The Not Happy Thread

I'd spent weeks looking forward to a specific theme for my scrapbooking group, only for corona to hit hard just before we reached it. The rest of our group meets were cancelled entirely. I was gutted.

 

This is a little complicated, but basically, my ex and I have an agreement signed by a judge that, among other things, says that I am to pay child support directly to her instead of through the Attorney General. We did this very much on purpose, because the AG takes a cut, and we wanted every penny I gave to go directly to stuff for the kid.

The Attorney General doesn't like being cut out of the deal though. They have a copy of that judge's order and are aware that if I were to give them a check, I would be in violation a legally binding order from a judge! Regardless, due to their limited control over their own computer system, they are supposedly incapable of taking me off the arrears list. The computer thinks I owe thousands of dollars I don't owe, adding monthly payments and late fees and penalties every single month for over five years now.

Today I received a letter from the Treasury Department explaining that every penny of my $1200 stimulus check went to the Attorney General to pay for back child support! Mother fucker! I was seriously counting on that. Mostly to take care of my kid!

 

Isn't this basically fraud?

 

They are in violation of the same order then. Take it to the issuing judge or court.

 

I wish I had money left over with the lawyer. I'm going to have to figure out how to do that.

 

Really fucking pissed. In the American meaning, not the British, though I might have to get that way now. I bought a $30 Amazon gift card to buy some books I wanted and I'm not able to do so because I don't have a valid credit or debit card listed on my Amazon account. Well shit, that''s why I bought the damn gift cards!! I did a chat with them and apparently once you've 'redeemed' the cards you can't get your money back, it sits there in your account until you list an active credit or debit card. So now I'm out $30 and can't use it until I can afford to get a credit card account. They said you need it for 'collateral' to back the order. What the hell!! I BOUGHT the gift cards, I spent real money for them! Why do I need collateral?

Now officially $30 poorer than dirt.


I asked what Redeemed means, and they said it means Claimed. I asked what claimed means and they gave me some legalese gibberish. I wasn't able to spend the money so I should be able to get it back. Fucking runaround.

 

That is weird, cause I always use gift cards on there with no problem
and without having a credit card. So yeah it is kinda shit.

 

You know, I did it a few months ago, and I think my credit card was already toast by then. And the ordering process was different this time, the pages didn't look the same. Maybe there's a different way to go in rather than clicking the Proceed to Checkout button. It seems like there is but I don't remember how I did it before.

Or maybe they've changed their policy since then.

 

Oh, I know what it was, Order with 1-Click. But I guess that doesn't show up if you don't have a credit card on file.

Shit. I thought maybe I could sell the gift cards at a discount, but they're worthless plastic now, the money is in my account and unreachable.

 

And here comes the anxiety attack! Whoooooo! Been a bit, boys and girls and all those in between! Buckle up for safety, it's a doozy and a whopper.

 

Call me Count Noah Count. That's pronounced No Account. I got debt collectors is what I got.

 

I think as a former food person, I appreciated more when my higher ups were honest with me and told me things even though they might not have been what I wanted to hear. They might be bummed, but in the end, honesty goes further than anything else. In my small world, anyway.

--

I have remedied with some Wild Turkey and now I'm very much not anxious but something else.

 

Could be worse.

 

At first I thought this was a glitch from some sort of auto racing game.

Then I saw the shopping cart.

 

Are you open for curbside pickup? That's what most restaurants are doing here.

 

Comments like this are one reason why I don't read the news:

"I think people have better things to deal with than the environment."

I feel like I've regressed to being a teenager again in terms of my emotional headspace. How I wish I could hibernate.

 

I use amazon cards, and have never given them an actual credit card number. It’s never been a problem for me. I redeem the card, the money goes on my account. When I hit the buy with one click button they ask if I want to use money from my account, or give a credit card. Then confirm. And it’s done. I have a serious phobia of using my credit cards online, and Amazon seems like a huge trophy for some hacker looking for card numbers to exploit.

 

Do you have a checking account listed or something? They specifically told me that they require customers to have something of that nature listed even to use gift cards. Maybe it's a new policy?

 

I wonder if it's because everything in my cart is used books from amazon affiliates? I just tried something—when I had a new, full-price book selected there was a button for Buy It Now, but when I changed it to a used book through an affiliate that button disappeared, there was only Add To Cart.

 

It shouldn't matter, as long as the items are eligible
to be purchased with a gift card, that is the only thing
that would make a difference if any aren't.

Also it might depend on how recent a customer you are,
but IDK, since I have been one for over 10 years.

 

I've been a customer for about 20 years. Some loyalty they got, huh?