Okay, I’m with a bank in the UK called ‘Halifax’. They brand themselves as great for spending abroad. Since I spend part of the year in the UK and part in the US, it sounded like a good card for me.
Then they blocked my card for ‘suspicious activity’ aka. SPENDING ABROAD. WHERE I LIVE. MOST OF THE YEAR. WHICH THEY KNOW, BECAUSE I’VE BEEN WITH THEM SINCE 2017.
Anyway, they tried to contact me via my UK numbers, which are obviously useless to me right now. I tried to update my contact info with my American cell number, but they said an American number was ‘invalid’.
I tried to call them, but my phone doesn’t have an international calling plan and I’ll be damned if I do that for just one phone call.
So then I messaged them on facebook (because they don’t have a ‘chat now’ feature on their website) and their response is “use your landline and reverse the charges”. IT’S 2018, FUCKWADS. YOU THINK I HAVE A LANDLINE? YOU THINK I KNOW ANYONE WHO HAS A LANDLINE? WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK?
So then I’m hoping I can video call with them or something and I ask if they have any other options because I’m using up my scholarship money trying to live without my credit card.
Their response was: “call us when possible”
WITH WHAT FUCKING PHONE?????????
So then my next response, because I’m getting snarky, is: “You expect me to be without a credit card until December?????”
And they told me to go find a payphone. At which point I said “Thanks! I’ll go look for a payphone back in the 1970s!”
Like, I realise I’m being awful. I realise they need to speak to me. But also, how can you be designed for international use but then not have an easy way for people outside of the UK to contact you?
It’s financially more efficient to put my American money on my American card (aka. my scholarship money) and my British money on my British card, but at this point in time I’m wishing I could burn this bank to the ground.
Like, to reiterate, YOU WON’T EVEN LET ME PUT IN AN AMERICAN PHONE NUMBER EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE DESIGNED FOR YOUR CUSTOMERS TO USE INTERNATIONALLY? DO YOU THINK THEY’LL STILL HAVE BRITISH PHONE NUMBERS WHILE TRAVELLING ABROAD?
‘Cause I get the whole ‘needing to speak to you in person’ thing. I do. It’s just, I have tried. Like, really tried. And now I’m just full of frustration and anger.
