MEETIC Fees Refunded

The Meetic fees are back in my account - at least they are pending.

Of course, the NSF fees are still missing...

Someone asked me today when I was taking the blog down. I'm leaving it up for 90 days after the account is closed.

I figure 90 days is long enough to be sure there are no outstanding "charges" that were "preapproved" before the account was closed. I don't want the beast waking back up to terrorize me.

The right hand doesn't even know there IS a left hand...

...let alone know what it's doing!

A few days ago, I was told by Regions customer support that they had no idea what this Meetic is, what their phone number is, etc.

Well, I just received my bank statement.

There it is: MEETIC BOULOGNE-BIL

I love Google.

Goliath not only has an address for the company, they have a phone number, a fax number, and a web site URL for MEETIC.

Meetic S.A.
International Private company
66 Rte. de la Reine, Boulogne-Billancourt, , France
()33 01 58 17 05 70, 33 01 58 17 05 71 fax, http://www.meetic-corp.com/
Primary SIC: Miscellaneous Personal Services, Not Elsewhere Classified, Primary NAICS: All Other Personal ServicesDescription: Services: Operation of on-line introduction and dating service

That's fairly definitive, don't you agree?

Why does Regions shield information from their employees that later shows up on its customers' bank statements? That is just so silly! All they had to do was tell me the words "MEETIC BOULOGNE-BIL", and I'd have looked it up and then filed a fraud complaint immediately.

I wasn't sure what MEETIC was at the time, but I for dag-gone sure never sent money to a French dating company!

So, I printed the page from Goliath and will take it to the bank - not that anything will come of it. I thought about going to the MEETIC web site, but decided I don't want it on my computer - just in case someone in a lime-green trench coat shows up to examine my computer for evidence.

May Have Assumed Some Things About Jill

So - Jill let me down.

I finally made it to the bank yesterday to get the cash that had been deposited last week, but that Jill had been unable to access because of the "no post" status. She was waiting for someone who was in a meeting to help her, and promised to call me at home as soon as she got the money.

Anyway, when I got there yesterday, she told me she actually did find out how to do it herself after all (this is 4 days later), and it would only take a minute.

She left me sitting at the desk for...ten...min...utes...popping back in to say she had "figured it out", and it would only be two more minutes.

She did bring the cash to me, but I was pretty irritated by that time - after all, I'd been left there long enough to have time to contemplate what she'd just said.

I was there last Friday to get that money, and she didn't know how to do it? Where in the world did she get her training? She's not even a teller - she has an office! I had to borrow the money I needed to get through the weekend because she didn't know what she was doing!

I checked my account online this morning, and the debit was noted with the phrase "forced check". Apparently Jill didn't know how to do that until my situation put her in a position to have to learn it.

I've got the money now, so that's OK. Payroll stopped my direct deposit, and the paper check is on the way, so Regions can't get their hands on that. I've left a few dollars in my account so that it won't close before Regions returns the stolen funds and the immoral fees, but I'm about, quite frankly, to give up on ever seeing my money.

What a pack of monkeys they turned out to be.

Exhausting Weekend, Still No Money

Well, Jill did call me and leave a message on Friday. She said she'd been able to get an agreed-upon amount of money out of my account that had been deposited the day before.

However, she called at a time when I was unable to answer the phone or even go to the bank (about 2:30 PM).

I checked my account today, and apparently she returned the money to my account, because it's there. The money I'm actually looking for (the money stolen by "MEETIC" and the fees unjustly taken out by Regions) is still missing. What a bunch of greedy creeps to hold onto my money even after they know the scoop.

Unlike my new bank, First Tennessee, Regions closes early on Mondays so I was unable to go up there today and speak with Jill.

I have it on my list for tomorrow's lunch break.

Why does a little pat on the head make me feel better?

What is it about me, that Regions can pat me on my head, return a fraction of my money, and I start to feel victorious, rich and successful again?

I should check into some counseling sessions - maybe watch a little Dave Ramsey today.

So, the update on my account is this: the money stolen from me yesterday by MEETIC, along with the international fee and the NSF fee, have been returned.

A deposit from PayPal is pending, and I can see it. (Due to the time it takes to set up bank account info on PayPal, I didn't have time to direct the deposit into my new First TN account, or believe me, it wouldn't be in my scary Regions account right now.)

I'll go to the bank as soon as it's open and see if I can free it - or if this "no post" thing is going to protect my money from me as well as from the thieves.

Jill probably won't be surprised to see me standing by the front door when she comes to work this morning...

Maybe Regions isn't all that bad...

...they put 44 cents in my checking account today. Check card rewards!

That makes it almost worth it.

That Jill. She's My Friend in the Tall Grass

I'm glad to know that I've had just enough calmness to not alienate Jill, the only Regions employee to even come close to helping me out.

So anyway, my sister went to the bank with me this morning, but first we discussed what we would do - close our accounts and leave? Yell and holler? We agreed the best thing to do was to work with Jill and get this behind me before burning all of our bridges.

When we walked into the bank, Jill was ready. She had already been looking at my account, and had printed everything out for me. She had even called the secret hotline and spoken to a secret person who had already hit the special green button to refund the fees and charges that had rolled in overnight.

I just checked my account, and the NSF refund is pending, rocketing my account balance straight up to a negative $21.16. Soon I can expect to be back at zero. Of course, I still haven't gotten any of the other fees and charges back yet, but - baby steps!

My sister and I had questions, and Jill did her job to the best of her ability.

"What about all those pre-authorizations", we asked, "how many are there? Can we make them stop? Why can't anyone see them coming? Why can't MEETIC just be blocked?"

Jill informed us that preauthorizations only last for 48 to 72 hours, so having the card closed should finally put an end to all that.

"But, I protested, "the charge I got hit with on the 13th was preauthorized on the 8th. That's five days."

"Oh. Yeah. I don't know...72 hours...I thought, well..." her voice trailed off hesitantly.

So then Jill recommends that we close the account entirely, but of course we can't do that to an account that's in the red - and besides, we don't want to do anything that will keep Regions from putting my money back into the account. Jill tells me that what she can do is change the account status to "no posts" - this means that nobody can post any charges to my account, with or without preauthorization. I can't write checks, use the ATM, or do anything in my own account without doing it in person at her desk now.

She assured me that an incoming credit from PayPal will make it through, and any payroll deposits.

I'm scared to believe it, and scared not to. I told her to go ahead and mark it "no posts". As I walked out the door, I wondered why it took so long to come up with that idea...but, no. Shake it off. Vent on the blog - not in the bank.

Now I wait.

If I had any money left, I might go to Sam's and buy a case of pencils to sell on the street corner.

I need some money!