2017--This Year is Our Year!!!
Replies
-
I worked today and since the teacher had a planning period the last period of the day, I took advantage of it to get home early to see what Chase had in store for me today. Yesterday, I discovered a charge on one of my Chase cards I did not make. Someone signed up for Netfix using my account number. How they got that number is beyond me as I have that card in a home safe.
I do have Netflix but the plan I have is at a different price tier than the charge. Yesterday, I used Chase's secure message center to let them know that a charge had been made that I did not make. Since my Netflix charge goes on another Chase card I carry, I attached a screen shot to show the date of the authorized charge and the amount of the charge on the other Chase card. I have no need to have two Netflix accounts.
When I got home, there was a message to call Chase's fraud department, which I did to verify some info. After five minutes, I will be getting a new account number and the other number is frozen. I will get the new card in about 5 days. I check my accounts daily just in case something like this might develop.
Maryanne--Thanks for the info. Great timing as the NS cards go on sale starting the 23rd.
0 -
The last time there was a charge (in the midwest for two pairs of very expensive shoes) on one of my cards I actually called the police. The credit card company and the store had the address where they mailed the shoes. They said they'd tell the police but not me. I had visions of the police swarming in in swat gear. (Yeah, yeah, I watch too much true crime tv LOL!) I knew I had only used the card recently in one place and it was a small local store I don't usually go to. So I confess I had visions of a raid on this end as well. The (very) young policeman politely explained to me that he came to my house only as part of their public relations service. His job was to explain to me that the credit card companies could stop all this if they wanted but that they've made the determination that it's cheaper to eat the charges. Bottom line? Police do nothing. I have a great many automatic charges set up on my cards so every time there's a new card it takes TIME. Wasting my time is the ultimate sin in my book. Whew, got that off my chest!0
-
Guess what I got for my birthday in a pretty gift bag? Headlight cleaning kit. The Toyota dealer keeps wanting to clean my headlights for some outrageous price. DH said he could do it so I jokingly said that could be my birthday present. I presume he plans to use the kit and not have me do it. I presume. (Also got a card and a gift card.)
DH also replaced a missing plastic piece on my van for pennies on the dollar compared to the dealer quote. He can be handy to have around sometimes.0 -
I'm also dealing with a credit card issue. When I got home last week after visiting my sister, I had a message from the company that issues the credit card I use for most of my purchases. Apparently there was another data breach so they were cancelling and reissuing credit cards to all of their cardholders. The message advised me that my new card was on its way and I should activate it as soon as I received it and my old card number would be deactivated on the 23rd. Since DH was out of town, I didn't want to do anything until he was back, in case he needed to use that card, so I held off until yesterday on activating the new one. Now I'm trying to remember what accounts I have tied to that card for automatic payments. It's a nuisance, but necessary I suppose.
I'm still dealing with back pain. It's a little better today, but yesterday and the night before were very painful. All night I slept in 15-20 minute periods because I couldn't get comfortable for any longer than that. Last night was a lot better, but still not great. I have an appointment with my family doctor later today to try to score some muscle relaxers, lol! I also have an appointment with a spine specialist on April 7th, but I don't want to wait that long for relief. I also have jury duty tomorrow, so I'm hoping for something to help me get through that.0 -
If you get selected for jury duty, I'll bet you can get out of it if you tell the judge you're taking pain meds for back pain. The pain alone would make it hard to concentrate on a trial. I hope you get relief from the pain. Have you tried a heating pad on it?
What a pain about everyone's credit cards. If the crooks that steal personal identities put the same amount of effort into making an honest living, they could probably succeed at that. But they rather scam people and risk jail time.
Back when we rented our FL house we had a tenant give us 2 bad checks. We consulted out lawyer and he gave us the same line the cop gave Maryanne. He told us the police wouldn't do anything about it, even though the checks totaled $1,200. I was furious at his attitude. We stopped at the police station and filed a theft report. Surprisingly, we got a letter from the district attorney's office several months later. This couple had stiffed other people as well. The district attorney decided to pursue the case. I didn't care as much about getting the money back as I cared that the man would have a criminal record so he could't scam others. The judge gave him 6 months to pay us back or go to jail. He paid us back in installments and dragged it out the six months but we recovered our money and had the satisfaction of knowing he now had a criminal record. They had moved out of the house months before the court case and when we cleaned the place out, we found a bunch of collection letters for debts he owed back in Wisconsin. Can you believe he left those behind? he was a career criminal for sure. His mistake with us was writing bad checks. If he gave us nothing like he did with most of the people he conned, we'd have had no recourse. And we never used that lawyer again.
Jean, how much are the NS cards on sale for?0 -
Maybe I should consider a couple Costco cards. I didn't even activate the cash back on Discover for next quarter figuring I don't go to any wholesale clubs. But if I put the whole thing together with my NS a la carte plan I could save a nice chunk of change over the next few months.0
-
My doctor did give me muscle relaxers and an anti-inflammatory, as well as a note advising that I should be excused from my jury duty. However, at this point, I think I will just go ahead and do it and get it over with. Tomorrow I only have to go for a half day, as I've already been assigned to a specific trial. I think I can take the anti-inflammatory drug tomorrow without the muscle relaxer and be ok. I would be surprised if I'm selected based on questions on the supplemental questionnaire I had to complete yesterday. Of course, if it looks like a case that I really wouldn't want to serve on, I may play the doctor's excuse and try to get excused. Nice to have options, lol!0
-
Someone on the NS board thinks the Costco deal may be members only. I'm not going to pay the $55 membership fee. I don't order enough NS food to make that worthwhile. So we'll have to see what the story is when the sale starts tomorrow.0
-
I've bought NS cards from Costco in the past and I'm not a member. There was a surcharge for a non-member but it was much less than $55. I went back to check the receipt and I paid $16 for 3 cards. Go online and try to order and see what the surcharge is. If it's more than the $16, do proceed with the order.
Pam, It does sound like you have options. If you want to get excuses, show the note and say you are on muscle relaxers and they make you drowsy. That's the effect they have on me. I'm sure the lawyers wouldn't want anyone on the jury who might nod off or have difficulty paying attention.
Jaen, I was just reading comments on air fryers on the Hungry Girl newsletter. She gave her's a thumbs up. let us know what you think when you receive and try your's out.0 -
Yea!! My jury service was cancelled an hour before I was due to leave to go down there.0
-
Pam, that's great news. In MA, we are excused for a year if we get a notice to appear. How soon can you be called again in TX? If we actually get on a jury, we get a 3 year exemption. In 18 months, I can opt out based on age. Anyone over 70 can ask to be permanently excused. I'll probably do that because of spending half the year in FL. I got a notice last April and asked to postpone to September so I'd be in MA. Then DH had heart surgery and I had to postpone again. My date choices were limited to a date in October and one in November. I picked November but fortunately when I called thr day before, my group was excused.0
-
I'd love to be on a jury but I never would be so I'll probably opt out at 70 also.
I'm not sure I really want enough costco ns cards to justify a costco membership. I need to ponder that. I did the math and I think I'd have to buy 4 or 5 to make it worthwhile. I probably would use them over the course of 18 months or so. My a la carte orders are typically around $100.
Sure not as good a deal though as it was in the past.0 -
The NS cards are now for members only according to the site. The old permitted non-member surcharge is gone. I was once a Costco member and the website still have my old membership number. Time will tell.0
-
Well, one hour later, it is confirmed; you have to be a Costco member to get the cards at that price. I may go ahead and renew my membership that expired. The reason is that I got my hearing aids there two years ago and saved about $3,000. I could have them checked locally but I prefer to have the hearing technicians at Costco in Columbus, OH do it. They did a very thorough hearing check, more so than what was done locally. The membership fee is worth it for me if I go back there. I'll be thinking.0
-
Helene, I think it's either six months or one year if you're called but don't end up serving on a jury. If you do serve, I believe you're exempt for two years, and you can be permanently exempted after age 70. So far, I've never been chosen. I seem to always end up on a panel where I'm required to complete a detailed questionnaire before the voir dire questioning begins, then I get eliminated based on the questioning. The system our county now uses streamlines things a lot by sending the questionnaires on-line after you're assigned to a trial. Before they adopted this system I would have to show up at 8:30, then wait to be assigned to a court, after which I would have to fill out the questionnaire. Then the jurors would be dismissed for 2-3 hours to give the lawyers time to review the questionnaires and prepare their questions. By the time the jurors were reconvened in the courtroom and the questioning was completed, it was a full day. This time I had completed my questionnaire on-line and was ready to head downtown for the questioning phase but I got a recorded phone call, e-mail, and text message advising that the trial had been cancelled and my service was fulfilled. I don't know what kind of case it was, but based on the questions I answered, I think it was probably a criminal case, so I suspect that the defendant must have accepted a plea bargain.
My back is much better, finally. About mid-afternoon yesterday I noticed that I was able to move much more easily than I had been and today I am mostly pain free. I attribute the improvement to the strong anti-inflammatory drug and muscle relaxers I took for two days. I haven't taken any today. I'll hoard these drugs for the next time, lol!
I don't have a Costco membership either. It just doesn't seem to be cost-effective for us because we don't like to buy things in large quantities due to storage space. I do have friends who have memberships, so if there is a particular thing I need or want I can always ask to go in with one of them. I hear that their pharmacy and travel plans are a good value, so that might make a membership more appealing.0 -
When I lived in CT,until my early forties, I never received a jury notice. After I moved to MA, I seemed to get a notice every two years or so. About half the time, I'd call the automated line and get the message that my panel didn't have to report. The other half, I'd have to show up and sit around in a dingy basement room. I'd bring a book to help pass the time. Usually, around lunch time, the judge would either come to us or have us brought to his courtroom. He'd thank us for doing our civic duty and tell us all the dependents took plea bargains and we'd be excused. Four years ago, I had to report and was actually selected for a jury. It was a DUI case. I was surprised that we were a jury of 6 with one alternate. We sat through about 2 hours of testimony. I was surprised when the judge told us not to take notes. He told us to just listen to the witnesses. When it was time to deliberate, the alternate was dismissed. I wondered if it was because he was a young college student and maybe the prosecutor thought he was more likely to side with the young defendant. The rest of us were middle aged or older. We ended up voting not guilty because the state didn't do a good job of proving the case. A passerby saw the defendant asleep in her car at a stop sign and assumed she was drunk. When he called the police, he told them she was drunk. She was a waitress who had worked a double shift, left the house after an argument with her boyfriend and she was also pregnant. We all thought that contributed to her fatigue. The cop at the scene told her to say the alphabet without singing it. I for one usually sing it if I have eto say it. She didn't make it all the way through and she started crying so that reinforced his belief she was drunk. We were 5 women and 1 man on the jury and we all found her actions totally normal. Her lawyer pointed out she did everything the cop asked her to do. Since there was no Breathalyzer test, we had no way to know for sure if she was drunk so we found reasonable doubt. Afterwards, the judge came in to talk to us. He told us we'd reached the right decision because the state didn't do a good job of proving her guilty. It was interesting and I was glad I actually got to serve. But now, with our time divided between MA and FL, I'll be happy to use the age exemption when I get to 70. My biggest dread would be to get a Grand Jury notice. They hold those in Boston, 75 miles away from home. And I get nervous driving there because I don't know the local roads. And Grand Jury lasts for months. People I know who've done it had to travel to Boston several times a month until their term was up.0
-
Cough, cough, cough! Welcome to Spring Break. I feel terrrible.
The age exemption works great for exemption from jury service despite them reinforcing the idea that we are doing our civic duty.0 -
Jean - sorry you feel so terrible!!! What a horrible way to kick off spring.
If they'd ever let me on a jury, I'd never ask for an age exemption. But going to sit there just to be sent home because of my occupation is a waste of everyone's time.
0 -
If I lived in the same place 12 months of the year I wouldn't bother with the age exemption either. But the way it worked out last year, I was in the middle of our FL stay and wasn't cutting the time short on the chance I'd actually serve on a jury. I thought changing the date would work but DH ended up in the hospital for surgery and was discharged just before my service date. I couldn't leave him on his own all day while I was away so I asked for another change. What really shocked me was they only had 2 possible dates for me. That made me think how badly do they need jurors if your telling me you have 2 open dates for the next 6 months. I picked one of the dates and didn't have to go after all. Imagine if I'd come home from FL 2 months earlier only to find I was excused? I'll play it by ear when I get my next notice. If if fals during my Ma time, I'd do it. But I'd opt out if I'm in FL.
Jean..That stinks that you're sick during the break. At least you didn't have a trip planned.0 -
Michelle suggested I look at the Costco website for the great bargains.
First two things I found for which I had any price frame of reference were 10 small bankers boxes for over $35 (certainly not that different from office depot that delivers the next day for free) and 20 pounds of no name cat food for $27. I buy 16 pound bags of dry food for the colonies, usually Friskies, sometimes one of the other supermarket brands. I try to combine coupons and sales and keep the cost below $10 a bag. I could go cheaper if I'd drive somewhere like walmart and buy generic. $27 (plus shipping? didn't even take the time to check into that) is not attractive.
I think I'll be continuing to live without costco gift cards.
0
