La-la Land = Trouble

One of my friend’s claims I’m given to being la-la. La-la by his definition means quite reasonably blur.

What happened to me yesterday serves to prove the point.

I was at KLCC yesterday and decided to have lunch before my client meeting at about 3pm. Since Rizal and I both didn’t want anything heavy, we opted for the Caesar Salad at CBTL. Upon ordering, I noticed that you get a 15% discount if you use the Citibank credit card. So of course, I whipped out the card to hand over to the cashier. That was after he’d rung up the amount: RM43 or so for two lattes and two Caesar salads. So after the discount, it amounted to about RM36.

Me being the la-la that I am, I gave him RM50 to pay for it. Clearly I had forgotten that I had handed him my card. The cashier not only took my cash but gave me change as well. I wasn’t returned my card nor was I given a slip to sign for the purchase (I had by this time, totally and utterly forgotten about the card). Rizal thought it was weird that I had given the guy my card AND paying cash, but he being the hubby that he is, didn’t mention anything. (I’m thinking the cashier hung on to my card.)

So lunch was had, client was met, I of course went on and did my thing, carried on with work, etc.

In the evening I met up with friends for dinner. Before that we stopped over at a boutique to look at clothes. It was then I got the fateful call from Citibank. They wanted to verify a purchase I’d made at Jusco Metro Prima. Jusco Metro Prima??!! Since when? For what? It’s all the way on the other side of the blurdy town!! Then more bad news comes: my card was also used at several gas stations. Shit! My card!! Where’s my card??!! I check my purse. Yikes! Not there.

The Citibank rep of course, cancels the card immediately. I verify with them that the last purchase I made was at CBLT. They confirm it’s for about RM36. And then they drop the bomb: for lost/stolen card cases, the cardholder is liable to pay for whatever transactions that’s been made, regardless of whether you’ve actually made them or not. What the FUCK???!!!! Immediately I tell them they can forget about sending a replacement card and that I will cancel all my Citibank credit cards if they are even remotely thinking of making me pay for stuff I didn’t buy on the card.

It’s not enough that I have given them over RM30,000 worth of business in the last few years nor that I pay ALL my bills on time. Or the fact that I still carry Citibank credit cards despite the fact that my card has been cloned twice in the last year. What the EF??!!!

So, egged on by my friends (who are great proponents on knowing your rights and who have reasonable clout with the press, heck, they ARE the media), I went home that night and wrote an email to Citibank. They have not replied as of yet.

Today, I headed down to CBTL at KLCC to speak to the manager. He wasn’t in, so the assistant manager had to do. I think this whole fiasco is an inside job, CBTL to be blamed entirely because if the cashier was honest, he would have given me back my card and not charged me TWICE for the purchase and kept the card for himself.

I got the number for the store manager and have just gotten off the phone with him. I am to receive a reply be tomorrow afternoon or evening.

CBTL had better re-evaluate the integrity of their employees. And Citibank had better not make me pay for those transactions. Preferably, CBTL could either give me vouchers that amount to that RM36 I paid or just fire the idiot who took my card. If all those things do not happen, I swear, there’ll be hell to pay.

In the first place, I should have been more careful. Sigh. But then again, I don’t usually use credit cards at outlets like Starbucks or CBTL. The amount spent usually is not big enough to warrant usage of a credit card. Stupid discount scheme!

So what have I learned?

That I cannot be la-la where valuables like credit cards are concerned.