Today marks the end of the second week since the bolt hit me...
The bolt in question is a 2lac bill that I assumed to be a relic of my past...
Briefly put:
I made an international transaction of US$2720 on my Girl's credit card, needless to say I received a confirmation for the same from the recipient. It so happened that the transaction had to be canceled. Under normal circumstances I would have gone ahead shot a couple of mails or put my self proclaimed fluency in French to use with the recipient over the phone (the party in question was a French establishment). However, this was no normal situation and I was definitely not in my element. As per the bank the transaction had not gone thru and the allowable credit limit on the card was half the value of the transaction. Putting two and two together I assumed that the deal stands canceled and that I do not have to give it even as much as a second thought.
Actual happenings:
Same day two weeks ago I had a whale of a week-end, however the icing was not as good as the cake. My Girl informed me late in the night that the transaction had actually gone thru and that the amount has been charged and to complicate things further the bank had called her to seek permission to extend funds to a French enterprise for another US$1000. To put things in perspective this happened a six weeks after the request was raised and we were also way past the period of requested service.
Repercussions:
Now one cannot even imagine how miserable I felt. To make things worse I had to spend an agonizing night cursing myself, as nothing could be done till next afternoon (France is three and a half hours behind Indian time).
I 'work from home' the next day and put game theory to use, trying to think of ways to curtail the damage and if possible zilch it. I call the bank and the French establishment. At the end of the day the losses are cut to half.
A result of:
- 8 international telephone calls
- Multiple escalations
- Endless negotiations, I topped Negotiations course in the schools you see
- Numeous mails
I earned US$1360 for one day of effort, not what are the odds of that happening...
I deploy a few more parameters and dimensions to limit my personal loss...
As days go by I realised that I can recover my damages in a couple of months. Not the best of situations to be in but what the heck I will atleat get the money back, eventually.
I hit the ATM machine to clear the bill, do as and leave. My Girl calls to inform that the transaction is no longer reflecting on the card.
I reel out instructions:
- Block all transactions on the card
- Surrender the card
- Recover the money I paid the bank
Retrospection:
Now that the worse is over, I sit back to think how it all happened. The nincompoop vendor side people I interacted with got confused and made two refunds one was half the amount and the other was half the amount on the credit slip...
Even a second grade student would know that half and half makes whole, and come to think of it the French will rule Europe this term (God save Europe)...
Signing off...
