irate

I'm filling out taxes. I'm waiting on the phone to contact TurboTax because they charged me to visit my tax form the second time I accessed the site I was there again because I had already filed the federal forms I needed to get a copy of them so that I could file the Wisconsin taxes. Eventually an Indian man took my call. Of course, he could be Indian-American, but let's be serious, he was in India, maybe Pakistan. I also believe this because he never said "Wisconsin" just "uhhh, your state". Anyway Raj listened to my story and easily gave in. He gave me my authorization code to cancel the second payment to my Discover Card.

Thank you, Raj, I really appreaciate not having to give you a hard time for my $21.65. And perhaps you know the truth - that the real hurdle is to get past the Discover "Customer Service" line.

My new method for the answering service is to keep pressing 1. I never get the correct department but whoever does take my call can then transfer me to where I need to go. Or I go to the department "to make a payment". You'll always get prompt service when you're giving your credit card numbers. This time I tried the payment method. After a brief wait I reached Marge, who was not at all surprised that I did not want to make a payment, but instead wanted some credit back. She was pleasant and explained to me that I would have to wait until the payment was posted to my statement before I could use my magical authorization number ("magical" is my term, not Marge's) So, I have to call Discover again, but at least now I have a method - and a friend, in Marge.

I am also currently thinking about contacting Discover through their "Customer Service" website about the new bankruptcy legislation passed in Congress. Before this bill was passed, a person who claimed bankruptcy would be absolved from paying his credit card debt. This allowed for dishonest people to rack up huge debts and then ditch it. Credit companies were furious as they should be. But, statistically this was a small portion of the people who filed for bankruptcy. Statistically, most people who are driven to bankruptcy are there for medical reasons - more likely the financial problems that currently come along with medical problems. But that's a tirade for another day. Back to credit cards: it was argued on Capitol Hill that the old way of bankruptcy would cost the average, honest person $400 each year for the extra interest they pay to cover those debt-dodgers. So, my question for Discover is this: Will my interest rate go down due to the less risk I now pose to your company? Will I receive $400 more in benefits from you, Discover Card?

The extra time I spent on the phone (and online) gave me a chance to do some research. While looking for tax forms on the Massachusetts site I found a listing of "sex offenders in your community." I checked; you're not listed. But did you know that Father O'Leary has changed parishes in the past year?

See my next post for what I found out about oil production.