Entries Tagged as 'chase'

Chase Nearly Catches Me Off Guard, And a Status-Now.com Near SNAFU

Did Ryan Church really miss third base, costing the Mets the lead in the top half of the 11th?

Did Xavier Paul’s fly ball really fall between LF Angel Pagan and CF Carlos Beltran?

And what the heck was with that throw to the plate???

Cue Yackety Sax!

- So over at The Consumerist about a week ago, I read an article about how Chase was “inviting” certain customers to skip a payment on their credit cards, clearly with the intention to charge interest rates on existing balances.  I told myself, “Gee, I wish Chase would do that with my balance transfer!”

Fast forward to today, and I noticed something peculiar on my Excel spreadsheet made for bills.  According to the spreadsheet, I had already paid off my Chase Freedom card for the month of April (you know, the one that was made better than ever recently, if by better than ever, I mean FUBARed).  I wasn’t sure if that was right, though, so I logged in to my Chase online account.

(I know that a payment is due on a credit card account when there is a figure under the minimum payment due.  In addition, the first thing I check when I log on to my Chase account are the notices on the left hand side of the page.  Once a payment clears, the minimum payment due resets to zero, the notice goes away, and I make a note on my spreadsheet that the account is paid.)

I looked at my Freedom account, noted the minimum payment due was $0, and thought that that was peculiar.  I investigated further, and that’s when I saw the last payment date of April 13.  I knew that that didn’t sound right, so I opened up a PDF copy of my statement, and that’s when I saw the blurb quoted in the Consumerist article above:

You have the flexibility to skip a payment. you must pay past due and overlimit [sic] balances immediately. However, the remaining minimum payment for this month has been reduced to $0. Finance charges will continue to accrue. To reduce your balance, feel free to make a payment.

Thank goodness that my minimum payment of $0 was due on May 21.  It was only a $120 balance, so I suppose it wouldn’t have been a big deal if I missed the payment (even at 24%, that’s about $5 out of my pocket).  Still, that’s a few bucks of mine that Chase nearly got their hands on.

- I had a Status-Now.com rebate that was in rebate limbo from all the way back in November of 2008.  Being the lazy bastard that I am, I waited until a few days ago to inquire about the rebate.  After a brief wait on hold, I was told that the rebate was invalid due to a duplicate submission(?!?).  I couldn’t find my rebate scans, so I told the rep that I would call right back.

I checked Status-Now.com, and sure enough, it appeared that I did file duplicate rebates.  WTF, I thought to myself.  I could’ve sworn that the two rebate entries were different, and without the rebate form, how was I gonna prove it?

It took a bit of, um, URL “engineering,” but I eventually found the proper rebate form.  I called Status-Now right back, gave them the promo code of the rebate, and was stunned to hear what the rep told me.

(paraphrasing) “Sir, that rebate promotion code is for a promotion that hasn’t yet occured.”

…….

Huh?

About a minute later, I finally was able to speak again.  “Come again?” I said.

The rep put me on hold, came back on soon after, and explained that there was “probably” a typo on the rebate form.  She explained that, in the event that the promotion code is incorrect, the system automatically tries to process the rebate under the closest promotion code.

OK.

Long story short, the rep created a new record for me—she had to process it under a promotion that I’ve already done, but she assured me that it would be OK—and that she would expedite the rebate process.

Whew.

Until next time…whenever the hell that is.

Chase Teller Scams Elderly Woman of $300,000, And Lack of Sleep = Bad (Idiot Neighbors Don’t Help)

Quick-hitters:

- I was expecting the high temps to stick around for another couple of days, but it was a comfortable 85 degree day today.

Hopefully the reduced temperatures will mean more sleep for me (more on that later).

- So I’ve got this stick of SO-DIMM RAM (that’s laptop memory, for you non-computer geeks out there), and I am tempted to put the RAM on my keychain as evidence of my geek-dom.

I’ve been told by at least one individual that, if I do so, I should not be seen with said person in public until I remove the RAM from my keychain. Fine.

(What I’m really worried about, of course, are the pointy edges of the stick of RAM that might chew up my pockets. Yeah, that’s it…I’m not at all worried about getting called a dork.)

- I guess there is at least one person who doesn’t buy Shaq’s “It was all done in fun” argument: Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who demanded back Shaq’s special deputy’s badge as a result of his rap about Kobe. I can’t say I blame the sheriff.

Shaq’s not going to miss that badge one bit, methinks. He’s not going to be depressed the same way Dwight Schrute was after resigning from his volunteer position (remember the episode where Michael demanded Dwight’s urine to pass a drug test?), right?

- Chase has treated me pretty well as a customer (their inability to retain my email address, as well as changing due dates notwithstanding).

However, after seeing the latest story regarding Chase over on The Consumerist, part of me has to wonder when they’re going to royally screw me over. Cliffs: a “friendly” teller had siphoned about $300,000 out of $400,000 from the bank account of an elderly woman, who currently needs the money to pay her nursing home bills.

Granted, the actions were that of a rogue employee, and not Chase themselves. However, if what the article says is true—”The bank discovered the theft in August 2007″—what is taking so long for the funds to be returned to her? Also, she had been siphoning funds for four years, and it took a tax preparer (and not the bank itself) to catch on to her scam?

In any case, the teller better get what’s coming to her.

- So as all my loyal readers—all none of you—know, I’ve been lacking sleep lately. The oppressive heat of the last few days are largely to blame, and it doesn’t help that my bedroom window doesn’t have a screen on it. I’d sleep in the living room, but our sliding glass door doesn’t have a screen either. I suppose I could sleep without…um…never mind.

While there is absolutely nothing I could do about the heat (turning on the A/C aside), I wish I could throw stuff at my idiot neighbors, who haven’t helped in my quest for a good night’s sleep.

1) At about 5:30AM on Sunday morning, I was in la-la land, probably dreaming about something I wish I had (Money? An expensive car? A girl? A girl in an expensive car with money in the trunk? Whatever.), when I heard a loud THUD from the second-floor of my condominium complex. Either one of my neighbors tipped over a dresser/bookshelf/desk/etc., or one of my neighbors is a tad overweight.

I don’t think an asteroid crashing into “the Valley” would have made a sound that loud. Needless to say, it took a while for me to get back to sleep.

2) Later that morning, around 7AM, I was awoken to a guy sitting on the stairs outside my condo. For the next hour or so, I had to listen to this idiot explain, in a thousand different ways, how women are evil.

He gave classic lines, like “She’s just jerking around with you!” as well as more contemporary lines, like “Bros before hoes!” I also heard “She’s not worth it,” “She’s a b!tch,” and the usual “You can do better!” I could’ve sworn I also heard a “I’m here for you.”

Kudos to his cell phone for lasting throughout the conversation, though! My two-year-old Sanyo Katana can’t go 24 hours on STANDBY without needing a recharge.

3) On both weekend mornings, I was forced up to one of my neighbor’s dog barking incessantly. What really irritates me about the dog—other than its existence—is the fact that the dog barks the same four-bark, descending-tone melody over and over and over again. My sister insists that the owner leaves the dog outside in the patio on weekdays, forcing the dog to deal with the high temps until, presumably, the owner returns…allowing the dog to stay outside in the patio and annoy the holy hell out of his neighbors some more.

People who walk their dogs at 3PM on a 100+ degree day need to be shot. So does this idiot, if what my sister alleges is true.

Until next…zzzzz…

Chase Changes Credit Card Due Dates For Fun, Oppressive Heat = Trip to the Mall, And Shaq’s Rap (Rip?) About Kobe

Quick-hitters:

- Wow. I actually tossed out an empty tube of toothpaste AND a stick of deodorant on the same day!

I think I better go to CVS to restock :P

- File this under the “It helps to read carefully” department: I got an email in my GMail Spam folder, with the all-too-subtle headline:

Win from benefits of hidden secrets of pornstars!

What I found mildly comical was the sender of the email: hijo.

In my sleepless state, and for a split second, I thought Hank was starting his own Canadian pharmaceutical company or something :P

- (from Consumerist) I think I ranted about this before, but I can’t seem to find when I did so. Anyway, apparently I am not the only one that has had Chase change around their credit card due dates in an effort to scam customers out of money.

(You tell me what other possible reason there is for doing this.)

The only reason why I caught Chase doing this to me is the fact that I log on to my Chase.com account almost weekly, whether I do it for a check of my credit limit, a check of my due dates (and whether or not the accounts are paid before the due date), or a random check of my purchases. If I wasn’t such a frequent visitor of my Chase.com online account, I’m almost certain that I would have been late on a payment at some point.

(By the way, Chase, why do I still get paper statements in envelopes that say “Sorry, but your email address was rejected, so here’s your statement”? I have changed my email address several times, and for some reason, you guys decide it would be funny to change it right back!

Either that, or maybe…nah.)

- Boy has it been HOT here in recent days! Over the latter three days of the past week, temps have gone well over 100 all three days, and Friday night, it was 83 degrees…at 3AM!!!

How hot has it been? In a span of six days, my sister and I have polished off eight gallons (out of ten) of water from our cooler!

(Thank goodness for Crystal Light.)

So on Saturday, my sister and I decided to soak in all the free air conditioning we could get by swinging by the Northridge Mall. We arrived at the mall at about 3:30 (I didn’t officially get up until 1; the heat had something to do with that), and we spent the first few minutes of the trip at Sears, looking for some cheap clearance stuff (no luck). After visiting a couple other stores, we headed across the mall to Borders.

Over at Borders, I grabbed two books that piqued my interest: Paul Shirley’s Can I Keep My Jersey?: 11 Teams, 5 Countries, and 4 Years in My Life as a Basketball Vagabond, and Jim Nantz’
Always By My Side: A Father’s Grace and a Sports Journey Unlike Any Other. I heard of Shirley’s book from ESPN’s Bill Simmons, and Nantz’s book intrigued me after his excellent interview on The Jim Rome Show on 5/30/08.

I got through the introduction and a single chapter of Shirley’s book, and now I’m hooked. I love his dry, sarcastic wit, though some of his cracks are a bit borderline offensive. Nantz’s book, on the other hand, grabbed me right at the end of the first chapter (anyone who read the book knows what I mean).

I think I’ll have to order both books.

The rest of the day was spent at Circuit City, where my sister was playing around with a Nikon D40. I was browsing for something to spend my ~ $200 GC on, and I couldn’t find a damn thing.

(We returned to the mall on Sunday, however, to take a look at an LG 32LG30 HDTV. After a AAA 8% off coupon, the TV comes out to about $650, or $450 after my GC. Tempting…)

- Finally, you must have seen by now the freestyle rap about (rip on?) Kobe by one Shaquille O’Neal. Here are my thoughts on the video:

1) When I first saw it, I pretty much asked “WTF are you thinking, you fat idiot?” I thought your so-called “feud” was completely over, and then you go on and do THAT? Like Shaq should be running his mouth; he had Nash and Amare and couldn’t get out of the first round!

(Tangent: When we talk about Shaq’s career, we always talk about the guards he played with: Penny, Kobe, D-Wade, and Nash. Why don’t we ever talk about the two HOF coaches that led him to rings—Phil Jackson and Pat Riley—and compare them to the two that couldn’t do so—Brian Hill and Mike D’Antoni?)

At best, Shaq’s jealous. At worst, he’s an arrogant ass.

2) After listening to Stephen A. Smith talk about freestyle rapping, and how Shaq’s rap is considered pretty mild by rapping standards (as you can expect, I am no expert on this subject), I guess I could give Shaq a bit of leeway. However, to say that his rap was not at all premeditated is ridiculous at best. Does this line

Kobe [expletive], tell me how my [expletive] tastes.

sound anything but premeditated? What about the line that Kobe caused Shaq’s divorce?

(quoted from the MSNBC.com article) I’m a horse, Kobe ratted me out, that’s why I’m getting divorced. He said Shaq gave a (woman) a mil. I don’t do that ’cause my name’s Shaquille. I love ‘em, I don’t leave ‘em. I got a vasectomy, now I can’t breed ‘em.”

How can he rap about something that personal and still try to convince people that his rap was done in jest? Plus, if the feud with Kobe was, indeed, over, why would an attack on Kobe be the first thing on Shaq’s hit list? I don’t buy it one bit.

3) Speaking of attacks on NBAers, what was with the attack on Ewing and Kareem? Sure, Ewing has no rings, but what did he do to deserve getting blasted by Shaq? And Kareem? The top scorer (total points) in NBA history? The guy with six NBA rings and six MVPs?

Nice try.

If Shaq did this to draw interest to the first Suns-Lakers matchup of the 08-09 season, then Mission Accomplished. Personally, yawn…

Until next time!

Screw you, DHL; Microsoft Rebate Checks Come FAST (How Fast?); And Upon Further Review, Yes, You Did Include the UPC

I’m going to go sports-free today.

In other words, I’ve got tons to rant (and a little bit of raving) regarding customer service issues.

(Warning: L O N G blog entry today!)

Quick-hitters:

- So I just signed up for a free seven day trial of Sirius Internet Radio.

(I know…I’m WAY late to the party).

So far, I like the idea of commercial free radio, though I was hoping that the stations were COMPLETELY interruption-free (every now and then, the DJs insist on interjecting their thoughts between songs).

You could say that I’m testing out Sirius to try to convince my sister to sign up. With her AAA card, she should be able to get a decent deal on service + a radio, though nothing close to the $0 deal that was posted on SlickDeals recently, which even included a $30 gift card!

- I understand that credit worthiness is as understood as Mars, but I gotta wonder why Discover card is willing to offer me a promotional 0% balance transfer rate for a year, Chase is offering the same—as well as 2.99% for life (and that check is still sitting on my desk just in case)—but Citibank insists that their 0% for 4 months or 7.99% for life offers are worth my time.

Worse, while Discover only offers me this when I log into my online account, and Chase sends me balance transfer checks about once a quarter, Citibank insists on sending me these checks 2-3 times a week. I guess that’s why I bought a Staples MailMate shredder.

- Current rebate-o-meter: $1,049, with at least $200 “cut” (check written, and en route to me.)

Current unfiled-rebate-o-meter: $500 or so :P

(I’m so lazy.)

- Screw you DHL, and you too, idiot driver! I had a package scheduled for delivery on Wednesday, but I was not available to sign for the package (it was signature required). I got the notice on the door that night, and the next day, my sister was around to sign for the package.

That evening, the driver never came around! I checked the status of the package, and it said that a delivery attempt was made at 2:54pm! Ok…then where’s the second notice, remarking that Friday would have been DHL’s third and final delivery attempt?

I was around all day on Friday, awaiting the package, and around 7:00pm that night, I checked the status of the package again, and it appeared that the package never made it into the hands of the driver! WTF???

I called DHL earlier today, and the rep flatly told me that it was returned to sender. When I asked him why only two delivery attempts were made—by my count, there was only one delivery attempt, but whatever—the rep told me that the first delivery attempt was made on Tuesday.

(WRONG! Look at the status page! And I’m completely ignoring the fact that the package went to the wrong shipping facility on 6/2, a day before the supposed first delivery attempt!)

The rep asked me if I received a notice, and I pointed out that I received one on Wednesday. I then explained that, if the second delivery attempt was made on Wednesday, then why did I not get a notice on Tuesday? In addition, if this was the second delivery attempt, then wouldn’t I have been notified that the next delivery attempt would have been my last?

That’s when the rep dropped this bomb: he said that the driver scanned the package three consecutive days, and that the third scan was done on the sixth.

(If that’s the case, then wouldn’t the first scan have come on the fourth, and not the third as the rep mentioned earlier?)

The rep added that, regardless of what the online tracking says, three scans = three delivery attempts. I pointed out that the driver might have been at my front door once out of the three attempts, and the rep would not budge on his three scans = three delivery attempts argument.

I’m almost 100% convinced that, after Wednesday’s delivery attempt—regardless of which delivery attempt that was—the driver didn’t even try to contact me via the intercom on Thursday, and didn’t even bother to attempt a delivery on Friday. Good thing the package contained nothing of great importance.

I suppose DHL guy still isn’t as bad as the FedEx driver, who really loves to throw packages against my front door. And as much as I think the UPS guy is not at all funny, at least he cares enough to leave me notices every day that he attempts a delivery.

And I don’t want to hear, “Well, if the package was important, then why didn’t you sign the back of the notice?” One, even if I did so, I’m not even sure that the driver made a second or third delivery attempt! How can he leave a package without stopping by my front door? Two, I still live in the complex where an LCD was stolen from my front door, and someone’s boxed up broken tuba (!!!) was stolen from their front door!

Screw you, DHL.

- After all that ranting, I think it’s time to switch gears. I submitted a $30 rebate for Windows Live OneCare, which, according to my records, was mailed out on 5/6/08.

The rebate check showed up in my mailbox today.

(In a world where rebates takes 8-12 weeks, usually from the date of receipt, but sometimes from the date of the end of the promo, or even 30 days after the end of the promo, a rebate that takes four weeks to receive is awesome.)

I checked my email inbox and noticed that I had only gotten notification that the rebate processor got my submission on 5/27 (the email itself arrived 6/3). Thirteen days—nine business days—from receipt to a check? Wow!

Even funnier is the fact that, when I checked out my online rebate status, it says this:

Date received: 05/27/08

Date checked mailed: 06/19/08 (est.)

Estimated check arrival date: 06/29/08

In other words, the rebate processor still thinks the check is only in the processing stages!

Incidentally, Microsoft rebates are handled by Young America, the same company that processes TrendNet rebates (rejection rates = Ray Allen’s free throw shooting percentage; really really high, in other words), Corel and Office Depot rebates (really really slow), and Sony software rebates, which leads me to my last story…

(Young America also used to handle Kaspersky rebates, and while I had no real problems with Kaspersky rebates handled by these guys, many people on SD weren’t so lucky).

- Three days ago, I checked the status of a pair of Sony Vegas Movie Studio 8 rebates at web-rebates.com. One rebate was good to go, but the second rebate had this little remark attached to it:

Submission did not include an original UPC from Movie Studio 8

Now, the UPC was a sticker, which I stuck smack dab on the top edge of the rebate form. Certainly you can see how a moron could miss that, right?

(Unless the piece of invisible tape I used to further stick the UPC to the rebate form yellowed in transit, and thus blocked the UPC from plain sight, I guess…)

Naturally I did what I do best: I sent a hate-filled email to their customer service desk, using the webform found here. This morning, I got this reply:

Dear Mr. Ung,

Thank you for your interest in the Sony rebate offer.

We have reviewed your request and find the UPC was submitted. Your $30.00 rebate has been processed.

Please allow 10-14 days to receive your rebate check.

We apologize for the error and the inconvenience incurred.

It’s good to know that these rebate processors don’t mis-see (:P) UPCs, and then immediately trash the rebate submission afterwards, which begs the question: why don’t they? If a rebate submission is clearly invalid, then why keep them?

Perhaps it has something to do with rebate companies trying adhere to a strict quota of only processing a select percentage of rebates…

(Nah.)

Chase Balance Transfer Checks, I’m Pretty Sure Walgreens is Going to Lose Some Business Over This, And Yes, The Spurs Can Be Entertaining

Sorry, no Office review tonight! I really didn’t expect the Spurs-Hornets game to be THAT entertaining!

Quick-hitters:

- Does anybody own a Treo 700 series, specifically the 755p? My sister’s 755p is in a never-ending reboot loop, no matter how many times I soft- or hard-reset the damn thing. What the hell is causing this, and how the hell do you fix it?

The last I heard, she took the PDA to the Sprint store. Hopefully Sprint stores are not as clueless as their phone reps can be.

- Best Buy sent me this email earlier today:

Dear Peter,

In an ongoing effort to improve our services, we’d like to hear about your experience of having BestBuy.com products shipped. Please click the button below to fill out a brief survey about your recent purchase on 05/01/2008, including [items purchased]. It should only take a few minutes.

Thanks for helping BestBuy.com serve you better!

Usually, I have zero desire to fill out these surveys. However, in this case, I have less than zero desire to fill out this survey. You see, this order is currently on backorder!

Nice job, Best Buy!

- I get a balance transfer (BT) offer from either Chase or Citibank (boooooooo!) practically every day.

(Who doesn’t?)

Normally, these checks find their way immediately into my shredder. Most of the time, I get BT checks on my lowest-limit credit cards—$1,200 and $2,000—or on my primary credit card. If I’m going to take out a BT, I’m not going to “waste” my time on a small balance like $1,000, nor am I going to take out a big BT on a credit card that I use everyday. (Why? So I can pay 12% on my purchase balance?)

Today, though, I found a very interesting offer in the mail from Chase on my second-highest limit card, on which I already have a low-interest (3.99% for life) BT. I’ve received BT checks on this account before, but usually the offers range from weak—4.99% for life—to pathetic—1.9% for six months, and then the purchase APR applies. However, I got two different offers today:

  • 0% until 2/09 (yawn)
  • 2.99% fixed for life

2.99% for life? Considering that the existing BT on the card is at 3.99%, it would be reasonable to expect future offers to have a higher interest rate, especially when you consider that payments apply to balances with lower interest rates first.

I wonder what my credit score is if I’m being offered a 2.99% balance transfer rate. I know people with good-to-excellent credit card scores that are offered 3.99% rates for life.

- (from Consumerist…just spotted a minute or so ago, that is) I normally don’t shop at Walgreens, usually because CVS deal hunting takes up most of my time as it is :P. However, if one of my local Walgreens pulled crap like this, I’d boycott all the Walgreens in the area for sure.

Cliffs: woman falls into diabetic coma near the checkout register, two nurses and an officer nearby administer OJ and sugar, someone pulls a glucometer off the shelf, woman is rushed to hospital, manager runs out in a hissy fit and demands that somebody pay for all the items.

Seriously? Mr. Manager got pissed off over the loss of an EIGHTEEN DOLLAR GLUCOMETER, as well as some OJ and sugar? From the way he acted (according to the nurse and officer), they used his Gluco-tech 5000 series Professional Blood Glucose counter (accurate to 0.0001%!), went to the appliance section, grabbed a high-end juicer, stole an orange that the manager was saving for a snack, juiced the orange, and gave the patient the juice.

Walgreens’ statement was priceless:

“We’re sorry for the misunderstanding. The store manager didn’t arrive on the sales floor until after the paramedics have left, so he didn’t realize a medical emergency had taken place.”

So the two frantic nurses, the officer, the missing glucometer, and the sirens in the distance, not to mention the obvious commotion in the store, weren’t enough of a clue that a medical emergency had taken place? Not to mention, I think a “misunderstanding” is a slight understatement. At least Walgreens was nice enough to offer a refund on the glucometer…

Question: if the store manager insisted that the accounts of the nurse and officer were wrong, why did he not attempt to explain what really happened?

I hate to imagine what would have happened if the woman had bled on the carpet. Would the manager have demanded compensation for the carpet shampooer he would have needed to clean up the stains?

- Quickly…

It’s about time the Spurs’ Big 3 finally showed up for a game in this series. For three quarters, it sure looked like the Hornets were well on their way to a monumental sweep. I still think the Hornets will win this series, and I like their chances in Game 4. Manu’s got a bum ankle, and Duncan hasn’t been nearly as effective as he has in years past. If the Hornets find a way to slow down Tony Parker, the Spurs are cooked.

For the first time all series, we saw the fluidity that the Spurs offense possesses at times: quick passes down low to Duncan, forcing the double team, followed by several passes to open shooters or cutters. And was that a Michael Finley sighting?

For years, the Spurs were called “boring” and “unwatchable,” but I became a passive fan of the team.

(I know, I know. BLASPHEMY! And BLAS-for-you! BLAS-for everybody in the world…)

I just loved how professional the team was—a Robert Horry hip check notwithstanding—and I became quickly impressed by how easily they were able to reload their teams to contend for championships each year. Of course, it helps to be able to build around a cornerstone like Duncan. As far as their boring offense is concerned, sure, running their offense through Duncan could be considered boring, but it was damn effective, was it not? And now that Tony Parker has flipped the switch and is utterly dominating games with his speed and ridiculous finishing ability, how can anyone call this team “boring” any more? Who wouldn’t like Parker v. Paul to go a full seven games?

As far as the other game tonight is concerned, how about them Cavs and the greatest player in the history of the NBA? Is it bad Cavs offense, or excellent Celtics defense? I refuse to say a little of both, and I’m giving credit where credit is due: to the Celtics’ defense. I know that the C’s had a highly rated defense, but after watching bits and pieces of these two games against the Cavs, I know see why. It’s not that LeBron’s settling for jumpers; it’s that LeBron has no choice but to take jumpers!

Should the Cavs lose this series (I actually had them winning in six, and would now like a mulligan :P), we can’t pin this one on LeBron. Cavs fans can start blaming the Celtics’ D, and I hope this doesn’t cost Cavs’ coach Mike Brown his job.

Until next time!