. 

Now, I really enjoyed those cookies, but seriously, for $100.06, I think the woman should have thrown in a couple of free samples.

Thank god I kept her card. It doesn't have her personal contact info on it, just the restaurant where she is the pastry chef. The answering machine informed me that they are closed on Tuesdays, so I had to leave a message.

I know it was an honest mistake, she was using her smart phone and one of those square card readers, but damn it, she has $90 of my money that — i know it's hard to believe — I happen to need quite a lot. I have plans this weekend!

I am just thankful that this did not set off a string of bounced checks! i'm POOR and I don't have a lot of cushion in my checking account, damn it!

Adding insult to injury, i decided to play it safe and call my bank, first to make certain nothing had bounced, and second to ask if I should file a dispute over the charge. I did not want to be told later that I should have reported it immediately -- because you never know how banks and other businesses will try to screw you.

Well, it took half an hour on the phone with Suntrust, jumping through hoops to get to a live person in customer service. If I were God, I would outlaw automated phone systems, I swear I would. I kept telling it i wanted to talk to a representative, and pushing zero, and it still kept insisting, 'In order to make sure your call gets to the right department, tell me in a few words…." ARRGGGGHHHHHH

Finally I get a person. And the accent is so bad I can hardly understand the guy. After going round and round, asking him to repeat himself, he says yes, he does see where my account was charged $100.06 on 6/9/14. I nearly screamed, "I KNOW THAT! I KNEW THAT BEFORE I CALLED YOU! THAT'S WHY I CALLED YOU!!"

He says he has to transfer me to another department if I want to file a dispute of the charge. I say, fine okay, whatever. After being on hold FOREVER, i have this woman on the line. Her accent is terrible too, but finally we understand each other and she says I should just wait and see if I can get the vendor to correct the charge, because filing a dispute will take a lot longer. 

Hmmm… is this just a tricky way of telling me "Go away and don't make this our problem"? Maybe….

Before hanging up, I asked her as politely as I could manage, where she was located. There's a pause, and finally, she says, "Offshore, ma'am. The Phillipines." 

I think I am going to find a new bank. On the average Suntrust has been okay, at least since the massive screw up fifteen years ago when my wallet was stolen at Kroger. They closed my account and then gave me a new one, but neglected to reroute the direct deposit of my paycheck to the new account. Instead, they put it in the old one, which was closed, right? So i couldn't get to my money! Yippee! That was a fun time! Bounce charges out the wazoo! But I finally got them to fix everything and eat those charges.

But I don't want to do business with them anymore if they, like so many other businesses, have shipped their customer service jobs overseas to people I can't even understand. I hate sounding like an ugly american, but seriously, if your customers can't understand you, that's not customer service.