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So last week we got one of those reloadable cash cards for Sarcasm Girl to take with her to Indiana. She had one in Paris and it worked just fine--that one (because the trip was taken before the girl turned 18) was in my name, but there were no problems at all with it. This one, because the girl is now 18 and should start building a financial profile, was taken out in her name.
And there the problems begin. I went on line to activate the card, but (because the girl is 18 and only starting to build a financial profile) they couldn't validate it online. I was told to fax three (3!) forms of ID to their ID/Fraud Department. So Thursday morning I do so, calling afterward to confirm that they had got the fax. First the woman I spoke to then insisted that I had given her the wrong area-code to search by (405 instead of 415--I don't even know where 405 is). Then she found it, said that there was a chance that the card would be validated by the next day, but more likely by Friday late in the afternoon.
SG leaves on Thursday night with the card, $500 loaded thereon, none of which she can yet access.
I call Friday afternoon, giving them time to validate stuff. No, not valid yet. Surely by Monday morning.
I called this morning. Was told there was no record in the system of anyone having received the fax.
I don't yell at people on the phone. At least I try really hard not to. I said, very levelly, that I had been told on Thursday that the fax had been received. "I don't know what to tell you, ma'am," the woman said. And I'm sure she doesn't know what to tell me other than what they tell her, but that doesn't change the fact that my daughter is a thousand miles away with dwindling cash reserves. "I suggest you fax the materials again. You can tell them to put a rush on it."
So I went out and faxed the IDs to the company again. Called this afternoon and was told again (I got the woman's name this time...fool me twice, shoot me) that they'd received the fax. It should take 24 hours to process. It is now six days since I bought the damned card. I asked, politely, to put a rush on it, mentioned child waving in the wind wanting cash. "Oh, I'll make a note of it," she said brightly.
Doom. Death. Baseball bats. Pffft.
And there the problems begin. I went on line to activate the card, but (because the girl is 18 and only starting to build a financial profile) they couldn't validate it online. I was told to fax three (3!) forms of ID to their ID/Fraud Department. So Thursday morning I do so, calling afterward to confirm that they had got the fax. First the woman I spoke to then insisted that I had given her the wrong area-code to search by (405 instead of 415--I don't even know where 405 is). Then she found it, said that there was a chance that the card would be validated by the next day, but more likely by Friday late in the afternoon.
SG leaves on Thursday night with the card, $500 loaded thereon, none of which she can yet access.
I call Friday afternoon, giving them time to validate stuff. No, not valid yet. Surely by Monday morning.
I called this morning. Was told there was no record in the system of anyone having received the fax.
I don't yell at people on the phone. At least I try really hard not to. I said, very levelly, that I had been told on Thursday that the fax had been received. "I don't know what to tell you, ma'am," the woman said. And I'm sure she doesn't know what to tell me other than what they tell her, but that doesn't change the fact that my daughter is a thousand miles away with dwindling cash reserves. "I suggest you fax the materials again. You can tell them to put a rush on it."
So I went out and faxed the IDs to the company again. Called this afternoon and was told again (I got the woman's name this time...fool me twice, shoot me) that they'd received the fax. It should take 24 hours to process. It is now six days since I bought the damned card. I asked, politely, to put a rush on it, mentioned child waving in the wind wanting cash. "Oh, I'll make a note of it," she said brightly.
Doom. Death. Baseball bats. Pffft.