It Was Your Bloody Fault!
14 July 2010
Success! I can now buy things online again! My replacement debit card arrived in the post today and it was accepted by Amazon. It turns out that the problem of not being able to use my Visa Electron card online was isolated to my old card. I don't think I'll ever be able to find out why it suddenly decided it wouldn't work, but I don't really care anymore. At least I now know that Halifax were the ones at fault after all. My new card is practically the same as the old one and yet it was accepted with no problems at all. So screw you, Halifax, you lying bunch of halfwits, it was clearly your fault. Try listening to your customers next time instead of trying to fob me off with a shitty excuse!
Posted byHocchan at 10:17 pm 2 comments
It's Not Our Fault, Honest!
13 July 2010
I called the bank again today about my Visa Electron card problem but the matter still hasn't been resolved. This time, because I'd ordered a new card yesterday, they were trying to blame it on that. I had to repeatedly tell them that this problem existed way before I ordered a new card. However, they also told me that because I'd ordered a new card, the expiry date on my current card had changed. They told me to try it again with the new expiry date and see if that worked. It didn't, no surprise there. I asked them once again to make sure there wasn't a problem with my account or a block on the card. They said there was absolutely nothing wrong. I would have argued further but it seems like they've already sent my new card out by First Class post so it should arrive in the next couple of days. I decided to wait for that to arrive and see if the problem continues.
Meanwhile, just in case I am stuck with a Visa Electron card that won't work online, I've decided to apply for a Lloyds TSB account. Unlike Halifax's basic account, they offer a proper Visa Debit card rather than a Visa Electron card. The only drawback is that I'm only allowed to withdraw cash from a Lloyds TSB cash machine, but on the plus side I am allowed to use the branch counters to pay in money (unlike Halifax if it's less than £300). If my application is successful, I may turn the Lloyds TSB account into my main one, and just have the Halifax account as a back up. I haven't heard from them yet so I'll have to wait and see.
Posted byHocchan at 6:49 pm 0 comments
Work, Damn You!
Just a quick update about my Visa Electron card. It's still not working for online purchases (which is a major pain in the arse as I do a lot of online shopping) but it works when I use chip-and-pin in shops. I went into the bank today but they tried to fob me off with the usual "Oh, it's because Electron isn't that widely accepted, blah blah blah..." bullshit. If it's not that widely accepted then why the hell have I had no problems buying stuff online for the past two years?! It's only been in the last week or so that the card has been getting declined. I need to be able to use the card to buy things from the internet. It's just crippling not being able to use my card. It's right when I need to buy some stuff too. It's so irritating, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?
Ahem! Anyway... I asked them to provide me with a new card. Unfortunately, it's got to be another Electron card but hopefully it'll sort out whatever dickery has befallen my current one. If not, then I don't know what I'm going to do. The internet is just a much better place for buying things that aren't groceries or everyday stuff. I don't know how I'll manage if I'm not able to buy anything online. I hope it won't come to that.
PS. Royal Bank of Scotland is to blame for all this bullshit!
Posted byHocchan at 1:45 am 0 comments
It's Not Hip-Hop, It's Electro(n), Prick!
11 July 2010
I feel much better after writing that last update. It seems like writing all my worries and anxieties down has helped me to deal with them. Previously I had been bottling it all up inside and that had made me feel awful. It really does seem as though this blog's only purpose at the moment is a place for me to vent my frustrations. With that in mind, I'm going to write about another thing that has been annoying the hell out of me lately - my Visa Electron card.
A few days ago I tried to buy a Dell Studio laptop for someone using my Electron card. The site said that they didn't take Electron but I thought I'd give it a go anyway (from past experience it usually works). But for some reason it got declined. I spoke to a representative from Dell who tried to use the card again but got declined once more. It was definitely not because I didn't have enough money in the account, I had the online banking webpage right in front on me. Eventually I managed to pay Dell by arranging a bank transfer instead. I thought nothing more of the incident until a few days later my card was declined by another online retailer. I tried several times but each time the card kept getting declined. Once again it wasn't because I had insufficient funds. And the retailer did accept Electron cards. I wanted to make sure that it wasn't the retailer's fault so I tried to order something from Amazon. I'd used the same card to pay for many items from Amazon in the past. There was even a purchase a couple of weeks ago that went through fine. But this time the card was declined.
I didn't know what the hell was going on so I phoned the bank asking them if there was some sort of problem with my card. I was informed that there was nothing wrong with the card and that it must be the online retailer's system. But surely it can't be getting declined at several different retailers for the same system error? I decided to test my card in the shops at a chip and pin device and, lo and behold, it worked no problem at all. It seems as though there's a problem with the internet purchases only. I'm going to have to go down to the bank on Monday and get it sorted out, once and for all. I don't see what the problem could be. If there's nothing wrong with the card, why is it getting repeatedly declined at an online retailer that has accepted it many times before? It just doesn't make any sense!
Posted byHocchan at 4:28 pm 0 comments
Ichiban no Takaramono
It's been awhile since I've written anything on this blog. I suppose if you look at it positively, it was due to the fact that I was enjoying university life so much that I didn't have time to update. However, I think it was more likely to be down to my laziness... but that's not to say that I wasn't enjoying myself these last six months. In fact there have been a lot of developments since my last update. I've managed to attain three out of the five items that were in my wish list (I'd better update that) for a start. I've also managed to complete my second year at university with some fairly decent grades (although I would have liked them to have been slightly better). I'm even in a relationship with an amazingly beautiful and wonderful person. Life should be absolutely fantastic... shouldn't it? Unfortunately, things aren't quite as satisfactory as they should be.
Over the last couple of months there have been some rather unwanted developments that have put a dampener on things. It was only one at first but then another thing came up, then another, and it all kind of snowballed into one big lump of arse-turd from there. I don't even know where to start. I guess from the chronological beginning is the best place. The first unhappy event was probably one of the things that had the biggest effect on the enjoyment of my life. This was finding out that I had been selected to go to Yamaguchi University for my year abroad in Japan. At the time, this was the worst possible thing that could have happened. That university was my last choice out of six. If there had only been five choices I would not have picked Yamaguchi University. I would have been happy with ANY of the other five universities on my list. It seems that fate has a particular fondness for fucking up my life just when it starts to get good.
It took a little while but I finally managed to look on the positive side of things and be able to look forward to going on my year abroad again. However, just as things were about to get back on track I ran into another problem. It seemed that my panic attack problem (at least I think that's what it is) came back with a vengeance. I've always had some sort of health problem since I was about twelve years old whereby I would feel sick in stressful situations. It wasn't a normal type of nausea though, it only affected my the back of my throat. It would typically appear if I began to panic, though it could also happen suddenly and without warning. The fear of it happening (and the possible embarrassment of people seeing me feeling sick or panicking) would also trigger it and make it worse. It became a vicious circle. It completely ruined my life. I became afraid of going anywhere or being in 'inescapable' situations. But every few years it would disappear and I could begin to rebuild my life. From about the age of about nineteen it had almost completely disappeared. I even managed to make it into university and enjoy a couple of worry-free years there.
However, in the last few months I've found that it's come back. And it's already interfering with my life in a big way. I've reverted back to the person I was in my early teens, where I would be anxious about travelling long distances for fear of my panic attack coming back. This has begun to put pressure on my relationship as it means I'm reluctant to travel anywhere to meet my girlfriend. It's not like I don't want to, but the fear and anxiety stops me. I don't know how I'm going to survive the flight to Japan (if I get to go, but more on that bit later) or even the journey down to London to get my visa. I'm praying that it'll go away soon and I can get back to normal. But if it doesn't I'm going to have to try and find a way to cope with this old menace.
The next problem that came up kind of triggered a load of smaller worries that have stressed me out and generally made me miserable. It goes back to Yamaguchi University and their disorganisation and lack of communication. I completed my application forms and sent all the documents they required a couple of weeks before the deadline. I didn't expect there to be any problems. However, after a few weeks of waiting I received word that they required an additional document to prove my ability to fund myself when I'm in Japan. I had already included a letter from the Student Loans Company that stated how much I would receive next year. But for whatever reason they kept telling me that I needed to send them a bank statement, completely ignoring everything I told them. It wasn't until only a couple of weeks ago that they realised what the Student Loans Company letter was for. They've only just begun to apply for my Certificate of Eligibility (the document from the Japanese government that allows me to apply for a visa). But from the way they've worded their correspondence, there's a chance that it may be rejected.
To makes matters worse, I won't be getting a scholarship at Yamaguchi University when almost all of my classmates will be. The delay in processing my application has also meant that I don't even know if I'm able to go to Japan yet, so I can't book flights or get my visa. I can't sort anything out until I know if I'm going, and when I have to be there by. It's been really stressful and irritating. Meanwhile, everyone around me has pretty much finished their preparations. This includes my girlfriend, who is going to a university about 400 miles away (which doesn't help). I'm very ashamed to say this, but I'm beginning to feel jealous of her. I really wish that I wasn't in this situation. I wish that I was going to a different university, one that would have told me everything by now. I could have booked my flights, got my visa, and sorted everything out by now. If only it wasn't Yamaguchi University that I was selected for!
Long story short, I've basically been completely and utterly screwed over just because I've been chosen to go to Yamaguchi University. I've been caused undue stress and worry just because they couldn't be bothered to keep me informed (despite my constant e-mails). I hate them. I've built up a great resentment to Yamaguchi University for ruining my life. Ruining my dream of going abroad to Japan. I hate them.
Posted byHocchan at 1:05 am 0 comments
