Wow, chas. That's some parade of bad days.
chas wrote:
So, does everyone out there know that you can change your billing method for your utility bills online, but really you can't -- you have to call to make it happen?
Might depend on the company. I don't do auto-debits either, so I don't have any experience with the process at all. I just pay over the phone, using their robotic prompts and my debit card. When I don't use a card, then it's usually cash. I hardly even write checks any more, except mainly for rent.
I've experienced fraudulent activity on my account a couple of times, and it's really unpleasant just on general principle, never mind the rest, so you have my sincere sympathies. The first time for me involved a little work on my part, having to report the fraud to particular parties, and it included some time-sensitive paperwork as well as getting a temporary card until I got the new, official one. But while it was all kind of a pain in the ass, I couldn't say I felt that anybody was brushing me off; it was just the necessary process. The second simply involved closing my card for a new one (using a temporary one again in the meantime) and closing my old bank account for a new one as well. I don't recall now what the specifics were that made the two cases different, and the further details are a bit hazy, but in both cases the general process was to first freeze my old account, which allowed for the bit of lag time it took to finalize any recent card or check purchases; it didn't stop payment of transactions already made but still pending. That done, they closed it. Meanwhile, I concurrently had the new account working for me. But there was never any question that it would all be taken care of as smoothly as possible, and with no liability to me. I have to say that my experience seems to have been better than yours, chas. Sorry to hear it.
They seem to be pretty up on these things. Once I made an overseas purchase of over $200, and right away I was asked if that was me. I'm sure it'll happen again.