Top Ten Reasons I Hate Capital One

In an earlier post I mentioned that the best card that I found for use overseas was one offered by Capital One. Some people mistakenly thought I was endorsing Capital One as a Credit Card.
I most certainly was not. In fact - I have assembled a top ten list of the things I really can't stand about Capital One for your reading pleasure:

10. Their customer service is awful. Their phone operators in India are reading out of a script and have trouble answering questions beyond account balance and last payment history without getting a supervisor. The fact that they’re in India is not what bothers me, it’s that they can’t answer my questions without transferring me which makes the calls longer – and since I’m overseas, I’m paying for every minute.

9. Their website help-desk or “message center” is completely useless. I've sent five emails asking for clarifications about different aspects of my account and all I got back were generic, auto-response emails. Completely worthless.

8. They are not compatible with MS Money’s download service. They are like the only ones on earth who aren’t. In fairness, you do have the ability to manually download transactions, but that's a royal pain, and so 1997.

7. Their merchant categories are incomplete and confusing – at least for overseas merchants. For all grocery stores the merchant category generically reads “merchandise” and you have to drill through their website to find out if you get credit for buying at a grocery store or not. This is unnecessarily time consuming.

6. Their fraud department is unnecessarily hyper. They put a hold on my account after my first charge. I called them for something else and was transferred to the Fraud Department – The Dude asked me if I really made a purchase at a Shell station in Poland. When I said I did – he asked me “Well how long will you be staying overseas?” Dude, I live here.

5. They request letters of correspondence be sent by fax and not by email. Apparently their customer service headquarters is located in the year 1990.

4. Despite the fact I have an excellent credit history, have had previous Capital One Credit Cards, and have a really high credit limit on every other card I have – for the first three months they put me on a probationary spending limit of $2,000 a month. Are you kidding? I spend that much on gas – Just ask ACA!

3. I would bet money that when I signed up for the Cash Rewards Card they advertised 3% back. When I got the card, it said 2% - and the web site had changed. I’m not saying it’s a conspiracy, but my office mate said the same thing. I called and asked when they changed it and their only answer was “Sir, That’s the rate you’ve always had" – emphasis on the you… It is a conspiracy, I know it is!

2. After having their card for two months I applied for a Motorcycle Loan. Their lowest advertised loan was 5.47% - but they only offered me 5.87%. I asked why and was told that rate was for their best customers - Amex wants to send me a Platinum Card, but Capital One won't give me that extra .4% on a loan? They risk alienating a customer over 50 cents a month? Give me a break!

1. Every time I go to pay for something I can’t help but to imagine some hairy Viking standing next to me shouting “What’s in YOUR Wallet?”

Hurricane Ike Took Out My TV

Okay – Normally I do not think of property insurance as an investment, but get this-

In 1992 I bought a 20” TV from Radio Shack. It was a discontinued model, its price was slashed and I had an employee discount so I ended up paying about $150 for it. That TV made its way across at least three continents, had every piece broken off it you could think of, long had been separated from its remote control and only barely still worked. At some point in the last 5 years it went to live at my sister-in-law’s house as a TV for the spare bedroom.

Fast forward to this summer where Hurricane Ike took out a whole lot of power to Houston Residents. Sadly enough the Old Radio Shack TV was a victim of the power outages/fluctuation and the old set finally died. The Insurance company paid my sister-in-law $150 for the value of the TV.

My jaw dropped! I seriously can’t believe that they gave any money at all for this 16-year-old barely-working TV.

Moral of the story: Get the insurance with the replacement value. Seriously.

In a future post I'll tell the story of how The Government and USAA replaced my entertainment center when we lived in Ghana.

This will not save you any 专业提供

Okay, this might not save you any money at all - but some days you open your email and you just can't explain what you find.

This is what I found in my email:

您好!

我是厦门百惠通科技有限公司小邹，不好意思打搅您了。

我司专业提供（外贸英文网站、美国服务器、美国企业型空间）等全程服务。2008公司迎来八周年庆推出一款产品：美国企业型空间888m=888元 2008m=2008元 平均1m/1元，除此之外其他不同容量的空间一律买多大送多大，相当于甚至低于国内空间价格，优惠前所未有，限量销售（直接与美国加州机房合作并非代理）。为您呈现过硬的质量、优质的服务。

八年来我们公司主要业务为：美国企业型空间 美国服务器 外贸英文网站建设。以下是我们公司近年制作的部分网站案例

Now admittedly, my (insert name of foreign language above here) language skills are not so great, but I'm pretty sure it's the same text as the next email in my in-box this morning from Miss Rita Abed from the Ivory Coast:

"I wait for your urgent response

Dearest Beloved,

I am Mrs. Edith.R. Abed from Ivory Coast.I was married to Late Chief Mohammed Abed who was acontractor with the Government of Cote D'Ivoire before he died after few days in the hospital. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $4.500 Million Dollars with a Bank in Cote D'lvoire. Presently this money is still in the custody of the Bank here in Cote DIvoire. My Doctor told me that it is very likely I will die within the next 3 months due to A Blood cancer {LUCAMIA}. I have decided to donate the money for charity to you since I do not have a child to inherit it and it's better I do not die leaving the money here without it reaching to the poor and the lessprivileged ones in the society. As soon as I receive your reply I shall tell my bank to transfer the money to you.Informations Required from you are: Your Full Name(.......................... )Your Direct Tel & Fax N°:(......................, )Your Home & Office addresses(..............................)Your Bank Account(..................)With these informations, I will forward them to the Bank for immediately transferring of the Funds to your Position. Please always pray for me and let God give me more Good health to stay in this World.Mrs.Edith.R. Abed"

Ms. Abed's email address is ritaabed21@gmail.com for anyone who would like to contact her -

Blu-Ray

Those of you who know me in real life, have probably heard me bring up my Blu-Ray DVD player. I usually try to bring it up in the first ten minutes of conversation.

I caught this spectacular deal on a Sony BDP-S350 before it was released (I'm convinced the AAFES website mistakenly listed a lower price) and jumped all over it as a natural compliment to my HD TV that I never get to use the HD portion for (because I'm way too cheap to buy a satellite service with HD programing).

After having it for a couple of months I cannot recommend that other people invest in Blu-Ray. Not yet anyway.

Don't get me wrong, the picture is just the best thing I have ever seen and it turns out my TV doesn't even show movies in 1080p format (which is the best on the market now). I own three BluRay movies (all animated) the picture on play-back is almost indescribable.

The cost is just stupid though. $400 is still a typical price for a Blu-Ray DVD player, with prices not expected to fall under $300 this year. Movies cost $27.99 at AAFES and at Amazon.com, although you can catch a deal when they are first released.

I'm just not sure it's really worth it. You can get great DVD players for just over $100 that up-convert "regular" DVDs and play the on high definition TVs that I've got to assume would be comparable. I don't regret the Blu-Ray player I bought, but I think our current home movie collection of Blu-Ray DVDs (which consists of the two Disney Pixar movies and one Dreamworks movie) might be as big as it gets until the prices drop. I'm using Netflix to get Blu-Ray DVD's in order to justify the purchase of the thing, but anyone who uses Netflix from here surely shares my aggravation with that process.

So - if you're thinking about buying one - you might want to check it out in person first. Oh, and if you were thinking of getting one here in Poland - you'll be irritated to know that the stupid regional encoding system that they branded DVD players with, still exists with Blu-Ray. Which means that if your player is from Europe, you pretty much have to buy the DVD's in Europe. What a scam that is.

US Cards Might Not Work Overseas

Not too long ago I stumbled upon this headline in another blog: "Why Your Credit Card Might Be Useless Overseas". I clicked through to the cited Los Angeles Times Article that highlights several portions of one man's trip through Europe where his American-issued credit cards just didn't work.

While this is unlikely to affect any of us during our tours in Poland, it does raise a good point. In Europe, many banks issue a credit card with a “pin” number and a security chip that is supposed to make using your credit card safe. This is not the same as our US-based credit cards and the cash advance PIN that some of us have on them.

This "pin card" really isn't an emerging problem in Warsaw, but there is an automated kiosk in the movie theater in Galeria Mokotow that allows you to skip the really long lines (most recently I noticed at the premiere of Mamma Mia) and buy your tickets right at the little kiosk. The problem with that kiosk is that you need that magic credit card with pin. As I was creating a line back-up, I tried two US-based credit cards with pins as well as my debit charge card that also has a pin. Nothing worked – I had to go stand in the long line.

You need that same pin card to use the automated check-out line (where the line is a thousand times shorter) at the Carrefour in Arkadia. Otherwise, and I know from personal experience, the people behind you will hate you and be tempted to throw things at the back of your head.

You'll notice everywhere else you shop, they have a little place that you can have your card swiped, or that little strange device where you put your card in and enter a pin. I think we are a very long way away from not being able to use our credit cards overseas.

Why Netflix Stinks... And Free Netlix!!

So many of us Americans overseas have some access to the U.S. Mail and most of us have DVD players.



Some of us have Netflix, and some of us are curious about it.



For those curious about it - Its worth a second look.

I pay for three DVDs at a time, and for the most part, I end up watching three movies a month. That averages out to like 5 bucks a movie - which although at first I thought ridiculous, actually is probably better than paying $27.99 (for BluRays) for a movie that I'll watch once the first night and then again a year later when there's nothing on AFN.



The only reason I signed up for the service in the first place is to get BluRay DVDs. That was it.

So I've had the service for a couple of months and while the videos are exactly what we want, the transit times are just painfully slow. What also drives me nuts is they offer a service to subscribers that streams movies to your computer... If you live in the States. And the biggest scam? I just got an email that says - and I am not making this up:



" Dear Dylan,



As you may know, Blu-ray movies are more expensive than standard definition movies. As a result, we're going to start charging $1 a month (plus applicable taxes), in addition to your monthly membership charge, for unlimited access to Blu-ray movies.



The additional charge for unlimited Blu-ray access will be automatically added to your next billing statement on or after November 5th, 2008 and will be referenced in your Membership Terms and Details. If you wish to continue getting Blu-ray movies for $1 a month more, you don't need to do anything. If not, you can remove Blu-ray access anytime by visiting Your Account at the Netflix website.



If you have questions about this change or need any assistance, please call us anytime at 1-888-638-3549.



-The Netflix Team"



So there you have it - If you watch BluRay DVDs - which is the only thing I actually use the service for - you are going to get screwed because they can squeeze an extra buck out of you.



But if you're interested - let me know -I have some free codes for the first month of service.

Free Cable!

In our little housing area down here in Konstancin, we get free cable TV - kind of.

Now I'm talking about like 8 channels with only one channel (BBC) in English (two if you count MTV2) and for the most part it's useless, but its free none-the-less.

Do you get free cable? The reason I ask is that I'm still meeting other expats in the neighborhood that have lived here for awhile and had no idea. This revolutionary information is not changing anyone's lives out here in Konstancin, but it is nice to see the local channels with a clear reception.

I've got to imagine if you live in an apartment, it's worth asking the question to the building management staff (assuming you're not enjoying it already). I would reason the same would hold true for other small gated communities.

All I'm saying is it might be worth a shot. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to watching the latest Madonna Video on MTV2 - I think its from 1987...

Ethnic Food On-Line

Sometimes you just can't get the things you're used to, locally.

There is a chain around Warsaw called Kuchnie Swiata that sells food fro everywhere. I can't read the website, but there's one in Zloty Terasy, Arkadia and one in Konstancin at the least. I had dismissed this chain until I found my favorite jalapeños from Mexico sitting on their shelf. Now I'm a fan.

Locally there are at least a couple of good Middle Eastern Markets (Samira Rocks!) and I've been told of some good Aisan markets, but have no idea where they are.

I'm also told that for mail-ordering Asian grocery items Hmart.com has a good selection of items. This is a large company based in the U.S., and since they ship via UPS (to the pouch), their shipping cost is very reasonable. For selected dry and canned goods, this is a good option.

And as long as we're talking about food websites, for those like me from the South who don't consider the Blue Cactus as real Mexican food, I use MexGrocer for buying authentic jalapeños. They're also the best source I've found for shipping out masa harina economically (if you don't know what it is- you don't need it).

Calling All USAA Members!!

This is really targeted to USAA members, but if your bank charges you fees for ATM withdrawals in different currencies, you might be interested.

I sent a short note to USAA via the message link within the site, asking them to consider reimbursing USAA Members overseas the foreign currency transaction fees up to $15 per month - the same way they reimburse ATM surcharge fees to people in the US.

The next day I received a very cordial email from USAA politely blowing me off saying they would consider my suggestion. I didn't expect anything else - it's just me complaining.

If you happen to have USAA, the next time you log in please consider hitting that little button in the top right portion of the screen that says messages and a very short email asking them to waive the first $15 in foreign currency transaction fees the same way they waive the first $15 in ATM surcharge fees? If enough people sent a short email, surely they would notice it's not just one lunatic in Poland that this affects - and I know I'm not the only one using my ATM card overseas.

Just Say No to Being Charged in USD!

I mentioned it before but was reminded again – never select a currency other than the local currency when making purchases overseas. Trust me on this!

‘Oh Sushi charged my credit card in USD the last time I went at an ROE of 2.24 (the exchange rate that day was actually 2.44!). When I became irritated, the waitress told me that the computer did it by itself; however the time before that they did ask me what currency I wanted to pay in.

I fully concede that maybe it wasn’t her fault, but we went ahead and found a new Sushi place.

Better than putting money in a mattress

Given the uncertianty of the stock market if you're looking to sock your money away somwhere safe, the Pentagon Federal Credit Union is offering 5% APY on Money Market certificates starting at three years with a minimum deposit of $1,000.00.

5% is not too shabby. You have to be a member of the PFCU but there are several ways to become a member if you're interested. The easiest way of course is to join the military :)