Fraud Insurance Marketing

Was checking my Visa statement against receipts and saw a charge I had no receipt for nor had any idea why it was on my account. It said BAC PRIVACY ASSIST and was for $12.99. Granted, not a large amount, but just the same if it wasn't my charge it didn't belong on my Visa.

When you look at your account online you can click on the charges to get a somewhat expanded view of the charge. When I opened this item it said it was from Direct Marketing Insurance Services. I had no idea what that was and promptly picked up the phone to call Bank of America(BOA).

After an exhausting litany of telephone prompts I finally got a REAL person and explained my problem. The BOA customer service rep said I'd havet to talk to that department about getting the charge removed and transferred me. A few moments later a woman with a very distinct accent answered the phone. She was very difficult to understand but I muddled my way through explaining what the issue was....AGAIN! She said something about that it was some type of monthly fraud protection charge put on my account because they couldn't find record of my social security number on the account. I said I didn't authorize the fraud protection and I wanted it removed and the $12.99 refunded. She said she had to put me on hold to check some things out. A few minutes later she said then only way it could be removed was if I either faxed them my social security number or call Bank of America back and have them call and remove it from my account. Interesting. Didn't the first BOA customer service rep tell me this fraud thing was a department at BOA? I said there was no way I was giving her my social security number and I called BOA back again.

I finally got through the myriad of phone prompts and got to a real person once again. I explained what had happened and the rep asked me to stay on the line and she would get this fraud insurance marketing department on the line for a 3 way call. When the fraud insurance marketing department rep answered the BOA rep was going to hang up and I asked her to stay on the line as last time the "fraud" department wouldn't do anything for me.

The fraud insurance marketing rep assured me the program was removed from my account and that the $12.99 would be credited back on my account within 7-10 days. I asked for some type of confirmation and they said they would send an email to me. I concluded my conversation with the "fraud" rep. I told the Bank of America rep that I had been with them for several years and this was very disappointing. Talk about fraud, who gave them the right to just put that on my account without getting my authorization. I certainly hope nothing else like this happens again.

Moral of the story. Check every charge on your statement and match your receipts or you may be getting RIPPED OFF!. Are there any trustworthy banks left?

(ps) I've yet to get a confimation email.

Car Wash

Two new car washes have opened in Granger over the past couple of weeks. I'm not sure that Granger really requires more car washes but, whatever. "Mikes Car Wash" is Heritage Square is the most recent to open.

Last week this announcement was made about Mike's on the local news Mikes Car Wash offering Free washes for two weeks I think this is noble effort for Mikes to get established in Granger. Especially in the current economic times, anything that is of value you can get for FREE is good.

However, where do you draw the line on free? Last night we were having dinner at Martin's Side Door Deli before attending an amazing Hillsong London Concert at Granger Community Church. Yesterday was not a pretty day weather-wise. It was cold, windy and rainy all day long. As we sat having dinner on the second floor of the Deli we watched car after car, in the pouring rain, go through Mike's car wash.

I have to ask, is "FREE" really that important for a car wash?

Safe Slang ?

I was scrolling through some "tweets" on twitter the other day and saw a tweet that someone had posted about a piece of failing electronic equipment. It was just a two sentence tweet and the last sentence simply said "Frick"

I hear the words freakin', flippin', frickin' and friggin' used in conversation almost daily. I admit that even I have used them. But in the back of my mind I've always thought they were a non-swearing substitute for another "F" word that is an awful word to use. I had some spare time today so I decided to do some word searching on Meriam Webster.

Freaking: Function: adjective or adverb Etymology: euphemism for frigging or that "F" word that I refuse to write.

Frigging: Function: intransitive verb Inflected Form(s): frigged; frig•ging
Etymology: Middle English fryggen to wriggle Date: 1598 often vulgar : COPULATE —sometimes used in the present participle as a meaningless intensive

Flipping: Function: verb Inflected Form(s): flipped; flip•ping Etymology: probably imitative Date: circa 1567 3slang a: to lose one's mind or composure —often used with out b: to become very enthusiastic

Fricking - I couldn't find any form of Fricking on the Meriam Webster Online dictionary. I did, however find it in the Urban online dictionary for slang terms and as I'd suspected its slang for the you what word that starts with "F".

So as it turns out Freaking, Frigging and Fricking all have a derogatory connotation associated with them. Flipping, though it still doesn't sound good at least didn't have unacceptable connotations.

It's easy to get caught up in slang. Everybody uses it and so you can find yourself just being part of the crowd. However, now that I've confirmed my suspicions about these slang terms I'm going to be very attentive to not using them in my casual daily conversations. I'd rather not be part of the crowd.

Dropped calls and no internet

I'm not sure what more could have possibly gone wrong last night with our cell phones or our internet service. It's a wonder I have any hair left!

I got home a little after 5pm last night and my mom called me on my cell. She's been sick and had gone to the doctor and was calling to give me an update. We were talking away and the call dropped. I never have trouble with my calls dropping on Verizon and was surprized that it happened. She called back a few moments later. We had pretty much finished our conversation when the call dropped again.

Yesterday we had our new AT&T UVERSE Fiber-optic cable and internet service installed. We'd decided to change from COMCAST because we were tired of chasing COMCAST'S promo rates and AT&T was now offering a tv service that our current cable jacks could use and the packages they had to offer for tv and internet were not promo rates.

Lori's laptop still needed to be set up to access our new internet service from AT&T. I sat down after dinner with her laptop to get her connected. I followed the steps that the AT&T tech gave me but couldn't get her connected. I tried several different times to get her connected but had no luck. I decided to call AT&T for assistance. That's when the real fun began.

First of all I despise automated phone systems. I want to talk to a person not a computer generated voice that sends me through 10,000 menus! Everytime I would respond to enough prompts and was just about to speak to a live person, the call would drop. Over and over and over this happened. I finally called Verizon to find out what the problem was. We'd not had a call dropping problem before and there is a tower relatively close to our house.

Of course everytime I called Verizon and navigated my way through all of their prompts the call would drop. What was particularly aggravating about my calls to Verizon was that I would actually speak to a person, explain my problem and the call would drop. But did they call me back, NO! So I'd call again, get an entirely different person, explain my problem and the call would drop. Four times I did this before the Verizon customer service rep actually called me back.

My phone stayed connected long enough to actually get some troubleshooting done, although even in that process it dropped a couple of times. Fortunately the same rep called me back. When he couldn't get it resolved he decided to transfer me to the tech support area.

Well knowing what the problem was that I was having with dropped calls, the tech person at Verizon PUT ME ON HOLD! Can you believe it! And yes, the call dropped while I was on hold. I did get a voice mail a few moments later from that person saying a support ticket had been filed and I would be getting a txt message about that and they should have a resolution in no less than 72 hours.

By this time I'd discovered that the internet was not working on my laptop either and was bent on getting on getting the internet functional at home. Have I mentioned that this fiasco has been going on for about 2 hours by now. I decided to take the cell phone out in the garage and call AT&T again for support on the internet hoping that maybe the phone would stay connected outside.

I did have better luck outside with the phone but the calls still dropped out there as well. I had the most helpful and customer service focused person on the phone from AT&T than I'd had all evening. Though the calls kept dropping over and over she diligently called me back and worked with me until our internet issues were resolved and the internet was fully functional again.

As you can imagine (or just ask my wife) I wasn't smiling to much throughout this entire process until the last call I had with AT&T. If I had to give grades out for customer service I'd have to give Verizon a D and AT&T an B+(there's always room for improvment!)

Seriously though, over the past few days I've dealt with COMCAST, VERIZON and AT&T. And AT&T really seem to have their act together when it comes to customer service all the way around. They make you feel like they sincerely care and they really do take care of your needs in a courteous and efficient way.

Panera - I can't believe you

I am in utter disbelief this morning. Several times I have brought to the attention of Panera management my concern about the coffee pots being placed on the DIRTY floor when being replaced. Furthermore, I have not been the only one who has expressed this concern. Several other people who are there on a daily basis as I am have also expressed their concern about it as well. Numerous times the managerial staff has told me that they are greatly concerned about the appearance of that procedure. They have assured me repeatedly that they will put an end to it at the Mishawaka, Indiana location. Yet today I saw it AGAIN!!!

A woman who works regularly at Panera (she usually assembling sandwiches in the morning) was replacing coffee pots today and put them on the floor. When I approached her about it she laughed and said "I don't know anything about that." I was livid.

The managerial staff assured me that the process of NOT putting the coffee pots on the floor was going to be communicated to all staff at the Mishawaka Panera. Apparently not!

Don't patronize me! Don't tell me things just to get me off your back Panera....and then do the contrary. My own teenage kids used to do that to me, tell me things I wanted to hear so I'd lay off. But my kids stopped doing that and grew up.

Yeah, I'm ticked. It is a big deal to me. I'm the customer. And without customers you wouldn't have a store to run. If this procedure is going on in the public eye...what must be going on in the kitchen that we cant see.

getting to the core of things

My IPOD is my life blood when I'm working out. The music provides the rhythm that keeps me going at the pace I like....F A S T.

Last week I got to the gym and started my work out and about 10 minutes in to it I heard a crackling sound in my ears and the music went dead. My IPOD is a little over 2 years old and I'm wasn't sure how long earbuds actually last, so I chalked it up to them just being worn out. Not having the rhythm in my ears made the rest of my workout a challenge but I persevered.

After work that day I went to Target and purchased some new earbuds. When I arrived at home the original earbuds were still plugged into my IPOD. I turned it on and sound emitted. Apparently the connection must have just been bad when I was at the gym. I opted not to open the new earbuds and just return them the next day.

The next morning when I got to the gym I started my stint on the elliptical machine. I put the earbuds in my ears and turned on the IPOD. Nothing. No Sound. Nadda! I unplugged and plugged in the earbuds over and over and no sound. Yet again on the screen of the IPOD I could see the green bar at the bottom indicating the music was indeed playing away. Arrrrghhhhh!

When I got to work I unpackaged the new earbuds and plugged them in to the IPOD. Nothing. No Sound. Nadda! Now I was really puzzled. I have a docking station with speakers for my IPOD on my desk so I decided I'd see if my IPOD worked on that. When I slid it in the slot on the docking station again I could see that the music was playing but no sound was coming out of it. Yes, I had the volume turned on! Now I was really confused. What was wrong with this thing!

Lori happened to come by my office and I told her of my dilemma. She said why don't you call Apple and see what they say. I said that I was sure there was no warranty on it and they'd probably just say "so sad, too bad!" but I called anyway.

I was wrong. There acutally was an emerging problem with this generation of the 30gb IPOD's. The people at Apple sent me a pre-paid FED-X box to return my damaged IPOD to them. And....here's the best part, they were going to send me a brand new IPOD. No questions asked, no warranty. Just replaced. Now that's what I call customer service.

The pre-paid empty return box arrived the very next day. I rec'd confirmation that they received it back at Apple on Monday. Yesterday I recieved an email confirmation that my new IPOD had been shipped and I should be delivered in 2 days. I can't wait to have music again for my workouts!

The new IPOD arrived yesterday afternoon. To celebrate I even purchased a few new songs from ITUNES last night and then loaded it up with my music, playlists and pictures.

It was so good to have my music in my ears during my grueling work out on the dreaded SUMMIT machine today. One thing I forgot was to set the music to shuffle....not a big fan of hearing the same artist song after song after song.

Thanks again APPLE for restoring my faith in customer service.

It came home....

On July 14th, 2008 I blogged about losing my USB (Where oh where is my USB)

I searched high and low for days, retracing steps, but found nothing. I was absolutely devastated. It had pictures and journal entries on it that meant a lot to me. I looked for it for weeks before I finally succumbed to the fact that it was gone.

Today I was going through some files at home trying to find a paper for my tax guy and you'll never guess what I found......



.....my USB came home! The ironic thing, when put it in the USB port on my laptop to see what was on it, it was blank....empty...NOTHING! Apparently I'd taken everything off of it anyway.....arrrggggghhhh!

Here kitty kitty...

This is one ugly cat Cat Video

Ash Wednesday

In Western Christianity, Ash Wednesday marks the first day, or the start of the season of Lent, which begins 40 days prior to Easter (Sundays are not included in the count).

Lent is a time when many Christians prepare for Easter by observing a period of fasting, repentance, moderation and spiritual discipline. During some Ash Wednesday services, the minister will lightly rub the sign of the cross with ashes onto the foreheads of worshipers.

Not all Christian churches observe Ash Wednesday or Lent. They are mostly observed by the Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian and Anglican denominations, and also by Roman Catholics. Eastern Orthodox churches observe Lent or Great Lent, during the 6 weeks or 40 days preceding Palm Sunday with fasting continuing during the Holy Week of Easter. Lent for Eastern Orthodox churches begins on Monday and Ash Wednesday is not observed.

The Bible does not mention Ash Wednesday or the custom of Lent, however, the practice of repentance and mourning in ashes is found in 2 Samuel 13:19; Esther 4:1; Job 2:8; Daniel 9:3; and Matthew 11:21.

2 Samuel 13:19 She was wearing a long-sleeved gown. (That's how virgin princesses used to dress from early adolescence on.) Tamar poured ashes on her head, then she ripped the long-sleeved gown, held her head in her hands, and walked away, sobbing as she went.

Esther 4:1 1 When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly.

Job 2:8 8 Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

Daniel 9:3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Matt. 11:21 21"Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

Financial Peace

Financial Peace University kicked off at Granger Community Church GCC and packed the house! 244 to be exact!



Dave Ramsey's daveramsey.com process to financial freedom includes "Seven Baby Steps". The bulk of the premier lesson covers Baby Step 1 - The Emergency Fund. Savings, especially savings for the unexpected has to be a priority. Like it or not, unexpected events are going to happen. In a previous post last week I spoke about our dryer breaking down Left hangin'. Things happen and a $1000 emergency fund helps alleviate the stress that those things can cause. But establishing an emergency fund takes discipline. You will realize its value in the long run.

"Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else!" Dave Ramsey

Panera - says one thing, does another

I noticed this banner at Panera Saturday morning






















If details really matter, why then, after I was told that procedures had been changed in 27 Panera stores across the state of Indiana, did I see employees put coffee pots on the floor again not only on Saturday but Sunday morning as well!

Arrrrrrrgggggggggg!!!!!!!!

Panera - This just in!

I thought I'd closed the book on my issues with the coffee pots at Panera, but it seems as though there was one last thing to be said.'

While at Panera, doing my usual morning thing, having coffee, reading and engaging in conversations with my other Panera peeps, the manager wandered over to me. He inquired as to whether I'd seen any coffee pots put on the floor today. Up until that momemt, no one at Panera had said a word to me about my email to their customer service department about the coffee pots (see Customer Service) so I was taken aback. (The manager is a great guy. He always makes it a point to say hi and knows me by name.) Anyway I responded that I had actually not seen the coffee pots been put on the floor over the past few days. He said that my email had made an impact on the whole state of Indiana and 27 Panera stores now had a new procedure in place for replacing the empty coffee pots. I can't imagine what my face must have looked like. I was stunned to say the least.

I told him that I didn't mean to be a 'whiner' but it just wasn't right that something I or any other patron of that restaurant should have to witness, let alone pour a beverage from. He wasn't upset. He said it was a good thing and thanked me for it.

I didn't really think anything would ever become of my complaint based upon the original email response I'd received from Panera. Just goes to show that it does pay to voice your opinion and concerns.

Hmmmm...Bob the "activist", who'd a thunk!

Panera - The final chapter

This morning I wrote of the continuing saga at Panera and it's incident with the Department of Health. In my post Panera - The saga continues I vowed to find out what had transpired since the server had taken a vow of silence.

I wasn't even sure if I could find out anything, but a friend on Facebook saw my tweet from this morning and posted on my wall that the health department visit was indeed public information. They advised that I should be able to find information in the local newspaper or through the health department itself. I searched the local paper online but with no avail. I found nothing. So I got brave and phoned the health department.

I was relieved to find that it was only a permit issue and nothing to do with cleanliness or food issues. I didn't want to see Panera closed as I do enjoy there coffee and food as I noted in my first post about Panera Customer Service

I did still have concerns about my original objection of setting the coffee pots on the floor that I'd also spoke of in my original post Customer Service so I inquired about that while on the phone to the health department.

I stand corrected.

The inspector at the health department advised that there was no violation for putting the coffee pots on the floor because they are impervious. She did, however, agree with me, that it would likely appear disgusting to the customer.

So c'mon Panera...pick up those pots!

Panera - The saga continues

A week or so ago I posted some observations I'd made about Panera Bread in Mishawaka Customer Service

The concerns I expressed in my blog post were averted by the Panera customer service rep who said they weren't in violation of any Department of Health regulations in regards to the coffee pots. Well this may not have been a violation, but apparently something else was.....

I got news of some activity on Twitter yesterday that said that Panera was closed by the Department of Health late morning for some type of violation. I don't know what that violation was, but am not really surprised. I was told that Panera on Main Street in Mishawaka was closed and would reopen on Wednesday. As it turns out they did re-open on Tuesday, but under what conditions I have no idea.

I was anxious to get to Panera this morning for coffee and find out what actually happened. (I know many of you are wondering why I went back if they'd been closed by the Dept.of Health....) None of the usual group that is at Panera at 6am was aware of the previous days upheaval so I decided to ask a Panera employee.

I walked up to the counter to pay for my coffee and asked the server about what I'd heard the day before. The server looked down at the floor and replied "I cannot talk about that, I can't say anything....no comment"

So what does that mean...no comment? Shouldn't your patrons, especially the regulars, know what is going on with the store? Isn't it public knowledge? Well, its my goal today to find out if it is indeed public knowledge or not!

Huckabee on the Stimulous Bill

Huckabee & The Stimulous Bill

Have you seen her, tell me have you seen her?

My blond has gone red!












...have I mentioned red is my favorite color!

Left hangin'

We just booked and amazing Orlando vacation for this coming spring. The air faire was unbelievably cheap. The hotel where we've been staying for years had an awesome rate. After much searching I finally found a reasonable rental car. And my vacation spending account is fully funded. Ahhhhhh...life is good, but....

You just never know when Murphy will be lurking around the corner. Lori put the load of laundry she'd done in the dryer this morning. She checked it about 15 minutes later and it was still cold and wet. She tried another heat setting and started it again. Fifteen minutes later, still cold and wet. Apparently the dryer is not working. Genius aren't I!

We're starting a new Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Class on February 23, 2009 at Granger Community Church. In 13 weeks Dave teaches how to achieve financial freedom through planning and budgeting. Not only will you learn about your budget and how to plan and manage your finances, but there are valuable sessions on investing and college planning and retirement to name just a few. You'll learn how to control your money and not have it control you!

In the first lesson you learn how important it is to have an emergency fund for unexpected expenses. You know, the ones you pull the credit card out for and then end up paying for them forever...and paying more than the original expense. The first goal in the Financial Peace class is to establish a $1000 emergency fund. Later you'll learn how to increase the balance of this fund, but Rome wasn't built in a day and you've got to start somewhere!

As I mentioned earlier, you never know when Murphy is going drop by. He dropped by at my house this morning.....



...and the todays laundry has been "hung out to dry" but my emergency fund is in tact and the repairman is on the way!

You want to head Murphy "off at the pass"? Sign up for Financial Peace University Granger Community Church and "Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else!"

Customer service

Panera has good coffee. I'm particularly fond of their hazelnut brew. I like the fact that there are unlimited refills (cuz I can drink a lot of coffee). But I've not been real fond of the means in which they replace their empty pots. The staff often come out with two the big pots in tow, one in each arm, and put them on the floor before removing the empty pots. Kinda gross....no, very gross! There is a 'contact us' section on Panera's website so I thought I'd raise my concern.

I wrote

Time and time again when I see the empty coffee containers changed out the person who is doing it sets the full coffee container on the floor while they're lifting the empty one off the cabinet where they sit for public consumption. This seems like a huge health department violation to me. Why is this allowed to happen? Why aren't staff trained not do this? It seems incredibly insanitary.

It seemed to me like this may be something they'd want to know about and probably discontinue the practice of doing.

I was surprise to have a response from them the very next day. They wrote....

Dear Bob,

Thank you for contacting Panera Bread regarding the coffee containers. Because of the limited space at the coffee area, the containers may have to be placed on the floor while changing them out. It is not a health violation because the only part of the container touching the floor is the base. I have forwarded your comments to the bakery-café for review.

Thank you again, and we hope that you continue to enjoy Panera Bread.

Sincerely,

It was not the response I'd expected.

I've been tuned in recently to the need to give a complete and accurate response to requests that are made of me. Though I may have thought things through, I haven't done the best job in articulating the complete picture. I've become extremely sensitive to this deficiency in myself and am taking steps to overcome this shortfall in myself. You can be much more helpful when you go full circle and propose a resolution if it's needed.

I think this newly found sensitivity in my prompted my follow up to Panera's response

I replied.....

I'm quite surprised by your response and it's reflection on customers service and perception of the Panera restaurant on Main Street in Mishawaka Indiana.

Can you honestly tell that it doesn't give a less than sanitary appearance to the customer standing in line or seated in the restaurant when your workers come out and put the coffee pots on the floor. I wouldn't expect them to put my food tray on the floor before they served my bagel to me. The food isn't touching the floor so does that make that ok too. NOT!

Perhaps a cart could be used to bring the coffee pots to and from the designated coffee area or I understand the restaurant on Main is up for a remodel...maybe the coffee area should be redesigned.

I have to say that I didn't find your response to be very customer focused nor customer friendly. Your response was all about your worker. I believe the saying is the "customer is always right." I'm not saying I have all of the answers but I certainly wouldn't have responded the way that you did.

.....to be continued.

When the economy crisis hits home...

What a day....I am emotionally drained. The economic crisis took it's toll on 8 people I know today who were awesome collegues, amazing friends, and most of all family to me.

Heartache hung like a cloud. Hugs and farewells conveyed compassion. But abandoned cubicles and offices became the stark reminder of the reality of it all.

A quote I saw on Twitter this morning sums it up... "God is still good". It's in difficult times like these we want God to move at the pace we expect. We want to be rescued now.

Psalm 77:1 I yell out to my God, I yell with all my might, I yell at the top of my lungs. He listens.

Even through pain we have to remain optimistic

Psalm 71 4-7 ......You keep me going when times are tough— my bedrock, God, since my childhood.

God is moving. and He loves his children and will care for them.

Psalm 86 But you, O God, are both tender and kind, not easily angered, immense in love,and you never, never quit. So look me in the eye and show kindness,give your servant the strength to go on,save your dear, dear child!


Be strong, my colleges. Be confident, my friends. Know you are loved, my family.

Pet Peeves

Five of my top pet peeves

•not planning for what lies ahead

•perpetual late-ness

•disorder and chaos

•only being acknowledged when something is wanted from you

•unkept commitments