Sunday, March 22, 2009

Stressful Experience

So Friday I had quite the experience, when all I wanted to do was to get some gas for the car! After meeting Tim for his dinner break yesterday, I headed over to the gas station, since I was almost on empty. When I swiped my credit card, it said transaction canceled. So I tried it again….and again....and again. Finally, I decided to go to another pump. Same thing!!! It kept telling me to see sales associate, which I was not about to do since I had a screaming baby in the car (Hungry+teething+overtired=screaming baby). I’m getting a little frustrated that I can’t get it to work and I have this screaming baby in the car, so I go to the next gas station. After trying my credit card twice and having the same thing happen, I decided to run inside the store. I guess another customer thought I looked pretty frazzled because he let me go in front of him. But the card still wouldn’t work. At this point I have no idea what to do. Micah is still screaming. I don’t have any other credit card with me, no debit card, the bank is closed and I don’t have the ATM card or pin number anyways, no cash and Tim is back to the phones at work! So now what? I started driving, still not knowing what to do. I called the credit card company and pulled over into a parking lot. I tried to hear the lady on the other end, because, yes, Micah is still crying! I quickly climb into the back seat to offer him my finger, which thankfully calms him down. Now the lady is asking for the password for our credit card account!!! Password?!! I have NO clue! She gave me the hint…I still had no idea! I’m wracking my brain, explaining to the lady that I don’t know his password and never even thought to ask for it (Tim opened the account before we were even married, and I just joined on after marriage). They transferred me to the fraud department, where I talked to a very nice lady! I explained to her that I was just trying to get gas in my car so I could get home, I have no money on me, my husband is at work, and I can’t call him because he’s on the phones calling other people, I’ve got a crying baby who needs to get home, and I don’t know Tim’s password! I think I was so frazzled and frustrated by this point that she felt sorry for me! (This is about 20 minutes after the ordeal started!) She had me verify some merchants that we used our credit card for purchases, and she opened my account so I could get gas. She left me with “Ma’am, maybe you should find out your husband’s password.” So needless to say, I was able to get gas for my car about 30 minutes later. I was going to stop by Target, too. But after that ordeal? Yeah right! So what was wrong with the account? Well, we ended up buying a video camera online earlier that day. The fraud department called Tim while he was at work and didn’t have a chance to call them back yet. Apparently, they froze the account until Tim called them to verify that he made the purchase and that the card wasn’t stolen. And the best part of the story is that after telling Tim about my experience, he bought me flowers on the way home from work to brighten my day. What a sweet husband!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That was very sweet of Tim to buy you flowers. I hope you know any other passwords for other accounts you may need to use in the future. I guess I should make sure I know ours too. Hmmm.

Tim, Kristen , Megan, Emily, and Anna said...

Wow, that does sound like a very stressful experience. Especially with a crying baby...that always intensifies the moment. Well, I am not sure if you would want to do it all over just to get flowers, but at least this story does end on a good note!

juliechall said...

Wow....what a mess...but way to go Tim :) I guess at least you know your credit is safe :)

Julie

bethoven said...

And it makes a good story, too. Yeah, would not be fun with a crying baby!

Anonymous said...

Beth alerted me to this post today. Wheww! You wrote well; I felt your pain and stress! Praising God for His grace to see you through.