We have had a charge under dispute on our CC in the amount of $833 since 15 October. We filled out the dispute forms, copies, etc. and had to do this 2 times since the CC Co. said they never received the first set.

Now, yesterday I received 2 letters saying again that the forms had not been received and if we didn't resolve it within X amt. of days, it would be charged back to our CC. The charge was originally for something we ordered that we never received because UPS delivered it to the wrong address and the package mysteriously disappeared after that. UPS never got a signature when they delivered it and the address where it went denies ever getting the package. Oh my....

Now here's the odd thing--the 2 identical letters--completely identical. Well, we called the CC Co. and they said to ignore the letters because their records showed everything was in order and not to worry about it.

Over the last couple of months we have had a lot of little issues like this and it's got me pulling my hair out. Just when I think something is resolved--it comes up again, but this time in duplicate.

What the heck does anybody think about this? :/ Oh, the issue is with Bank of America and the letters came from Card Services in Norfolk, Va

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), January 11, 2000

Answers

---this sort of problem just been getting worse and worse last few years, all over. Only thing I can think of that might work LONG TERM is to get out of credit cards. Use cash and postal money orders and registered mail for far away purchases and payments, all those you cannot pay locally and get a hardcopy immediate receipt for.. Even that isn't fool proof, and yes, it takes more time for your JIT purchases, but all in all probably better, and keep you out of more *&*^%#$ databases. Just a thought....

-- itain'twhytookay (credit@badidea.glitches.forever), January 11, 2000.

Send one copy FedEx... and get a signature.

Send another copy certified mail... and get a signature.

Send a third copy by FAX... and then phone for a confirmation that it was received... get a name and notate on your copy.

Send an e-mail... and ask for a reply back.

Tell them all what you're doing... and why... and only deal with a higher level manager.

Good luck!

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 11, 2000.

Dee, My sister is a provider of services who bills insurance comapnies. This has happened to her. But in her case, it is usually a delaying tactic on their part. They don't care to pay too quickly...

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), January 11, 2000.

Consider shifting your account to some other card/bank service. So far, my card companies seem to be working fine, but I'd drop any of them like a bad habit if they gave me grief.

You should have ZERO loyalty towards any financial institution, ever, because that's exactly how much loyalty they feel towards you.

-- trust is a (two@way.street), January 11, 2000.

You should go into the bank with a baseball bat and beat the smug, nonchalant smiles off of everyone you can get to. Scalp the thieving bank manager and burn the president or owner/CEO alive with Zippo lighter flui and use their screaming, flaming corpses to burn the damn bank down!!! All those 'holidays' and 'days off' when you can't get at your money. All those little charges you have to pay so they can invest and use YOUR money to make THIER money!

or maybe you should do what the person above me posted. :)

Soory...flashback to right before I was homeless and went to close the last $5 out of my bank account so I'd have gas for one more day at 'Rent-A-Drunk' and to close it THEY wanted $9....Meaning to close my acct I was Supposed to pay them an extra $4! ~GRRRRRR!!!~

-- Satanta (EventHoriz@n.com), January 11, 2000.

Dee, sounds irritating! Just don't believe anything they say on the phone. Diane's advice sounds good. Time to play hard ball. Did you call the account info number to make sure they creditted your account? If they didn't then the person on the phone was possibly blowing you off.

There was a story of late about UPS theft of packages.

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), January 11, 2000.

I truly feel sorry for you Dee, as I had a similar problem with Wells Fargo. It wasn't pretty. It took over two weeks of phone calls, stop payment on one check sending the second. A real Chinese Fire Drill. Take some of the advise offered here, and send as many copies to as many people as possible, leaving a true "paper trail"

Fingers crossed for you.

-- Richard (Astral-Acres@webtv.net), January 11, 2000.

Thank you everyone for your posts! =) This is some very good advice.

***Hokie, I don't recall seeing the info about UPS and theft of packages. Do you know where the article would be? We have had 3 missing over the last 15 months.

I will report any further developments on -- "The Case of the Credit Card Weirdness"...the gripping story of one woman's struggle for truth, justice, and the American dream of shopping with a credit card. =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), January 11, 2000.

Paper trails are vital in your quest to get this worked out.

Learned in the past 7 days that after sending initial letters to company, then proceed to start filing a complaint with an agency like the FTC. (These guys may be able to help you since they have one department that deals strictly with credit card fraud/identity theft.)

I started the process to file a complaint after a telephone promo. appeared misleading, if not fraudulent. We were being billed every week for an offer with a DELAYED BILLING until Feb. and a 30 day return privilege, but no one would accept our return!(Original offer was made week after Thanksgiving.)

Well, after starting process with FTC, I recontacted company by phone to inform them as to what I was in the process of doing, and very politely told them I would next be contacting my Attorney General's office regarding consumer fraud. This produced a miraculous resolution to my problem. I remained polite, but explained that it is incidents like mine that lead to stiffer business regulations, and higher legal costs for companies with misleading policies like theirs. No supervisor wants to be called into THEIR bosses office, and asked to explain what all the ruckus is about regarding Attorney General's Offices, and Federal Agencies informing company of complaints. No, they'd rather "zero out your account" than go through that!

FTC (Fed. Trade Commission)-- 1-877-382-4357. (They got LOTS of OTHER phone numbers for ya once they know the nature of your problem.)

Before I called agencies, I was being treated like a ball on a handball court. The FTC officer who took my call burst into laughter when I described the run-around I was getting; he said this is the USUAL TREATMENT that you will receive UNTIL you have things in writing, and show them that you will not only not give up (as they hope you will), but begin taking steps such as the ones I was taking by contacting agencies that WILL help you hold a business accountable.

So, good luck to you. Regards,

-- (He Who) Rolls with Punches (JoeZi@aol.com), January 11, 2000.

Dee, no worries, this is an easy one. You said UPS never got a signature confirming that they delivered it, which means the Bank is going to have to go after them, there is now way they can hold you responsible. Write a letter to the Bank that issued your card explaining that they had better straighten the matter out with UPS and put your records back in order, or else you are going to take them to court for jeopardizing your credit status. If you are fortunate enough to have a friend or relative that is a lawyer, ask them if they can send the letter on their letterhead. When these people see the name of an attorney on the letter, they usually back off real quick. Good luck.

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), January 11, 2000.

Thanks guys! =) I have learned a lesson here...I am going to always make sure to cover my tracks from now on. Paper trails...yes...paper trails it will be on any correspondence from this point forward.

I guess these companies are so big anymore that it's easy to get "lost in space".

To be continued... =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), January 11, 2000.