7 Responses to “Good morning”

1. Camille Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 10:44 am

   Signed, sealed, and delivered!
   And you?

2. citizen Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 2:52 pm

   I got a funny phish last week from the Bank of America inviting me to log on to see my second half property tax disbursement.
   Since I took over escrow last year,
   I was curious to see if they had actually paid my tax bill for me.
   Everything looked very bona fide until the wrong security image came up on the sign-in page - they were Tonya Harding’s ice skates!
   The format was identical to the account notices that BoA regularly mails out
   and I could have easily given out more than just a user name.

3. john Says:
   November 2nd, 2009 at 3:14 pm

   Citizen–that’s a pretty scary story. I guess those security images are a good idea.

4. citizen Says:
   November 3rd, 2009 at 7:16 am

   A nice piece on mortgage securities, Mr. Host.

   But it seems that the BoA wasn’t kidding,
   they did try to pay my property tax bill.
   Said that my taxes are due on October 1,
   and so found me delinquent and subject to some nasty sanctions.
   Unexplained is why they waited until Nov. 2 to send in their money.
   With some telephone time and my receipt,
   I may be able to undo things,
   but ain’t it weird that I have to at all?
   This is a Bank, you’d think they’d be professionals.

5. Camille Says:
   November 4th, 2009 at 2:33 am

   It’s not just weird, it’s aggravating.
   Sometimes it’s a struggle just to have enough to Cover the bills.
   The rest of the time it’s an upward battle trying to protect your accounts from being mismanaged by some brain dead bean counter.
   I’ve already expressed my displeasure with call centers before on this blog, more than once.
   ciz, I feel your pain.

6. citizen Says:
   November 4th, 2009 at 6:45 am

   BoA uses an automated voice at their call center that only recognizes a few phrases - a number that could be easily accommodated by the keypad.
   So why use such a dense and cumbersome system?
   To better prepare you for the cumber to come.

7. Camille Says:
   November 4th, 2009 at 10:04 am

   I had to call the IRS yesterday and the ‘Voice’ said there was a 15 minute wait time.

   Another thing I dislike about call centers are ‘orbit ‘menus’, the purpose for which is to keep you occupied while waiting to speak with someone.
   If you’re ADHD, enough time spent in orbit can push you over the edge.
   The IRS call center has 9 options on their orbit menu.
   I wasn’t paying much attention to what those options were because I was expecting to hear a hazy code word for the option to speak with a representative, and, assuming that’s a fairly common reason for calling the IRS, I expected it to be presented by the 2nd or 3rd option (option 1 being Spanish or English?).
   At about option 5, I realized I must have been distracted and missed it, or the option for human contact fell under a different, blurrier category.
   By option 7 I had zoned out again and didn’t refocus until the tail end of option 8.
   Fortunately option 9 was the option to listen, again, to options 1 thru 8.
   At some call centers you can bypass the options menu by pressing zero.
   But you have to be careful with that because at other call centers the ‘Voice’ may tell you that, “The number you have selected is not an option. Please hang up and dial again.”
   grrrr!