Hope's Travel Blog

we got lucky on our flight to dulles. we were bumped to first class. they were "full in the back" so they put us up front. it was fabulous to fly first class. the flight attendant brought me a glass of wine before we took off, we were served dinner, and got to leave the plane first. no waiting forever to get off the plane. it was so very nice. i would love to fly this way all the time.

our luck did not hold it seems. i got to the rental car counter and was told that my credit card was declined. i was afraid this was going to happen. two months ago i disputed a charge on my account. the disputed charge somehow escalated into a fraud case. about two week ago i got a letter from the credit card company telling me that the charge was reversed and that i should contact them. it turns out that they wanted to close my account and send me a new card. the disputed charge that was now considered fraud somewhere in their process prompted them to do so. this didn't make sense to me. it was also a problem for me and my travel plans since they couldn't get me a new card for 10 days. i talked to three people before they apologized for the error and told me that they wouldn't cancel cards or transfer accounts. fast forward to today at the rental counter and i'm standing there thinking that i know exactly what happened. i call the card company and talk to a person and find out that's exactly what they did. they canceled my card and transfered it to another, thus making the card in my hand useless. i'm not a complete idiot so i had another card, but now i'm pissed. will all my reservations be in jeopardy because they did this?

i had to call the hotel and make sure my reservation was still good. it was. i got to the hotel and got on the phone again with an account supervisor. i spent 30 minutes with her completely flabbergasted. it turns out that the note on not closing my account didn't stop them from doing so. she's tells me she's going to send me a new card in two days. first, it's friday, do they deliver on sunday? no. okay, so it's not two days, it three until monday. second, she wants to send it to my home. i told her numerous times that i was on vacation and not home. she said she could only send it to my home. huh? what's all that crap about getting your cards replaced when you are traveling? is that just a scam? i ask her about this, she just apologizes and says she can't do anything else. i complain and say i want to close my account, i want to know who her supervisor is, i want to know who i can write to and complain about the fact that this card is useless to me while traveling...then she asks if i'm staying at a hotel. i am. it turns out she can send me a new card to my hotel. but she couldn't tell me she could to that until her computer let her. wtf?

in the end, i had to thank her. she was polite, when i was angry, and was patiently working to fix the problem. she just couldn't tell me she was for some reason. how stupid is that?

connor and i are chillin' in the hotel watching cable tv and using free wireless. we bumped into rebecca - the bride to be - at the hotel and had a nice chat. so we are recovering from our amazing good luck and our crappy luck, all experienced in one day. can't wait for tomorrow!