Interesting - Chasing Our Tale

We paid a credit card bill one day late at the end of September. A day late. They had our entire balance paid off a day late. Hold that thought.

When the next statement came, due the end of October, there was a finance charge and a late fee. A call to the credit card company yielded something that translated into “Tough luck, buddy. Late is late is late.” Okay, we can live with that. We paid that bill with its finance and late charges a few days early. At that time, we also asked for our due date to be changed to the middle of the month instead of the end of the month. We were told that was no problem. We would then get a bill that was due in the middle of November (basically 15 days after this current bill was due). All okay with us.

The next bill arrived with a due date in the middle of November as promised. It also had a finance charge listed even though the entire amount, including finance and late charges, had already been paid at the end of October before it was due. We called to get a clarification. We were told something like: “Well, there is always a second finance charge; it’s divided into two parts.” Didn’t make sense to us, but we could get no further explanation nor relief. And that bill, including the finance charge was paid a few days before it was due.

This week we received the statement due in the middle of December which accurately reflected the payments we had made the end of October and the middle of November. But there was a finance charge added to the bill again, the third bill in a row with a finance charge. Mind you, this was all caused by paying a day late back at the end of September and all subsequent bills had been paid in full before due and had included the finance charges.

We called. We ended up getting a Ms. Dias in India. Nice person. When asked about all the finance charges, she kept telling us the mantra about daily interest accumulating. After about the third time she said this, I told her that I have a PhD in accounting and understood the concept of daily interest. What I didn’t understand was how they could keep charging us interest when, except for one bill back at the end of September, we had been paying our balance in full including finance charges from that fateful one-day-late payment back then.

Somehow, it seems, when you change the due date on your account and there is an outstanding balance, this sets the stupid fee machine into motion and you keep getting charged. Discussion about what occurred and why it defies logic was fruitless. Ms. Dias had her script. And as nice as she was, she had no leeway to let reason and common sense enter the equation.

I explained two things at this point. First, we have two credit cards with their company and have significant charges each month which we pay off on time (with that one exception). Therefore, their bank makes nice fees from our accounts, which we can close and take elsewhere. Second, no one ever told us that we would incur yet more finance charges with the simple act of changing the due date on our statement. What’s even more odd about this is we ended up shortening the time when the next bill would be due by half a month, not extending it. Thus, they got their money earlier that month.

“We certainly don’t want to lose your business. Please wait a moment while I talk to a manager.” After a couple of minutes, she came back on the line and told us the finance charge on the current bill would be waived “since you were never told that changing your due date would result in an additional finance charge.” Glad they could find an pretext to do what good customer service would do without an excuse.

We don’t have any credit card debt. We pay our bills on time (well, 99.9% of the time). We got hit with a total of about $80 in late and finance charges over these three bills. I can only imagine the grief of those folks who keep an outstanding credit card balance and are paying on top of paying on top of paying.

In case you’re wondering who the credit card company is, it’s J. P. Morgan-Chase through a BP VISA card. Hope you have better luck with this idiocy than we did overall.

Hope

Tonight I went to a reception honoring people who are instrumental in Gateway to Hope, an organization that “arranges comprehensive medical and surgical care for uninsured and underinsured individuals in Missouri with a confirmed diagnosis of breast cancer. Individuals genetically at high risk for breast cancer will be considered for genetic testing and treatment through Gateway to Hope. Services and equipment are donated, as is care by experienced breast care specialists, to treat patients in critical need of assistance.”

I had been asked by an old friend, Diane Gallant, to write a poem to be put into a wonderful book they were putting together to tell the stories of many of their patients and how Gateway to Hope helped them. Here is my poem:

Hope

There’s a lump in my breast.
If it’s cancer,
there’s nothing I can do—
can’t afford treatment,
don’t really know where to go.
Miserable, alone,
I ignore it as long as I can.
At the bottom of a well
in the dark, cold, hemmed in,
I can’t look up
to see if there’s a glimmer of light.

I hear your voice.
You tell me there’s a way out:
counseling, treatment, top doctors,
no cost. Yanked
into the sunlight, I can see to the horizon
and beyond. I wrap my arms around you,
gulp fresh air, begin
to feel whole again.

Santana's La Silueta

I have been thinking about getting another horse for some time. Unfortunately, one of my horses is no longer reliably sound since she has some navicular disease, which causes her to be lame for a while if ridden for more than a few minutes. She’s lovely and gentle and of no real use to me at this point. I am looking for a nice home for her.

About a week ago or so, I had gotten an email from an old friend, Paula Wolff, in the Kansas City area. Paula is disbanding her wonderful Paso Fino operation and herd. This is what I did over ten years ago. I certainly understand wanting to keep a few horses but not wanting to be in the horse business, especially in these times.

It happened that the weekend she was going to have an open house to show her horses was the same weekend we were going to Columbia for a gymnastics meet where our granddaughter was competing. So, I dragged a horse trailer along and, after the meet, headed for KC. Meeting me there was a friend, the daughter of a friend/colleague, who rides with me and sometimes takes care of my horses. Luckily, her dad was going to be in KC that weekend to practice with his band. So, she went with him and we arranged a place where he’d drop her off and she was then to return to St. Louis with me.

I knew which two horses I was interested in looking at and riding and had told Paula of my choices after we had spoken about her horses over the phone. When we got to her ranch, her trainer took out the first of the horses, Santana’s La Silueta, a dark bay, six-year-old Paso Fino mare. Neither of the horses we wanted to see had been ridden in about two years. It’s always good to see how much training sticks with a horse like that.

First one of the trainers, Alex, rode Silueta. I stood in the indoor arena and watched in the same way I had when I was a Paso Fino judge looking at how the horse tracked front and rear, hock action, whether there was any hitching when in gait, collection, tail movement, etc. She was wonderful. Next I rode to see how she responded and felt while aboard. Finally, my friend rode. This was important since, while she is a very good rider, she is a real novice on a Paso Fino and horse with this much spunk and action. I wanted to see how the horse reacted and she did well. And the rider did well, too!

Next, we took out the second mare, Santana’s Mignon, a gray, seven-year-old Paso Fino mare. We went through the same process we had with Silueta. Mignon is a nice mare, strong gaited, but it was clear to my friend and me that Silueta was the horse to get. Paula and I made a deal, signed the papers, etc.

We loaded the mare into our trailer. Oh, like everyone who sees us, they were amazed I was pulling a horse trailer with a Porsche. Four-and-a-half hours later we were back in Chesterfield and Silueta’s new home.

There was one oddity about the trip. On the way out to KC with an empty horse trailer, I averaged exactly 10.0 mpg. On the way back, with a 900 pound horse in the trailer, I averaged 10.3 mpg. Anyone have an explanation for this?

Food Blog

A good friend of ours suggests that I write a food blog. I do post pictures of food I prepare at home and what we have at restaurants. So, my question today is what should be included in a food blog? If you were to subscribe, what would you want to see besides links to my pictures? And, of course, what would be the name of such a blog?