Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Pet Peeve Rant

Steve and I have our names on every account we have - and always have had both of our names on every account - and contrary to popular belief, I don't ASK him to add my name.  He does it.

Our first payment on our house was last month.  I am trying to set up automatic payments online.  I paid the bill last month and in doing so I had to set up an account.   It asked the last for digits of my Social Security number to which I replied ####.  The system said "I am sorry, I don't recognize ####, please enter the last four digits of your SSN again.  I did.  It didn't recognize it.  I did it three more times.  It didn't recognize it.  So the next time I added his SSN ****.  OF COURSE it accepted it.  I made an account like I always do using my common user name and an exclusive password.

Fast forward to today.  I cannot sign on with the user name and password I used.  I *know* it is right.  I am the one that set it and I am the one that noted it immediately as I always do and double checked it.  It worked then - why won't it work now?

So I call the financial institution that we use.   

If you are a wife, you *know* the rest of this story... right?  

They cannot talk to you because you are not him.  

"Of course it is in both of your names mam, but because you used HIS information to set up the account HE has to call and get it all changed."  

"Am I on the account?"  

"Yes mam, you are definitely on the account!"  

"Do you see my personal information there?  The last 4 digits of my account number ####?"  

"No mam, that is not the SSN used on this account."  

"Am I on this account?  Are you sure?  Because we both cannot have the same SSN... mine is ####!"  

"Yes mam, you are on this account!"  

"How can I set up an account for me if you are not recognizing I am on this account?"  

"Oh!  You are definitely on this account mam!  You must go in under your SSN and start your own username and password."  

"And how can I do that to set up an account for me if you don't recognize MY SSN?" 

"Mam, your husband will have to call and make arrangements to change his password."  

"But, he didn't set the password, *I* did."  

"But you did it under his name and SSN!"  

"But it wouldn't take MY information!  How else am I supposed to do it?"  

"Mam, I am sorry about the inconvenience, I can set up an account for you to get into that account.  What user name would you like to use?"  

"The same one that is on HIS account that *I* set up!"  

"I am sorry mam, that is HIS username.  You will have to chose a different one or have your husband call to reset his password on the account you want to pay.  If he chooses, he can give you that information so that you can pay the bill or we can continue to set up your account so you can pay on the account." 

Pay the bill dear. 

A wife is useless in business transactions.  

This crap makes me feel so worthless and I am not!   I PAY THE FREAKING BILLS!!

How am I supposed to personally sign up under MY name if it won't pull up MY SSN???  And why can she do it online, not having a clue if I am who I say I am or not without MY information???

*rant over*  Time for him to start paying the bills.  


1 comment:

Alex said...

I've had that happen so many times it's not funny. Not the least of which was when I had the tv/internet bill in my name, then Greg called them and they offered to add his name after he supplied my information. When it was time to turn off the tv/internet when I was moving and he'd already moved out of the house? Yeah, they said I couldn't do that -- that my husband had to call. They wouldn't budge, even when I reminded them that the account was originally setup by me. Only after I was so fed up and told them that I wasn't about to call up my estranged husband and ask him to please please pretty please call them back and disconnect the tv/internet did they finally think that perhaps they could assist me.

It doesn't matter if you're the one who pays the bills or not, it matters if you're the husband or the wife. Sad, but true.