I have been working so many hours, not as much fun or interesting stuff to blog about....Bob found my banking issues to be laughable, so maybe you can share in my misery (I know Susan, I should bank with you-in time dear). I get paid once a month (usually the last day of the month), and I have a credit card tied to my checking account. It gets paid in full by automatic draft out of my checking account. Well, that was hitting the 28th of the month, so my largest deduction was hitting my account 2 or 3 days before my only deposit. Well, I asked my British based bank if I could move my due date to the second of the month, so there would be no chance of a shortfall. Well to make a long story short, they moved my date the billing date-not the due date...sigh, English may be the official business language of the UAE, but it is a struggle...so, my bill came earlier than expected, but it matched up with my payday...no big deal...right? wrongo...So the bank called me last Thursday and said my credit card was due, I reminded them of the change in bill due dates we has agreed to, they saw the notes said, ooops no big deal. The money matched up that night, and they changed my next bill date to October 2nd instead of November 2nd...still not a big deal, I only had about 500 durhams in new charges,($130) and had well over 10,000 dirhams in the bank...well, when they changed the bill due date they forgot to turn back on the autopay system. So, in the meantime my bundled package of my cable/phone/Internet reached its credit limit...thats right, they establish a credit limit even though it automatically charges my credit card. So when I got home at 9 pm from work on Thursday, my cable, long distance and Internet were cut off. I called the local number, reminded them that they had my credit card and my bill was not due until Oct 10. Well, they informed me (all those international call centers where they don't speak English well to handle customer service issues/they apparently use the same call centers here) since I had been cut off I had to either pay my bill online (difficult to do when Internet is cut off) or go to the "Du" store and pay me bill. So Friday morning (Remember Friday is Sunday here) I hauled my butt down to the due store to straighten this out. After waiting in line for hour (similar to America), I finally got to speak face to face to a customer care rep. Well I ripped into this guy about how stupid it was to cut me off when they had my credit card (do you see where this is going yet) and I had paid my bill in time in full every month (ok both of them). Imagine me raising my voice in the I make a lot of money, why would you cut me off because I make a lot of International calls...blah, blah blah! I got my two pounds of flesh! So, then I handed over my bank credit card, to pay my "Du" bill. Yes, declined...that is right, the customer with great credit and plenty of money, card is declined....sigh...The bank is down the hall in the mall, but it's Friday, banks are closed. So, I truly have plenty of money in the bank, so I get money out of the ATM and slink back to "Du" with my tail between my legs.,.I only wish that ended it...It took all day Friday to get hooked back up with cable and Internet.
So Saturday, I head to the bank, to straighten out my account. When I get there I find out since I did nt pay my credit card bill on Oct 2nd (I did not know I had one due, suppose to be Nov 2nd) they had put my card on hold and I had been turned over to collections...Never mind that my account was automatically set up for 100% payment and linked to my checking account with the same bank. my bill for 500 durhams had not been paid and it did not matter that I had 10,000 durhams in their bank. They showed their bill was mailed to my employer (no local mail delivery here, all your mail goes to your job) on October 1st (I haven't got it yet) and that they just had paid my entire bill on Sept. 28th....
Oh well, after an hour at the branch, they apologized and said everything was fixed...we'll see. Bob saw a lot more humor in this than I did...
Baseball playoffs are on back in the good ole USA, my Reds are down 2 games to none and I haven't seen the first pitch...I finished 3rd in my fantasy baseball league, no way I can do it from here next year,,,been in the same league since 1991. I guess other than golf, it is just impossible to follow closely over here. Cricket is kicking off over here with little cooler weather. I do want to see it. Al Jazeera TV covers the NBA (I have no idea why), now if I just had a care to see it...
I am picking my new sales rep (Lal) up at his hotel in the morning. He worked for SYSCO Atlanta for over 10 years, his parents live in Sri Lanka, he wanted to get closer to home...I am excited to add an experienced sales rep. I am giving him the Palms resort and Dubai World/Yaz Island for a territory. Should be quite the adventure for him.
Tomorrow is Abu Dhabi day. The new customer I have been courting opens their doors next Friday (850 room 5 star hotel ) Real opportunity. So trying to tie up some of the loose ends.
Well maybe I will do something interesting this week, and take some pictures of it....maybe not...
Thanks for hanging in there with me....
John
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