Oops

So I finally opened this mailing we got on Friday. Out fell two credit cards. One for me, one for Mark. Real ones, not those heavy paper things they send you with an offer to transfer your balance to get their low, low rates. And these cards were from a company I had seen mail offers from, but we'd never filled one out. And the thing was sent to our old address. I immediately thought scam or identity theft. I tried calling the company's customer service. It didn't like my "account number" until I plugged it in twice. And then it politely informed me that their normal business hours did not involve any time on Sunday. The connection went dead. It sounded more and more like a fake card or problem card. So I cut the damn things up, feeling vaguely triumphant at having thwarted someone from stealing my name and credit.

Still troubled by the whole mess, I looked at one of the five pamphlets included in the mailing (it was labeled "Mark your calendar" with the date August 25, 2003 on it - I saw that and assumed it was going to talk about billing cycles). No, on the inside of the pamphlet is an indication that the two cards I just cut up were replacements for our cards with another company. Say what? When the hell did our original company decide to ship us off to another one? I called the original company. The customer service chick politely informed me that our account was sold to another company and that they sent a mailing to notify us of this on June 26. Right when we were traveling and moving. And that's it. There was no indication on any of our bills. There wasn't even a prominent notification on the paperwork with the new cards (not counting the pamphlet with the ambiguous cover). I was just a tad irate - in a pleasant voice, though, out of respect for the rep's own chipper tone. She wasn't fooled. When I asked why our account was sold, she said, "I don't know. I'm not from Mergers and Acquisitions." Bitch. With more sickly sweet tones covering my extreme anger (and growing sense of foolishness), I asked when our current cards with their company would expire. Tomorrow. Which, wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't cut up the brand spanking new ones with a brand spanking new company that were set to be activated tomorrow.L

While I'm fit to spit at anyone from Fleet (and the new company too, for good measure), I'm kicking myself all over the apartment for cutting the damn things up. Actually, I should stop. This whole fiasco has convinced me that perhaps we should take our credit elsewhere. I don't like the new company, I've never liked anything they've offered, and Fleet just bought themselves a trip straight to my shredder if I ever see anything from them again.