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.