[Idyllchat] Dishonest shop owner

[Jerry Clancy]

I want to reinforce this comment. When we were in Isle de la Sorgue 
last year an ATM "ate" my wife's card while trying to withdraw some 
cash. Turns out the thieves has rigged the machine to do this and 
later captured the cash and card. We immediately called BofA and they 
cancelled the cards for that account, limiting the loss to what 
turned out to be about $1300, as I recall. As this was about Day 3 of 
the trip, had we not had other cards we'd have been in deep doo-doo.

BofA, BTW, refunded it all. We were very happy with their handling of 
it, but you don't get your new cards until you get home, little use 
to you there.

I also want to reinforce Phil's comment: The banks do this to protect 
you from thieves hacking into your account and, mixed metaphor aside, 
cleaning its clock. If you have not notified your card company that 
you will be abroad then their systems will flag your account as 
possible fraud when making purchases there and likely freeze the 
account. Don't take the chance -- call them.

Jerry


At 12:10 PM 10/20/2006, Joan Herriges wrote:

>And further to Phil's very wise advice, carry a back-up card for 
>which you have done the same notification.  Regretfully, that 
>purchase in cash was a high-risk gamble.  Joan.
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: <pandjking at sbcglobal.net>
>To: "Donna C. Brown" <donnacbrown at gmail.com>
>Cc: <idyllchat at lists.untours.com>
>Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 8:51 AM
>Subject: Re: [Idyllchat] Dishonest shop owner
>
>
>>Dear Donna,
>>    I don't have a solution to your problem, but this should be a 
>> lesson to all travelers:  Make sure you notify your credit card 
>> company in the States before you leave that you will be traveling 
>> in Spain, Italy, or whatever country from _____ date to _____ date 
>> and you need them to note this for their records so that your 
>> charges overseas will be approved and not disputed.
>>    Sorry about your sad experience.
>>    Phil King
>>    Spring Lake, MI
>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Donna C. Brown" <donnacbrown at gmail.com>
>>To: <IdyllChat at lists.untours.com>
>>Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 11:21 AM
>>Subject: [Idyllchat] Dishonest shop owner