First week back

Ok not a full week but three days,

and only staff

I have not been able to spend ANY time in my room this summer.

Not only do I have to unpack everything as half the school were moved to new classrooms, I need to set up AND I need to plan.

There is often time during those first staff only days to get a few things done but not this year. Out of three days, all but 2 hours were in meetings. Super frustrating as there is so much to do. Hard to focus on yet another new initiative when your mind is whirling with all you have to do.

My butt is sore from sitting and I am feeling overwhelmed with all I have to go back and do this long weekend.

Murphy listens

You know that urban legend gossip that Facebook listens to your conversations and the 'ads' that pop up reflect your conversations???  (I totally agree with this by the way).

Know what else listens to your conversations? Murphy.

No sooner had the garage sale money been applied to the college loc, than my washing machine, my 23 year old machine, gives it up.  We have done little fixes to it over the years. a pump. a hose clamp.

This one was the final straw. It ended with the machine barfing out 2 inches of water across the floor of my laundry room. It was done.

Luckily I have been tucking little bits of money away over the past few years for the moment when I would need a new pair. We went down to our local furniture store and within 15 min the old units were gone and the new ones were installed and a load of towels was going.

This unexpected expense wiped out my emergency appliance replacement fund. It would have been nice to have the garage sale money to offset it.

I will have to begin the little bits of cash here and there to restock it in case something else decides to go. It was sure nice having that money there, ready to go, though.

Look before you click

So while we were down in the US, DS2 bought a laptop. He is quite particular about what system he gets so he was excited to actually find what he was looking for.   He has $ in his account from his summer working so he popped it on his MasterCard with the intention of paying the MC as soon as we got home.

For some reason his MasterCard didn't work. He still has the piggyback card on my MC account but chose to leave it at home because 'why would I need that?" he said.

He was with his dad at the time (Yes...I was at the book store :-)  so his dad offered to put it on his Visa and DS would pay him back when he got home.

When we got home DH was all in a panic about getting that laptop money paid off.  DS was off helping a friend whose vehicle broke down on the highway so with his permission I moved the money for him ( I have him on my account still)

Seemed easy enough. Make a payment from DS's account to DH's visa.

click click

The next morning I am checking my online accounts as I always do and see that a payment has been made to MY Visa.

sigh

I clicked payment from DS's account to MY visa not DH's.

I called but they would not cancel it.

DH is  now in a panic thinking his visa is going to have a balance. DH has no grey area. He is either calm or .....NOT

So I make  a payment from my savings to DH's account.

I now have a credit on my Visa and a hole in my savings. Instead of taking out cash for my jar money I am carefully spending it on my visa and paying back the savings. It will take about a month to balance things out.

Slow down and look before you click :-)

woosh there goes the $

In the busyness of this past first week of school came a phone call from DS1 down the in US.

He came out to head to campus and one of his tires were slashed.  Hopefully just random and not because he has out of country plates on his vehicle.

Thankful for CAA membership that is compatible in the US.  He called. They came and towed him to a repair shop that has been very good to him during his year down there.  The tires on his vehicle are a pain to match and all four had to be replaced. We had figured this on our end so it didn't come as new info surprise to us.  DS2 has the same Jeep and I had to do this in the spring for him.

Insurance won't cover this. We made some initial calls and our insurance up here said no.

So DS1 now has four brand new tires that hopefully will be slash safe.


The cost to mama $657 US

Well...he's 'home'

It was a tough week here as DS prepared to leave. Summer once again went far too fast, like life does.

He worked until Wednesday, then packed up at his mother in laws and came home.

Thursday we had a day of laundry and packing and final meals. He was grumpy with me most of the day, which is upsetting when I had so little time with him all summer. I think the leaving was  getting to him. Supper was at my parents. I made his favourite and took it over there.

When we got back to the house the GF said that he was really emotional on their drive back after he hugged them goodbye. He always knows that it could be the last time they see him.

We came home and we had a great evening together, like I had hoped.

He left Thursday and we had planned for him to drive the first 12 hours and then spend the night.

Customs was not a good experience for him. He had all his documents and answered their questions. They pulled him for a 'random' check. He was placed in a room down a long hallway, locked from the outside with his passport, keys and phone taken from him. His car was hauled in and gone through. They asked him all kinds of questions about drugs. He said to me after "when they asked if I did any drugs part of my inside wanted to say If I did my mother would kill me' but he figured that wasn't the moment for that kind of levity. They didn't believe that he was a hockey player so he gave them the webpage for the team where his pic and stats are listed so they could see for themselves.

He was finally released and on his way to the main lobby he ran into another guy he played with here, who is playing hockey in Wisconsin. It was a good moment to end a stressful time.


Between that and the road construction stops he lost 2 hours.

I was so glad he had planned to stop anyways.

He left this morning for the last leg and got to his destination about 2:30 our time.

Let the fall hockey season begin.

Please hold

Both of my credit cards expire at the start of August. The new ones finally arrived and thus begins the activation sequence and updating billing info.

A necessary evil since I choose to have CCs...since I choose to use them for some of my automatic billing. yes it gets paid off immediately. Balance free since 2009 baby!!

So to activate them there was an online feature for that. Slick. Usually you have to call. Except the webpage kept freezing and then it got grumpy saying I had too many wrong answers. So I had to call.


I was on hold with BMO FOR 47 minutes before I got to the poorly named 'customer service'.
I then had to go through a lengthy process of proving who I was. This included a series of 'So what was your last purchase and how much...ok and then before that, how much, and then before that'. I had to log in to my account to get the exact dollars and cents. Finally my MC was activated.

Then I consulted my list of preauthorized transactions to set about changing that info so that the billing cycle was not interrupted.

Netflix was easy. Log in, change info and boom. done

Next was my landline and cell phone provider (same company). Again I got to sit on hold forever until I got a lady who was doing her 'first time' change of info. I told her I had two cell phones and a landline to update info. After I gave her my info for my cell and we did the 'prove who you are' dance, apparently she closed all the windows so then to do my landline, we had to do the verification all over again. awesome.

The last one I did was my satellite provider. On hold again. The man answering ...... asked a lot of really stupid questions. We did the verification dance. Then he asked why I wanted to change my billing info. I said that my CC expired and I needed to provide the new info on it. Why would you want to do that??? he asked. I blinked. Seriously? says jolie.... because as of August my number is no longer valid and I would like to continue service.  You should have done this online, he says. I point out the spot online where it says 'to update your credit card info you must call...'   No gold star for him.

So let's tally up the time:


Online activation attempt time - 20 minutes
BMO on hold - 47 minutes
BMO verification process - 11 minutes
Netflix  - 2 minutes
Phones  on hold 37 minutes
Phones verification - 16 minutes
Satellite on hold 32 minutes
Satellite verification 9 minutes.

total time invested ... 2 hours 54 minutes

That's a lot of time.

Definitely not flying

It's getting close to family weekend down for DS's hockey team. This will be our third trip down.

The past two years we have flown. Last year, I bought our tickets on August 16th for $547 each. Family weekend was at the end of October.

This year, it's at the end of September and what a dif the price is. I have been tracking prices since May and they are astonishing. They started out at just under $1000 each, which I was significantly more than last year. I thought they would drop. Nope. They maxed out at $1800 each for the same flight (about 6 weeks ago)  at the same time of day with the same airline. Over 3 x the price per ticket compared to last year.

The one month earlier is part of it. But should it be THAT much different?

We are even leaving on a Thurs and returning on a Monday. No Fri, Sat or Sun flights.

As of this morning, the best flight time is not listed anymore. The less optimal time is $1100 per ticket with 2 stops and crazy lay overs.

So drive we shall. 17 hours. x 2

I am very concerned about colitis needs across the long stretches without a small town (bathroom). It pretty much means I can't eat or drink during the journey.

We will add one extra  hotel night on the way down but will be powering home the last day. I will be exhausted going back to work the next day.

It will be interesting to see what gas costs for the journey. Certainly less than the $2000+ the tickets would be.  But we did have to take an extra day off work.

Little Grumbles

I  am working very hard on being positive and light hearted because.........it makes me feel better.

But....Totally first world problems here, I know. Nothing that will stop me from living and breathing and functioning, but just a teeny bit annoying.

So small vent and then I shall move on.

• Laptop. I was told it would be done by last Friday. I called this morning and it hasn't even hit the bench yet and could be another week or two as they are 'super busy'. (then don't promise a week if you are super busy, silly).   I said I needed access to some files for school and, well....school starts next week. He said "bring your USB in and we will transfer the files onto it".  Thinking that they need to be reminded that not everyone has multiple devices I laughed and  said "and what would you like me to stick the USB in to open said files?" I said it very light hearted and he didn't take the bite and offer dark suggestions of where to stick it :-)  It just miss mine and wish they had kept their promise

• Dentist: I have been calling multiple times a week all summer trying to get an appointment for cleaning and it always rang busy. Now summer is over and my window of flexible time is over.

• VISA: I called to see if I could get my credit limit temporarily raised so I could pay DS2's tution on it (for the reward points). It would be paid off immediately. I have room on my Mastercard but collecting airmiles has proven to be a why bother since there are never flights when we want to use them. Anyways....despite me never having a balance owing for the past 7 years on my VISA, they would only up it $500. It would take a credit inquiry to raise it up more and I have no desire to tamper with my credit rating for reward points. .

(freaky coincidence....phone rang as I typed the word airmiles and it was FROM airmiles. I think they can hear me!! I had called them this morning about using miles to book a flight and wondered if there was a list of dates where there were no flights available instead of my guessing and trying for over an hour Answer...there isn't.)

Bright spot: DS2's college does not charge a fee for using the CC to pay tuition. DS1's charges something like 4% to do that. ouch

• school laptop. We had been told that teachers being moved would have their computers taken care of so that we had access to the new school's printers, etc. I called this morning and we have to reimage them ourselves. I don't mind doing it. I just have no idea how. Apparently there is some magic portal in the library I have yet to be in, where I do this. Should be an interesting experience.
• Still playing phone tag with SGI about DS2's car and how much they are willing to give for it.

Anyways, I am off to withdraw some $ from my RESP. My old advisor is no longer in that position so we shall see if my new one is experienced, or not.

Super grateful for the flexible time I have to take care of all these little details.

Definition of Sadness

1 Canadian dollar equals

 

77 cents USD

 

I will be the first to admit that I understand only so much of how our dollar exchange goes up and down. I read. Honest I do :-)

 

All I know is that one of my daily routines is to check where the dollar is at, and this rate makes me sad.

 

At the start of August, 2014 when I was getting DS1 ready to go down to the States, the rate was 91 cents. I should have borrowed on my line of credit to get a ton. How naïve I was.

 

A quick scan of the last year history shows that today is the lowest it's been since I started paying attention regularly.

 

Here's hoping it gets back up a little higher before he leaves for school. I have tuition money to convert and Semester 1 $.

 

 

Bottoms up!

Very bad pun. and perhaps TMI to follow.

I am writing to you from my hotel room in the city.

I am alone.

I am nervous.

I am STARVING!

Last Friday I got the ominous envelope in my mail. Colonoscopy time!

I suppose having only a week's notice is better than knowing for a month or two. Less time to dread it.

I am nervous because the last time I had mine (Dec 2012), I learned that sedation in this hospital meant CONSCIOUS sedation (awake for the procedure with the video feed a foot from your face) as opposed to asleep sedation like I had the first time where I went night night.

Not knowing what conscious sedation really meant was a bit of a shock and I admit to crying in front of my specialist and her 14 year old (ok probably 24) intern/resident.

I feel more informed this time.

After the IV fiasco earlier this year (the bruising and sore hand lasted a month and they never got the IV in.  I am really anxious about the IV this time.  I know to ask for the O2 through the nasal hook up thingie as I had a bit of  a panic attack when they tried to smother me provide O2 through the face mask. I know I will be incredibly nauseous after the procedure and to ask for something ahead of time.

The cost is....pardon the pun....a pain in the ass.

A hotel room is required because the prep drink from hell they make you take requires a bathroom immediately close by. Driving 90 min is just not going to work.  Hotels are expensive! And all I am doing is watching TV and running to the bathroom, and then hopefully sleeping.

I can't drive. Sedative prohibits it, so I can't drive myself down.  DH did. Fuel costs.

DH can't get all of tomorrow off work, so he had to drive home, work tomorrow morning, then drive back to get me. More fuel costs.

Since I am at the hotel alone I will have to take a cab in the morning to the hospital. No clue what that will cost. Haven't taken a cab in years. Added to that, the bridge which connects directly to where the hospital is, is under construction, so the cab will have to take a longer route.

DH will have to pay for parking when he arrives tomorrow afternoon. My how parking costs here! If there is even a spot available (They are under construction so at least half the parking spaces are out of commission).

I will have some answers tomorrow. How bad is my colon?  What is our next step for medication? She was talking Remicade or Humira since the steroids aren't getting me fully into remission.

So this is definitely unplanned, unfun, but necessary expenses.  I could think of better ways to spend my cash.

My expenses last time were $280.99. Click here for the whole sordid story.

This time:
Hotel (right now quoted at $159 plus tax and 'hospitality fees'. That is with the hospital discount.)
Prep drink: $25
Juice, ginger ale, water $15
Cab: TBA
Fuel Costs Thurs: $48
Fuel Costs Fri:
Parking Costs Fri:

Curious - For those outside of Canada.....what is the approximate cost of having a colonoscopy?

The Car. Again. update

So we got DS2's car back yesterday from his millionth trip to the dealer/repair.

They replaced the transmission with a refurbished one from SGI (sask govt insurance). It comes with a lower price and a year's warranty.

They replaced the rear lower control arms again. Less than two months after they did it the first time. Zero charge for that.

The total for the bill was just over $3700.

The policy covered all but $300. (deductible plus some things like transmission fluids etc)

I certainly have gotten my value out of that policy that I regretted buying. This car has cost more than it's purchase price now, in 13 months.  A good part of it from not being fixed properly when we take it in and our concerns not being taken seriously.

I have zero confidence in the sales staff who assured us this car was in mint condition, and the repair staff who aren't able to fix things properly. 

I know that I will never buy another vehicle from this dealer again, or one that needs to go them for repairs.

DS left for the weekend to his scout camp so hopefully when he actually gets home and drives it, it is all as it should be. properly. 

The $300 comes out of my backpay.

I am sure glad I have it.

The car heard me talking

I really should know better than to talk about windfall money coming in. Appliances, vehicles and such hear you when you do.  Murphy hears.

Last week DS2 took his car in AGAIN to a mechanic to have it checked for the same things we went  in for in Feb/March. Estimate from them for a transmission and everything else $6600.

That's more than we paid for a car we were told was in pristine condition.

So back we went to where we bought it (and where we have this warranty through), info in hand. The ladies in the parts department were pissed.  I was really calm and really well prepared with my info and didn't swear or anything. DS said I had a bit of 'that tone you get when you are trying to be nice  and sound nice but you're angry". Not sure if other people heard that too.

So back this car goes tomorrow to where we bought it so THEY can inspect it and see what is wrong and then they have to submit that info to the policy people to see what they cover.

I just want it to , be fixed, properly, and not have to go back. I am sure they want to see me, as much as I want to be there.

Between the policy and myself, we have spent $3000 on this car in less than a year.

le sigh

Credit cards back at $0

Now don't worry....there wasn't a balance carrying over. No  wild and crazy retail therapy.


I have been waiting for all the transactions and payments to go through and get me back to that $0 happy place.

On my Visa, I had put the dress I had purchased for DS2's grad.  It took four days for the online transaction to go from 'pending' to actual expense. Then I got an email from the company saying that dress was out of stock. It took another 5 business days for the refund to make it back onto my CC. 

On my MC, I was waiting for DS2's European expenses to show up Since he is not 18, I had to get him a secondary card on my account for the trip as that was the only currency that the ship would accept.  He had the 'unlimited drink package' from the cruise ship. That charge took 9 days to show up. The second charge was his silver pendant /keychain thingie he bought in Athens. That took 7 days. Once they showed up, it took 3 business days for my payment from BMO to BMO mastercard to go through. That part baffles me. I log in to one account to see both my chequing account and my MasterCard and just do a payment, but it takes forever to go through.

They are now, happily, at $0

I have to say I appreciate that Visa shows the pending transactions. BMO MasterCard does not. It  shows up in that my 'credit limit' is lowered because of a charge coming, but I can't see the where or what.   (Do your CC's show the pending transactions?)

I knew what was coming, just not quite how much, with the Euro/Canadian exchange.

That being said, I realized how anxious I get, to get those cards back to $0, even though I know what the expenses are, and I have the money to pay it. Interesting psychological development in me. Ah well, better than being anxious about balances ON the CC and how I am going to pay them off, like I used to all those years ago before I started to take control and understand (a tiny bit more) about how money works.

Baby showers

So I spent yesterday with these cuties.

They were the ones born a bit premature before Christmas, to my niece. It was the first time I had seen them. I had the flu before/during Christmas and wasn't going to share that with two preemies.

Their baby shower was yesterday. There was a representation of family who were able to make it into the two hour drive to be there, as well as her local friends from the community, work and her older son's preschool.

I never had baby showers when I had my kids. Not really any friends. My sisters each got the boys a something. Very low key.

So these big fancy baby showers blow my mind more than a bit. There were diaper cakes and balloon displays and oh my lord, the presents.

Now I think those little girl outfits are as cute as can be, but really, how many outfits do two little babies need? She doesn't go out a whole lot during the day. Her husband is at work and two babies in their carriers plus a three year old makes it more than a little bit of a challenge for one woman.  It just seems like such a waste for outfits that the girls won't fit in 4 months. and then what?

I know she can resell them on kijiji or the local facebook 'buy and sell' groups. I am SO glad those are in fashion and considered acceptable.

I was more practical....a big case of diapers,  and some babywash and lotions for their sensitive skin. Mine will be needed and then when they are done, there is no clutter to get rid of. Not very fancy, but I am not a fancy person.

What are your thoughts on gifts for baby showers???

PS - I couldn't tell those two apart. I swear I just kept holding the same one over and over LOL

Equalized, part deux

I wanted to thank everyone for their input on my last post regarding equalized payments. It is so important to hear from voices who have gone through this before and love it or do not, and why.

I debated long and hard about what path to take. If it were me personally paying this bill I would go with setting a monthly budget for the bill, calling in the actual readings, and setting aside any credits, to dip into during the heavier months. I know I could 'not touch' that set aside money to keep for later.

DH, however, would not do that. Any extra money would disappear and then the heavier months would be a surprise and he'd be short cash.

With his blessing and surprising approval, I have put both natural gas and electricity on equalized payments with July being our annual balancing month. To further this, my plan is to attempt to call in actual readings to both on the 15th of each month. The electricity one should be interesting in the deep of winter when I can barely get into our back yard, but I shall try. This will give us truly accurate month to month bills and we will know if we are ahead or behind the game.

As DH said, "I often hold my breath when I open that bill, scared of what the amount is going to be inside." That's a whole lotta stress.

So those are now set up. I am still amused/offended each time I call there and I have to practically give my DNA to get access to the account. Both our names are on it but originally, when we bought the house, DH was the one who went in to set up the account and is listed as the primary. He can phone in and doesn't have to answer any skill testing questions about who he is, but I have to answer about 5, every single time.

A male friend of mine said they had the same problem. The companies suggested that she (the wife) set up a verbal password when she called in. Her husband needed no password, but she did. He grabbed the phone from her and said her password would be 'bullshit'.  The startled agent asked why they would choose that. He  replied that it was bullshit that he didn't have to give ID and a password and she did when it was set up in both their names.  The agent laughed, apologized for the rules she has to follow and to this day, their password is bullshit.

Next, I am off to explore whether the town has equalized payments for the water/sewer bill.

And then, another call to Workman's Comp. It is now day 51 of them saying that  we are just caught up in a computer glitch from them switching computer systems.

Again, thank you everyone for your comments. They all really helped and made me think.

CC problems? again?

It seems like we just nicely sorted out DS1's MasterCard issues from April. It took hours on the phone, mostly on hold, multiple calls, visits to the bank and documents to sign, and after 8 weeks, it was finally sorted out.

His new BMO MasterCard arrived the night before he left for the US. His BMO US$ MasterCard never did, despite a fee for having it rushed.

He is home now and brought his online statement to me Tuesday, showing me that there was a credit from the online company the thief brought from. We had already been credited for those purchases so this set off alarm bells. The last time this happened the credit showed first on  his account and then a purchase. I was worried this would be the case again.

We called the BMO line immediately and only had a 7 min wait to talk to a rep. That was a nice change. She said that the fraud department had put an alert on this transaction the day it went through and that we would need to talk to them to find out the details. Of course it was July 1 and they were not open that day. She gave us the direct number to call the next morning.

So yesterday we called. It was a 62 min wait on hold. Still better than the almost 5 hours I did in early May, but still unacceptable IMHO.

The fraud department checked this and that and concluded that bmo did a second recredit on this transaction for some mysterious reason. I asked him to double check that bmo did it and not the company. He did, and assured me the card had not been compromised. 

What a relief.

As for the US $ MasterCard...after 8 weeks it never did arrive. He went to the branch and the staff there were astounded. They called for him and we are assured it will arrive this week. We shall see.

While on the topic of CCs, I made him phone Delta airlines yesterday. When he was flying to come home, his first flight was delayed and delayed and then cancelled. Electrical troubles they said. When he checked his luggage he had to pay a $60USD fee for oversized bagged (all the equipment he got from the team). When it was cancelled, the passengers all retrieved their luggage. The airline assured said he would have to pay the fee again when he flew out the next day, and the first fee would be cancelled.

It never was. So he called  yesterday and explained to them and it sounds like we will get the first fee credited back. I will be watching to see.

DS  said to me 'They said they would credit I back. I just trusted they would"

Powerful life lesson, mama said. No one has your back except you and you have to be on top of things yourself and speak up.

We shall see if this lesson works.

Ahhh growing up in the world of invisible money :-)

He had a wonderful time there. Loves the team, the community, everything. He laughed when they said he has an accent.

Update: The BMO  US mastercard arrived today in the mail. 62 days after we requested it.
But it's here :-)

He's going to college....."I" am learning

Well it's a sad/exciting week in the Money Tree household.

DS is gone. To quote Ned Flanders, he's "gone diddily on"

He and his dad left to begin the drive down to the US where he will stay for about 5 weeks, for spring training.

I am going to try to pretend he is on a long 4 day road trip. I have survived many of those before.

So here is what mama has learned:

1) Health Care - rather tricky when he is gone out of the country. For this spring training time, it doesn't qualify as 'student' because he is not a full time student yet. It doesn't qualify as vacation, but it's not quite a vacation.  I have spent time on the phone with my work health care provider and DH's. He has Blue Cross and they sounded much more friendly and confident when I called and they could answer the questions I had. With mine, we spent a great deal of time trying to determine if his scholarship counted as 'professional' as that would mean he was financially compensated by someone in the US and that would change his health care eligibility.  I ended up calling the team doctor who sent us the forms to fill in and she said they would take care of it down there and that the team has a great policy for their athletes. I am hoping it is as simple as she made it sound.

2) Phones - We are in a three year contract up here with his iphone so that can't be broken. I will be paying for his contract even though he isn't going to be using it up here. They have suggested that we pay to unlock it here ($50), and then when we are in the US, buy a sim card there and sign up with a company there with a good no contract plan. Anyone have any suggestions for a good northern midwest US phone company that doesn't have a complicated data plan fee???

I have paid $30 for a month of 200 minutes of LD with my Canadian provider. That will help with the calls from the team and give him a few more minutes to call his mama (lol yeah right)

3) Banking and Money
So we know that his debit card will not work in the US at stores and such. He can take money out of a machine for a fee.

His new MC would work but would also have those fees plus the money dif between countries. The replacement card took 15 business days to arrive, but we were unable to actually get through on a phone line to activate it. On hold and on hold and on  hold.

The local branch recommended he get a US MC so that we avoided those fees between currencies so we ordered that. It never arrived. Helpful. Not!  We paid a $25 fee to rush it here.  Today is business day 7 and it has not come. Rush was supposed to be 3-5 days. I am hoping they will wave the charge, but I won't hold my breath.

We can set up a US bank account there, but he needs a permanent address for his US time to do that, we are told. He won't have a permanent address until fall.

This leaves us with a dilemma for the spring training session. Really our only option is cash and I don't think it's a great idea for him to have a whack of US cash on him. If something happens, it's gone, and so is his main money source.


4) I've learned that he drove me crazy here being an almost adult doing his own thing, but my goodness do I ever miss him.

Still working on the CC fraud

On  Thursday, April 17th we learned that my older son's MC had been used for several charges that were not his. We dutifully called that night to MC to begin the process.

On Tuesday, April 22nd, nothing had changed on his account so we called again.  This gentleman took all the same information but seemed surprised that we had not received a fraud affidavit in the  mail yet. He checked and the man who took our original call did not get that started.  We went over again the 6 charges on his account. I told the CS Rep that DS would be leaving for the States soon and asked what would happen if this time sensitive document came while he was gone. He took my information down and DS's verbal consent, we agreed I could sign for him.

By last Thursday, all but one of the charges was gone from his account. There were a total of three to the same magazine in the US, but only two of them were removed. Very odd.

Last Friday, the fraud report arrived. Only 3 of the original 6 charges were listed. If we had signed this report then it would be saying that the other 3 were our responsibility.

I found it odd that online they had wiped out 5 charges but the paper said 3. What was up with the discrepancy you ask???

Good question.

And so began the moment I began my hate of 'on hold ' music.

Getting into the details again will make me bang my head against the wall. Let's just say that between Sunday and Wednesday, DS and I spent over 11 hours on hold in multiple calls. One call lasted multiple hours because I was determined not to give up.

I was not alone. Many customers joined me in our solitude of phone to ear, muzak playing ad nauseum, with an interruption every couple of minutes telling me 'My call is important to them. Please stay on the line so I do not lose my place in the queue."

Apparently there is some sort of glitch in their system.  They even apologized here , but really, gave no reason why. It was beyond insulting.

DS ended up having to take time off work to go into the branch and ask them to intervene. As of  today, the lone charge is still there.

I emailed MC and got a form letter response. It was ONLY in French. Not both of our official languages, but only in French. I was really offended. Now I do speak some French and could make sense of what it was saying.

Begin head bashing against a wall.

So he leaves for the US with this charge still there. The 'rules' say to report the fraud within 30 days and we did, so hopefully the fact that he will be gone for several weeks won't interfere with this getting resolved.

I have had a  BMO MasterCard since 1991 and have never had trouble so this is really uncharacteristic, but it's going to lose them a lot of customers I suspect.

C-C-C-Cold

Seems fitting with the temperatures we have been having in the -30C that the furnace would decide to join the rebellion.

We lost it around 9 PM last night. We called all the 'heating' companies in town on their after hours lines. Only one answered. He had a dozen calls ahead of us and said he wouldn't be here until today. We called our energy company and the man came within a half hour. He checked all the lines from the gas meter and that part is working well. It was nice of him to come so fast.


We got our two space heaters out and  borrowed 1 from my brother in law and one from DH's.  The main goal  is to keep our water pipes from freezing...and...well...us too LOL

We called the heating company again first thing this morning and he just came and left. We remain on space heaters until at least tomorrow as the main guy who works with our brand of furnace does not work until tomorrow. The heating company was kind enough to not charge us for this call out which I am told is around $500 ($500!! man I am in the wrong business. when I think of how many times I have had parents call in the evenings or on weekends or holidays saying their child has forgotten 'x' at school and could I please come so they could get it. I could be rich LOL)

So parts of my house are ok for heat and parts are 14C (57F)

Can't imagine what our electric bill will be with all these space  heaters, or the bills for the repairs.

murphy!!!!!!

F'ing taxes

I am mad. steaming mad.

Remember back HERE

where I got a larger than expected tax refund?

Remember I called Revenue Canada THAT day. THAT DAY!! to ask them to check over all my files as their number did not match mine?

Remember that I asked the man who answered AREYOU SURE this is correct???

He assured me it was.

Well today I got a statement saying that they reassessed and I now owe THEM $1300, with interest thank you very much you deadbeat citizen!

I called the number on my assessment and they have NO record I ever called. None

Merry F'ing Christmas