Naik hangin...

Ayah came back home quite late some time last week and asked me, "Did R*B and HS*C people call you tadi? They called me to tell that our credit card payments were overdue, and I gave them your number".

Alamaaaak!!! Then I remembered the thing that was bugging me for the last few days before that. I knew there was something I needed to do which I had forgotten to do - settling the credit card bills!

You see, I'm in charge of paying ALL bills : credit cards, car loans, housing loans, utilities segala.

Well, errrrrr, let me rephrase that.

I'm actually in charge of SIGNING the cheques and posting or banking them into the relevant banks. The cheques are from our JOINT-ACCOUNT, but, ONLY AYAH'S PAY goes into it, get it? ;)

Ayah just fills in the account at the end of every month, and yours truly would sytematically empty it throughout the month, paying all the bills/loans, etc. The only thing Ayah wants to know is that every month all the bills are settled, and he doesn't have to worry about them.

So, when the banks kept on calling him to ask about the overdue payment, it was only natural for him to pass them to me. Short of saying, "It's your job, dear..."

Anyway, after that reminder, yours truly immediately signed the cheques and put them in the envelopes with plans to just drop them into the mailbox the next day as I just didn't have the time to go to the respective banks to make the payments. But, of course, dok sibuk sana sini, etc., I again forgot all about them, until early this week, that is.

I was attending a conference in KL on Monday and Tuesday this week, and my phone was on silent mode throughout the sessions. And I was quite perplexed when I saw 6 missed calls from a 03-2******* number at the end of the conference. And I suddenly remembered about the cheques which were still in my handbag.

"Alamak!! It must be one of the banks!"

I was pretty bushed by then and decided to just post the cheques the next day as the Post Office was out of my route going home.

And post the cheques I did on Wednesday.

It was on Thursday that I received an SMS text asking me to call a certain 03-2******* number, and I knew it was one of the banks, so I quickly made the call.

It was R*B. A young chap answered it, and I informed him about the SMS that I received asking me to call them. He asked me what it was pertaining to, and I told him, I wasn't sure as they were the ones who asked me to call them.

He asked me what my MyKad number was, and after checking their records, this was what he said,

"Ooohhh, Mrs. Wan, etc., etc. This is because you have defaulted in your credit card payments! When was the last time you paid, madam?"

Darah I dah tersirap dah masa tu. Macam lah we had defaulted for months! And lagi pun, he should know when our last payment was made anyway. He was checking our accounts masa tu via their system, kan?! Apasal lak nak tanya, kan?!

I was trying to remain calm, and told him -

Me : Ohhh, okay. Yes, my husband received the MANY CALLS made by your bank, and I've already posted the cheque yesterday. You should get it by the end of the week, I think.

R*B chap then said, "Okay, madam. That's fine then".

I was about to put the phone down, when suddenly I had this really strong urge to pick up a fight -

Me : Errrr, excuse me. Wait, wait, wait! Wait, wait, wait...I just want to say something la to you all ni.

Him : Yes, madam?

Me : Our overdue payment tu how much, ya? (I just wanted him to say it out loud)

Him : Let me check. (Pause for about 5 seconds) It's RM327.14, madam.

Me : JUST RM327, right?

Him : Correct, madam.

Me : And it was what? 8 days late when you started harrassing us, right?

Him : Errr, mmmmmm...No, madam...it's like this...

And I just cut him short.

Me : Why aarrr you all ni so hard-up sangat with the RM327? You called my husband, or rather harrassed him every day for that RM327, and even sent SMSs to us, when the payment was only overdue by about 7-8 days?!

Him : No, madam. If we don't do that and you don't settle it, then we have to suspend your card, and take legal action. Nanti madam jugak yang susah (or something to that effect la)

Me : (Kepala dah gatal...) THAT'S JUST IT! Baru defaulted this time, and ONLY for RM327, and you treat us macam hutang banyak sangat lah with you all! EXCUSE ME, I think you all should differentiate between your clients yang memang hutang tak bayar berpuluh ribu, and have defaulted for months and clients like us who pay the bill fully everytime without fail, okay?! You should check our records for the last 4-5 years. Never once did we pay JUST the minimum payment, okay? We had always paid in full every time, no matter how much our bills were, okay? And bila default RM327 ni, you all harrass us sampai ke lubang cacing! Please lah! I want you to convey our displeasure about this whole thing to your collection department laaa... Langsung tak value clients/customers macam we all ni!

Dung dang dung dang, dush dush dush - si mamat tu kena sembur dengan I.

He tried to explain something, and I just couldn't care less what he was saying and I just put down the phone.

Bengang.

Ya, adik-adik, kakak-kakak dan abang-abang. It was THAT time of the month, okay? Fuse box memang cepat blow.

Bengang. Bengang. Bengang.

I just didn't like the way the credit cards people are treating us.

And what made me even bengang, barely a minute after I put down the phone, HS*C people pulak called! Aaaaarrrggghhh!

Malas nak layan, and I just told them I had posted the cheque and they should be getting it by the end of the week. This, I was quite okay as the amount pun was quite substantial. But, R*B people tu...memang tak patut.

And as I'm writing this, I'm still waiting for people from Ma*ba*k to call me and ask for payment. Believe it or not, I've not paid them for 2 months. Reason being - the outstanding amount is 37 sen. Yes, you read it correctly. 37 sen.

Tak kuasa nak go to the Bank just to pay that amount. Duit minyak pun will be more than that. And tak kuasa nak membazir stem 30 sen to post the cheque(?!) for 37 sen(?!). Tak masuk akal.

If they still harrass us for the 37 sen, memang I akan naik hangin satu badan...

Grrrrr...