This is EXACTLY the problem I'm having. I decided to get myself a membership to FARK.com (five bucks a month, I figured I'd try it out) and the only options they give me to pay is with PayPal or with a credit card. When I try to pay with my Visa gift card ($50 value, which I bought just for this purpose) they won't take it. So, if I can't use it to pay FARK directly, and I can't use it to put money into PayPal, wtf? Besides opening my door when I lock myself out of my apartment, what good is the card at all? If you get any answers, please let me know. Aaah, I see they won't let me put my e-mail addy on here, even when I tried to slide it in cleverly. That's okay, if you'll reply to me here, that would be great, too. I would sure appreciate it. Also, when I first went to PayPal to open an account, it said I already had one. I went 'round and 'round with Sarah, the Automated Idiot, then finally called the long-distance number. The person I got (after about ten minutes of pressing this and that...) spoke with broken English and said I'd started an account like ten years ago, and he wanted the last four digits of that account number. I told him I don't even live in the same country now, am divorced, and haven't a clue as to even which bank we were using at the time. He suggested I call the bank and ask them my account number. Not easy to do when I don't know the name of the bloody bank! This guy was a broken record -- of broken English, and he was ridiculously robotic, asking the same questions over and over. So I said, "Okay, why don't we just forget I ever had an account, and let me start a new one?" He said, "Okay, but we can't transfer your funds to your new account." I said, "If we're just talking five or ten bucks, that's fine. But if it's a substantial amount, please tell me; maybe I can go through some old medical records and find that account or at least the name of the bank." He said he wasn't allowed to tell me that. So I said, "Is it worth the time, I mean? Like, just tell me if it's over ten bucks!" Instead of answering me, he said, "Okay, so you want to start up a new account? I can help you do that." And I said, "What happens to the money in my existing account? Who gets that?" His English became suddenly worse, and he acted as though I'd just asked him something as irrelevant as his opinion on quantum physics. Reminded me of that housekeeper on the Simpsons... "no, no.... No English...no..." I said, "Well, the money HAS to go somewhere, can you tell me where?" And he said he would e-mail me that information. Riiiight. Along with information on the 3 million bucks someone in Nigeria is holding for me, huh? I won't hold my breath. Anyway, sorry I got off-topic. But what IS it with people who cannot speak nor understand English getting jobs that pretty much require them to speak and listen IN ENGLISH 100% of the time? Is it some kind of job requirement, like "Must be able to speak only broken English" -- like that? ::sigh:: I need a xanax. I would order some online, but I'd probably wind up with someone going, "So you need zantacs, no?" Which would result in my throwing my phone out my second story apartment balcony. Probably hitting someone in the head.... Someone who, when asked if okay, would answer, "No comprende' English... you find attorney for me, yes?" Thanks for listening, really. --Tonnie Moon, Chattanooga TN
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