Showing posts with label Lost Stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lost Stuff. Show all posts

Thursday, June 25, 2020

Lost The Checks, Part 3

In the previous post, I described the frustrations dealing with Walmart's Check Printing Service.  I messed up the first order because their website was confusing.  The checks arrived short 4 digits of my bank account number and therefore unusable.

So I called them and an agent helped me get it all entered correctly.  Walmart sent me an email several days later that the checks had been shipped.  Then they emailed me saying they were recalling the package due to "security reasons" that they would not explain.

But I kept getting tracking data say that the package was moving in my direction.  So I thought maybe the email was in error, that they had changed their minds, or that they couldn't get it back from the US Post Office.

A package did arrive.  It was the extra check register I had requested...  Whoop-de-doo!  I fired off an email to Walmart telling them how angry I was about the whole thing in the strongest language I thought might avoid a defamation suit and telling them I would mention my unhappiness at every oppurtunity.  I'm sure Walmart is quaking in their boots...

So I called my bank and threw myself on their tender mercy.  I knew getting checks through the bank would be expensive, but at least surely they knew who I was and would make sure the checks were printed correctly.  And it occurred to me that my blank checks might be out there" in some stranger's hands, so I assumed I needed to get my account number changed and that required a personal visit.  I made an appointment.

An hour beforehand, a bank representative called to ask exactly what I thought needed to be done.  I exlained, and she said she thought she could help me without a personal visit.

First, she said I didn't need to change the account.  That it would take some effort on my part because I had automatic deposits and payments.  She said she could just put a hold on the missing checks.  Since I didn't know the exact check numbers, she said she would just put a stop order several hundred numbers ahead.  I asked about the fee and she said she would waive it.  Wow!

So she asked about new checks numbered after the stop range.  I asked the cost.  She said $36 for a box of checks (100?).  I said "Wow, Walmart only charges $3.95".  She said she understood that, and was waiving the cost of the checks as well.  WOW!

I used to buy theme checks.  Pale ones so that I could see what I was writing.  Landscapes, hummingbirds, cats...  Some choices are positively psychedelic.  I don't understand how anyone can even write of those.   But checks are barely used these days.  And I have no personal need to impress my water/sewage company, the IRS, or magazine subscription companies.  I opted for a pale blue.  I use black pens.

I got a shipping confirmation from the bank's printer.  It said delivery by July 4th.  Pretty darn slow considering they are coming from only 200 miles away (New Jersey), but free is free.  But I received a delivery update changing that to June 29.  And since they are being delivered by the US Post Office, I bet they arrive sooner.

Funny afterthought...  The check printer is in "Mountain Lakes, NJ".  To my knowledge, NJ is almost as flat as a pool table.  I can't picture either a mountain or a lake in NJ, LOL!

Today is the 1 month anniversary of trying to get replacement checks.  It has been an adventure.

Some people have car problems that get fixed.  Some people have appliances that need to be replaced.  Some people have leaky raingutters that get fixed.  I never have normal problems.  On the other hand, my strange problems are never all that serious, just oddly frustrating.  I am satisfied to have only odd but non-serious problems.

So in that sense, they are almost funny to have and write about...





Sunday, June 21, 2020

Lost The Checks, Part 2

I mentioned 2 weeks ago that I couldn't find my shoebox of old statements, old check registers, and unused blank checks.  Well the situation has become both a comedy of errors and a source of anger and frustration!

First, I have become convinced the shoebox is no longer in the house.  On 2 different occasions, I have searched the house square foot by square foot for anything resembling a shoebox.  This morning, considering the possibility that I decided to dispose of the old statements, I looked for any spot tat could hold just a single pack of checks. 

Nothing...

Second, Several months ago, I did some rearranging  and cleaning.  Mostly, moved a bookcase into the bedroom and boxed up a 100 out of date science/nature/information books (what use is a 1960s astronomy book?) and recycled them.  I suspect that somehow, my check shoebox got included by accident.

My shoebox search started in late May, I wrote the last of the checks in my checkbook and went to get the next.  I know I had some because the last book of checks always has a "reorder now" note on the top.  I would have reordered checks.  The first time I couldn't find them, I decided to just order more and I went to Walmart Check-printing Services online.

I messed up my account number.  The form offerred 9 digit and mine is 13, so I assumed the last 4 weren't important or that somehow they knew what they were for my bank and would just show up on the checks.  I can be very stupid sometimes.  But when I received the checks and the 4 digits weren't there, I called my bank.  They said the last 4 digits were essential. 

So I called Walmart.  They said the form offerred 9, 11, 0r 13 digits.  So it was my fault.  I accepted that, and the Walmart agent took a new order for checks (and corrected where I had entered my address 2x on the previous order.  I paid a fee for rapid printing and delivery. 

Two days later, I received an email from Walmart saying the checks had been shipped.  Two days after that, I received an email "acknowledging" that the order had been cancelled.  That was confusing.  Before I called them the next day to see what I had done wrong THIS TIME, I received an email saying the order was cancelled due to "security concerns" and that they would not answer any questions because "it might reveal information about their security system".  And, they said, they were taking the shipment back.

I called anyway.  When I entered the order number in their initial automated system, they terminated the call.  I called again and chose to speak to an agent.  I told the agent that I didn't want to know anything about their security system, but if there was any information I could provide on the phone or by email I would be happy to do so.  The agent said he had no information on the cause of the "security concern" and was not permitted to forward my call to the security office.

I suspect it was because their security system detected 2 orders for the same series of check numbers.  The first one that I messed up and the second that the previous agent had helped me with.  That would have been easily explainable, but I was refused the chance to do so.

But there was the email saying the checks had been shipped.  How could they stop the delivery?  I had the tracking number and checked it.  It gets weird here.  The tracking data showed that DHL had gotten the package to Maryland and then missent it to Louisiana and was resending it to Maryland via the US Postal Service.  Well, who can take back a package from the USPS?  So I expected to receive it anyway.  It bounced around in Louisiana for 2 days, then showed up as arriving in Maryland again and scheduled for delivery June 19.  Hurray, at least I would see what was wrong with the checks (if anything).

It arrived.  Only it was just the "extra" check register I had requested.  Walmart actually did grab the package of checks back.  And then it occurred to me that there were blank checks "somewhere" out there (unless they are still lost somewhere in the house).

Third, so Saturday morning, I accepted the inevitable.  I needed to have the bank cancel my checking account number, establish a new account, and THIS TIME order the new checks through the bank so there could be no errors or "security concerns".  I have an appointment with them on Monday to do all that.

I vaguely suspect that someday I will find that missing shoebox of old statements, registers and blank checks in a weird place in the house (and suddenly recall why it is there).  I will be amazed.  And I will just burn them.  But for now, I can't imagine living without checks.

And BTW, HAPPY FATHERS DAY to all the dads out there.




Thursday, June 4, 2015

One Of Those Days

If you are of a "certain age", you begin to worry more when you forget things or lose track of things.  I know perfectly well that I have forgotten things or lost track of things all my life, but I WORRY about it more these days.  So the last 24 hours were annoying. 

First, I lost track of a kitchen timer over the weekend.  I use it as a sleep timer actually.  My hours are irregular, so its easier to just click up 9 hours of the timer than fuss with a real alarm clock.  So I hadn't been able to find it for days.  I looked around the bed.  I looked in all my pockets.  Because I have a waterbed, I had to dig down between the waterbed mattress and the frame (find cat toys that way all the time.  I even looked in the kitchen in case I had actually used it as a kitchen timer for real

Last night, I finally remembered where it was.  I hadn't found it because I hadn't gone outside, because it had been raining for 4 days.  I had used it to time the flowerbed watering before the rains came.  So it sat out there.  In the rain.  For 4 days!  I've disassembled it and set it to dry for a week, and I'll hope it works again someday. 

Second, I bought one of those small coiled hoses to water the container plants up on the deck.  The attachment points didn't match the ballisters so I decided to mount it to a piece of plywood and attach THAT to the ballisters.  But the only right-size piece I had was unfinished so I wanted to stain and varnish it today.

Now, rather than use a brush that needs to be cleaned afterwards, I like to use a soft cloth (held in a disposable latex glove) for work like that.  I have a box full of nice soft worn-out cotton undershirts that as just perfect for that (not a speck of lint left).  I just cut off a piece from one and use it once.  So I did that and went to get my can of varnish.  I haven't seen the piece of t-shirt since!

I spent 15 minutes this afternoon searching for that damn little piece of cloth this afternoon.  Not because the bit of cloth was valuable, but I really needed to know where I had lost it.  I know absolutely that I did cut it off the old t-shirt.  And I couldn't find it.  When I got to the point where I was checking completely illogical places like the M/W oven, I stopped.  I decided that if it was in the refrigerator or someplace like that, I really didn't WANT to know. 

So when I drove off on an errand at dusk, I completely LOST it!  Backing out of the garage, I slowed down to put on my regular prescription driving glasses.  I don't need them legally but it's close enough that I wear them voluntarily.  It was a deal between the optometrist and I.  He signed off on my eye test and I would wear the glasses voluntarily.

I also I also have prescription sunglasses for the same purpose.  As I stopped to put on the regular glasses, I heard (but did not see) the sunglasses slide of the dashboard.  So, I stopped at the end of the driveway to retrieve them. 

Couldn't find them.  OK, they got under the front seat.  I felt around under there.  No sunglasses.  I checked on the top of the front seat, the sides, and underneath again.  No sunglasses.  So I turned of the car to search more thoroughly.  I checked above, below, around the front passenger seat.  No luck.  The little compartment between the seats was open, so I checked around in there.  No luck. 

I felt around the back floor.  Now admittedly, I have a cluttered car.  I'm the only one ever in it these days, so I stack the back floor with the containers of useful car stuff (its an SUV so there is no trunk for stuff like that).  And I've had battery problems so I even have an extra battery in the back.

I removed all the containers from the back floor and felt around VERY carefully.  No luck.  OK, weird stuff happens on the bounce, so I felt carefully up into the seat springs.  No luck.  At that point, I was out of places to look and some slight concern that I had imagined hearing the sunglasses slide of the dashboard.  And lest you suspect the obvious, I had carefully checked the dashboard, the glasses-holder above the rear-view mirror and all my pockets; everywhere glasses OUGHT to be.

I was reluctant to drive, because I just KNEW they would slide underfoot and get crushed.  But I had to give up.  I drove off to do my errand.  Upon returning home, I of course had to open the drivers door in order to get out.  The drivers door has an open pocket for maps and "stuff".  I looked at the door pocket with an "oh damn" feeling,  closed my eyes, and reached in.

There they were.  Sunglasses found...

Why didn't I look there while searching the car so carefully, you ask?   Because the open car door was BEHIND me!  ARGGH!!!  You don't look where you can't see...

Now the only current mystery left is where that damned little piece of cloth is...  I can't WAIT to come across THAT someday. 

Early Flowers

It's nice when some flowers nbloom or emerge at the same time... The early daffodils are blooming. Therre are still some crocuses. And t...