ZENA'S TRIP DAY 3....STORMS AND CREDIT CARDS

[bargainqueen]

Today I was woken at 2am by the storm. Never experienced anything like it and wouldn't like to again. My sister slept through it as she takes her hearing aids out to sleep at night.
The morning news gave out the number of lightning strikes, I thought they said 282 but Chris insists it was 2282. All I know is that it was one strike after another.
One good thing was that when the storm stopped I was able to wash my clothes given me another 2 days to find something else to wear.

The golf course was only open on the back 9 so Chris decided to go shopping instead. He's been told by his doctor to quit smoking so he was looking for an electric cigarette.

My sister and I went to Beals outlet on Oak st and 192, managed to find some clothes there and also in Big Lots next door.

We then went to Walmart at Osceola and Michigan, found some clothes for Chris and went to pay by credit card. The card was refused so I asked her to try again, still wouldn't go through. Very embarrassing. Couldn't work out why except perhaps that Chris and I were trying to use our cards at the same time [msnscared]

Arrived back at the villa to find Chris really pleased with what he'd managed to buy, new golf shoes, cigarette and a PSP. He couldn't understand why his beloved wife was trying to throttle him.

He too had had his PSP purchase denied twice in Game Stop and was then advised not to try again so he used the debit card which went through ok.

We didn't have a phone card so I sent a message to Nationwide via my internet account. Next day I received a reply, the cashier in gamestop caused the problem with the way he put the transaction through. The computer thought it was a stolen/cloned card and froze the account.

Tip no. 3....If you're going to use a credit card here bring over a number other than the lost or stolen card number.

[LiesaAnna]

shame bout the storms... hope they clear for when we arrive later this week....
still enjoying reading your report xxx

[bargainqueen]

It was only for that one night and since then the weather has been getting warmer and warmer. By 3pm today it was 93 and hot! Still in 80's now and no rain forecast so far.

[ShirleyD]

And as I sit outside now with my computer, it is still 84

[erowlands]

We came home yesterday after three weeks in the sun! The storm went on until 5 am,never saw anything like it before for such a long time,the weather was getting warmer every day,we went to Blizzard Beach on Saturday,it was showing 95F on the car temp guage when we were driving back to the villa to change ready for the airport run.
Eric

[andrewandcarole]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:[i]Tip no. 3....If you're going to use a credit card here bring over a number other than the lost or stolen card number.
[/quote]
If you advise the Bank that you are going on holiday before hand (and where) you shouldn't have a problem. My bank has the facility to do this online - otherwise you can call them. Saves a whole load of hassle!

[bargainqueen]

I thought that might have been the problem too Carole. Normally we don't use the credit card but we decided that it would be easier to see who spent what if Chris used the visa card.
When I logged onto my internet banking the Nationwide now say that you don't have to inform them when you use your credit cards abroad.

I think I've had calls from them before when we used our card to pay for something that they thought was out of our normal spending habits.

They said it was the way the transaction had been put through which triggered the computer to freeze the account. Possibly this could happen even if you've informed the bank so if you don't have internet access you'll need a phone number you can use abroad.

There's the time difference as well and maybe the number for lost or stolen could be an automated service after a certain time. My car insurance was, it's due for renewal on the date we return. I tried to do it on-line and had to do it by phone. This was an automated service, at the end it told me that I could do this on-line. I don't know if someone listens to the call or if it's done automatically. If it's the former then they'll hear an irate women saying I tried but it didn't work!!!!

[Susan J]

We always have some trouble every year- I demanded AMEX gave me the reason why [in the middle of a shop when they refused my card AGAIN.........]it is sports shops are high risk, and they refuse them for the fun of it. I gave them a list of shops we may spend many in, and told them I would cancel the card if they didn't check the transaction rather than just refuse for the fun of it. IT worked.

[karenk]

We had this with one of our cards. Even though we notified them of going abroad, the account was frozen each time we tried to use it out in Florida. Apparently it was because they couldn't confirm the legitimacy of the purchase with us as they were unable to get an answer from our home number in the UK. Needless to say we cancelled that one and got a new one that's got operators and security procedures based around a more common sense approach