So at lunch I handed my main credit card over to the gal. She ran it and, “Uh-oh, it came back declined.” Tried it again, with the same result, so I used another card.
Odd, but …
Back at the office, I checked the card at the company site. It showed expected balances. I checked my bill-paying site. All was well there, too.
When I got home early (for a late work call), there was a message from the credit card company. I didn’t call back the number they left (duh), but called the number on the back of the card.
The automated voice asked me to confirm a mysterious transaction, which was … lunch. Um, yeah, confirmed.
The automated voice then said that if I’d had a problem with the card earlier in the day, it was due to a “temporary hold” while they were validating a different purchase.
Aha! I suspect the mass of contributions yesterday might have pricked someone’s electronic ears up.
I was then informed that all was well, and I was free to continue racking up consumer credit balances. Huzzah!
One more glitch for the day …
A couple of times my card company has called me- once to confirm a purchase (which I had), and once to check was it really me spending £1400 in a Bankock hotel, which it wasn’t- I was able to confirm at the time the card was swiped I was safely having a lie in in the UK! Turned out I was one of a number of people in the town who had had a clone made- was a major story in that week’s local paper, with the finger initially being pointed at the local branch of a national supermarket chain, though they were cleared. http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-171459619.html
On the other hand, there was the time that Margie (while still living at home) was traveling in China. Her parents were able to track her progress — and her side trip to Thailand — by the worried calls from the credit card company.
When Margie and I went to Disneyworld with Mark, my credit card company called my dad (where I was living at the time) to verify a purchase. See, since the trip was a prize, so airfare or hotel charges had been made. Sometimes they seem to watch closely, and other times not so much…
Hope it doesn’t put my card on hold. I hate being embarrassed in front of the maitre d’ at classy joints like McDonald’s…
After 7 days blissfully charging up my VISA on two different Hawaiian islands, it was denied at the ABC Store when I was buying last minute goodies on our last night in Honolulu. A quick phone call to the issuing company and all was good again. I was a bit concerned that it took them 7 days to put a hold on the card…