I got \u2013 or am in the process of getting \u2013 a new Credit card. It would be to my advantage I was told by the chatty young lady on the other end of the phone, as it would allow delay in payment for up to 28 days, whereas, because I was three days late in my last payment I had had to pay interest on the whole month\u2019s total. It would take, she said, just five minutes for me to answer one or two simple questions. After a long pause the lady from the call centre said her computer was giving her trouble and she would have to call me back. She did, and her questions began, mostly they covered information she already must have had access to, for as I told her (it was one of the questions) I had been a bank customer for fifteen years or so.<\/p>\n
She spoke very quickly indeed and although I haven\u2019t got into the hearing aid phase yet, at times it was impossible to get the detail of what she was saying. But I got the gist. She laughed when I said she had clearly done all this before. \u2018I know it by heart; but I have to do it\u2019 she said, which of course was true \u2013 we were entangled in a web of bureaucracy. It was when she asked me what my gross income was that I began to approach the grumpy old man stage , partly because I didn\u2019t know and partly because the English don\u2019t discuss such things and most of all because \u2018gross\u2019 is the last word to describe it. \u2018Never mind\u2019, she said, \u2018I can work it out from your records\u2019. And she did, totting up the state and work pensions, and telling me what it was, which as I say isn\u2019t much. Probably her income is twice mine and I felt at some disadvantage.<\/p>\n
Earlier my new friend had said that I was protected by the Data Protection Act, but I began to feel very unprotected, as question followed question \u2013 especially when I stumbled over remembering my wife\u2019s date of birth and had to seek her out to have it confirmed. The exercise emphasised how little privacy there is in modern society. Whilst slightly interested in this new card (\u2018do you want the black or white version?\u2019), I began to feel not only that I was being sold a new plastic toy but that I had sold myself in the process. In about a month, apparently, the fruit of our phone dialogue will arrive in the form of a document which I have to sign.<\/p>\n
But there was a happy ending. I pointed out that my payment cheque had been delayed because at the time I posted it there was a postal strike. \u2018Have we waived an interest payment recently?\u2019 I was asked. I was sure that no such waiving had taken place. So I am \u00a38 in pocket but otherwise a little discomforted by the experience.<\/p>\n
B.R.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I got \u2013 or am in the process of getting \u2013 a new Credit card. It would be to my advantage I was told by the chatty young lady on the other end of the phone, as it would allow delay in payment for up to 28 days, whereas, because I was three days late in my last payment I had had to pay interest on the whole month\u2019s total. It would take, she said, just five minutes for me to answer one or two simple questions. After a long pause the lady from the call centre said her computer <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"yoast_head":"\n