Monday, June 25, 2012

The Trip to OH"HELL"IO--Chapter One


Now before I say another word I want to make it perfectly clear that no, I don't make shit like this up!


Everyone knows already that Hubs and I attempted a small vacation after dropping #2 Son at summer camp about a week ago.  We were already out on the opposite end of the state, so why not hop over the border into Ohio and meander around, eat some food and see some stuff we don't see everyday over here in our part of Pennsylvania.
No dogs, no kids, no schedule and no cares.
Sounds good, doesn't it?
Hubs had the week off so we were ready to go!

 So let's begin this saga the week previous....the week that the nephew was suppose to graduate from high school.(Totally not getting into THAT again here!) *If you feel you need the back story on that before proceeding, go read it HERE.

The previous week.....ah yes!....The week my Hubs siblings were here, being all up in our business and family-like.
Before hub's sister left town to go home, one evening, I made motel reservations at 2 different motel chains for our Ohio trip.
1 night at one, 2 nights at another.
I made the reservations online.
On secure web pages for each chain since they require your personal info.(like name, address)and your credit card number.  *Ah!....I see you know where I am going with this, don't you?

This is the first time I had used my credit card to purchase anything online in months and months.  I usually use Paypal to pay for anything online and I don't fund that with the credit card, ever!

A few days later, on June 10th I went to our credit card's online site to check whether the statement for our account had cut, so I could record the statement amount and plug in when I wanted to pay it(in full)online, within the next 3 weeks before it was due.

I found a charge on the bill that was highly suspicious for a large online music downloading site that will remain anonymous, called the iTunes Store.

The charge was 3 figures.
Neither Hubs or myself download music or anything else from there.
I asked if any of the kids had gotten our credit card number(highly unlikely)and had done that.
Nope.....no one had.
So I opened a dispute for that charge and made a note to pay the statement(less that charge)when we returned from Ohio.


And then the UPS man showed up at our door on Friday the 15th....less than 2 days before we were slated to leave.
And he had a package for us.
A package in a plain brown box that Hubs and I opened.
A package with a sex toy in it.

And no, I am not going to show you a picture of a sex toy here.


At this point, all the bells and whistles went off in my head.

And I ran to the computer to check our credit card account again.

And that's when I saw that the 3 figure bill at the iTunes store was just the beginning of our woes.
The account had been billed since the 10th for another 3 figure charge from the iTunes Store, for a Groupon and there was the bill for our new "adult" toy also.

This scumsucking loser didn't change the shipping address to himself when he billed us for the "toy".
Or he had it shipped to us on purpose, as his way of telling us he was "dicking" around with our credit account.

Well, we immediately had to put in a call to the credit card company and they shut down the account.
So with a day and a half to go until we left town, we had no credit card and even overnighting us new cards, we wouldn't get them before we left town.

I spent Saturday morning, before the bank closed arranging for a prepaid Visa card so we didn't have to cart a sack of cash to Ohio with us to pay for motel rooms, meals, gas, etc.
I have a debit card but it isn't hooked up to our primary account so it didn't have access but to a couple hundred dollars.  I don't use ATMs and I don't like to use debit cards so we never activated the ones the bank sent us.

So we worked around this complication but it put us on a tight budget for the trip.

We filed the appropriate fraud forms with the credit card company and the wheels of justice are moving slowly to resolve the situation.

Someone working at either of the corporate online reservation centers who would have access to our credit card info. when I booked those motel reservations is the obvious person responsible for some criminal skipping through the online world with our account number.  Since the credit card company shut the thief down I doubt the credit card company will follow through, apprehend and prosecute them.

Be assured that I will be writing to the corporate customer service of both motel chains to let them know that either of them has a possible theft ring operating within their walls.
And that unless they make the appropriate noises and convince me that they are taking this seriously,  I'll never reserve another accommodation with them...EVER!
Plus I'll name names...*cough*Clarion.......*cough*Best Western..... and let all my readers and twitter followers know. ;-)

So we are not even out of the driveway and have already been put through this credit card fraud and sex toys.
Oh, this trip just gets better and better!

Part 2 tomorrow......

Sluggy


16 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about the credit card situation. Same thing happend to my credit card too. We ate dinner at Pizza hut and paid with my credit card. When I was looking over my statement online I found that Pizza hut charged me twice first was the amount of our bill and the second charge was for $25. I called them and talked to the manager and he believed me and said that he had an employee that he did not trust and was going to look into the matter. Then the manager told me to stop in anytime that day at the resturant and he would give me the $25 back. I have a feeling this might have happened before since the manager did not question me at all and was willing to give me cash back without really any proof other than my word. Credit cards are just no good, I cut mine up after that.

    Mandy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's sad that this happened but I'm surprised they kept someone they suspected of theft around that long.

      We've had our cc stolen 2xs before but never online before.

      Delete
  2. Well it makes sense when the guy was screwing you over!!
    I had a card # stolen and used to buy gas and god knows what for $110 at a service station in Michigan. (I live in western Canada and was at home with my very colicky newborn)
    The credit card company MC (not naming names,)) took off the charge but could have cared less how or who got my card #.

    I cancelled the card because the buttheads had me on hold for hours and hours.

    Jeeze, I didn't even get a toy like you did out of the deal!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. When we've had our cc stolen before it shocked me at how little they cared or tried to track down the source of the theft. They must be making ginormous profits to not care like that.

      And now I have to dilemna of what to do with this sex toy!
      I suppose I should return it to the company or something but I feat trying to explain this will just make things worse....lol

      Delete
  3. I really hate to laugh at people when they go through things like this, but this post cracked me up! I can't imagine opening that box and finding the sex toy. I can only imagine the expression on your face.
    I am looking forward to the rest of the story. I do hope things have settled down a bit now that you are home.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are doing good now thanks.
      This whole trip was a disaster from start to finish. At least we kept our sense of humor over it all. Hubs tends to get worked up and freaked out but he was so mentally tired from work that I was able to redirect him and keep him calm. Offering another beer helped in that.lol

      Delete
  4. That's beyond annoying - that's downright infuriating. I would have gone ballistic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hubs about did.....so I offered him a beer or 4. He was fine after that.

      Delete
  5. Looks like you've looked after the SEX and the ROCK AND ROLL - all that's left is the DRUGS!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Finding the use of the itunes cards should not require much investigation. You might even get that information from itunes since it is your card. Don't tell them about the theft. Maybe they will think you suspect a child in the house.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm passing the buck and letting the cc co. handle this one.

      Delete
  7. Why in the hell did he/she send you a sex toy? That is the oddest thing I have ever heard of unless it was someone that lives close to you and they thought that they could swipe it from your door.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, the card info had to be stolen when I made the online reservation, so either a reserv. center employee hacked it and went on an online spree or they are part of a ring and sold the cc # to someone else to use.

      From what I've now read, this is very common so watch out using your cc to reserve hotel rooms.

      Delete

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