Instead of having a nice relaxing lunch with my family, less than 30s of sitting down my mobile phone rings - the number shows as 'withheld'....
"Hello"
Its an automated message. From Tiscali. Apparently there was a problem with the last bill payment off my credit card. Press 1 to pay it now with a credit card.
"Please enter your 16 digit card number, note we do not accept Amex".
Right so that only leaves one other card I can use. I enter card details, same as the continous DD they already have plus the 3 digit security code. It gets declined.
I hang up and start to get worried, why would my card suddenly get declined? I also recall a similar problem occurred back in February when the Insurance arm of the same card company could not take payment off the card for my car insurance!
Off to the office to get the last card statement out. I call the card company.
"Hello my card has been declined, Tiscali says they could not take payment of £xx and I just tried to pay again and it got declined".
"OK I'll look at that for you now sir". Pause. "Sir, there is no record of any attempt to take payment or authorise today. The last payment was £YY pounds on xx May"
"Oh, can you tell me the account balance and the last few transactions please?" He duly reads off the information which indicates all is OK with the card, no fraudulent attempts to use it thank goodness!
Now back to the office to dig out Tiscali contact number - it should be engraved on my brain I've wasted so much time / money calling it over the past year.
I get through the automated options on the call system including entering the phone number (which is on Tiscali) which they use to identiy the account and and a call center agent with an Indian accent answers "Please can you give me the phone number associated with this account?".
Remembering the argument I had the last time I was asked this when I was angry with Tiscali, I resist the temptation to say "I just keyed it in on your automated billing system" and just give it anyway, then in anticipation of their next question I give my full name, all my address lines, post code and date of birth.
"Thank you, sir" says the agent, "how may I help you today?".
I proceed to explain how I got an automated phone call from them saying they had trouble taking the payment and how I had attempted to pay then but it was declined. Then I explained about what the card company had said about not receiving any authorisation or payment requests from them.
"Let me look up your records" says the agent, "so if I understand you correctly you tried to pay your bill but the card was declined?"
I repeat again that I had tried but the card company had not had any messages for any attempts to authorise from them.
"OK shall we try to do a manual payment?"
"Sure". I proceed to give the same card number and details again.
"That has gone through just fine sir. Please rest assured your direct debit will be re-activated and I am very sorry for the inconvenience".
Relieved it is done I say goodbye and hangup.
So, even with a DD in place, its still possible to lose 20 mins on paying a bill and have to pay £1.50 in call charges for the privelige.
The rest of lunch was spent eating alone as everyone else had finished and the kids were off to play, then warming up a now lukewarm cuppa in the microwave.
Oh well its my son's birthday tomorrow - if the phone rings I won't answer it, if its a recruitment agent witholding their number I hope they'll leave a message!
"Hello"
Its an automated message. From Tiscali. Apparently there was a problem with the last bill payment off my credit card. Press 1 to pay it now with a credit card.
"Please enter your 16 digit card number, note we do not accept Amex".
Right so that only leaves one other card I can use. I enter card details, same as the continous DD they already have plus the 3 digit security code. It gets declined.
I hang up and start to get worried, why would my card suddenly get declined? I also recall a similar problem occurred back in February when the Insurance arm of the same card company could not take payment off the card for my car insurance!
Off to the office to get the last card statement out. I call the card company.
"Hello my card has been declined, Tiscali says they could not take payment of £xx and I just tried to pay again and it got declined".
"OK I'll look at that for you now sir". Pause. "Sir, there is no record of any attempt to take payment or authorise today. The last payment was £YY pounds on xx May"
"Oh, can you tell me the account balance and the last few transactions please?" He duly reads off the information which indicates all is OK with the card, no fraudulent attempts to use it thank goodness!
Now back to the office to dig out Tiscali contact number - it should be engraved on my brain I've wasted so much time / money calling it over the past year.
I get through the automated options on the call system including entering the phone number (which is on Tiscali) which they use to identiy the account and and a call center agent with an Indian accent answers "Please can you give me the phone number associated with this account?".
Remembering the argument I had the last time I was asked this when I was angry with Tiscali, I resist the temptation to say "I just keyed it in on your automated billing system" and just give it anyway, then in anticipation of their next question I give my full name, all my address lines, post code and date of birth.
"Thank you, sir" says the agent, "how may I help you today?".
I proceed to explain how I got an automated phone call from them saying they had trouble taking the payment and how I had attempted to pay then but it was declined. Then I explained about what the card company had said about not receiving any authorisation or payment requests from them.
"Let me look up your records" says the agent, "so if I understand you correctly you tried to pay your bill but the card was declined?"
I repeat again that I had tried but the card company had not had any messages for any attempts to authorise from them.
"OK shall we try to do a manual payment?"
"Sure". I proceed to give the same card number and details again.
"That has gone through just fine sir. Please rest assured your direct debit will be re-activated and I am very sorry for the inconvenience".
Relieved it is done I say goodbye and hangup.
So, even with a DD in place, its still possible to lose 20 mins on paying a bill and have to pay £1.50 in call charges for the privelige.
The rest of lunch was spent eating alone as everyone else had finished and the kids were off to play, then warming up a now lukewarm cuppa in the microwave.
Oh well its my son's birthday tomorrow - if the phone rings I won't answer it, if its a recruitment agent witholding their number I hope they'll leave a message!
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