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As many of you know, this past Thursday evening I was robbed at gunpoint sitting in my car in my workplace parking lot after working late (it was around 7:30, still light out). He got away with my ATM debit/credit card after extracting from me the PIN# with the very effective technique of moving the gun from my ribs and jamming it in my neck, claiming he was going to make me drive him to the ATM.
At 8 p.m., sitting across from the police officer who was to take my statement, I called the 800# for my bank to report the card stolen, even before I gave my statement. They assured me the card was now blocked and cancelled, and a new one would be sent within 7 to 10 days. The next morning I called again to see if the card had been used between 7:30 and 8, when I reported it stolen. I was told that there had been three transactions at 12:30 a.m., one right after the other, for $300, $200, then another $200, for a total of $700. At 12:30 A.M.? Almost FIVE HOURS after it was reported stolen and should have been blocked??? WTF???? I was told that I had somehow been transferred to VISA International and not the bank, which was why there was the delay in blocking ATM withdrawals. Well, I DIDN'T CALL VISA International, I called the fucking 800# for the bank! I'm sorry, ma'am, they said, we don't know what happened. You'll have to go to your local branch and fill out an Affidavit of Unauthorized Electronic Transfer. Oh, yeah, and be sure to bring a copy of the police report and your statement as well. Um, gee, thanks, I never would have thought of that!
So I go to my local bank branch (my boss gave me the day off Friday) to fill out the Affidavit. It asks all kinds of bullshit questions, like "where do you keep your PIN#, names and ages of other household members living with you, do they have access to your card, etc., etc. Keep in mind that I'm still shellshocked, and so emotionally exhausted I can hardly keep my eyes open. My mom is driving me around because I'm too afraid to drive anywhere by myself.
Yesterday morning, Saturday, I go to the bank to see what's happening, if any progress in their "investigation" has been made. No one knows anything, and no one will be in the "loss prevention investigations" department until Monday. The teller calls customer service, anyway, just to check, and she then drops a bombshell on me. They apparently have NO RECORD of me calling Thursday night and no block was put on the card until Friday afternoon when I was filling out the Affidavit and the teller noticed that there was no block yet on the card in her computer records. I repeat, they had NO RECORD of the call I made Thursday night right from the police station!!!!!!!!! Needless to say, you would not have wanted to have been around me right then and I'm glad I wasn't one of the bank workers who had to deal with me!!!!! And none of them seemed to give a shit, either! The police report I'd attached to the Affidavit was clearly labeled "8:09 p.m." So why the fuck would I have waited SEVENTEEN HOURS until the next afternoon to report the robbery when most of all the money I have could be accessed by that card?????????? And then they told me that there was "normally" a $500 limit on daily withdrawals. Well, then, Miss Brilliant, I asked, how was he able to take out $700 in three transactions within three minutes time? If he was using a supermarket or gas station or convenience store machine, then it's possible, they said. SAY WHAT????? WTF???? Just what in the hell difference should that make? Different network, they said. Well, I have one word for that, BULLSHIT!!!!
So now I have to wait for a fucking investigation from the bank where I've been a loyal customer for TWELVE YEARS, just to get my own money back, which was lost due to their incompetence and indifference iin the first place!!!!! I'm sorry, but something is really, really wrong with this picture!!!! My boss is an attorney and I'm his paralegal, and if this is not resolved within three days, I very sweetly informed them, you will most certainly be hearing from him and not in a friendly social capacity either. This is total bullshit, adding insult to injury, to have to deal with this after going through the ordeal of the mugging in the first place; it's double victimization as far as I'm concerned, and my boss and I will not stand for it! I should NOT have to be dealing with trouble from the bank along with everything else!
I'm finding that I'm fearful of almost everything right now. I don't want to go ANYWHERE alone, even in broad daylight (hell, the robbery occurred in daylight!). I had planned to take my son on a vacation to Hersheytown, PA, and Gettysburg, this Thursday through Monday and that's out of the question, now. Not only am I now a lot shorter of money than I'd planned to be, but just the thought of driving anywhere alone, let alone for several hours and out of state, is absolutely terrifying to me. My mom or stepdad has to drive with me even to the local convenience store where I've gone for the past 25 years. Just the thought of going back to work, and parking in that parking lot, is terrifying even though I have to do it, starting tomorrow. Any overtime is totally out of the question, no longer will I be the last person to leave the office a lot of the time. If someone's not available to walk me to my car, forget it, I ain't staying. Which means a lot more stress and work during the day, since I won't be able to stay (in the legal field, you often do have to stay longer than scheduled hours because there's always so much to do, it's just the nature of the work). I jump at the slightest sounds, no matter where I am. I was in a car with my mom and one of the neighbors started walking toward the window and I screamed and got down on the floor. And I hate this. I hate what I've become these past few days. I've lost that veneer of automatic trust you normally extend to those around you in order to effectively function in society, which I never thought would happen. It's the most crippling thing I've ever endured and I hate it!
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