Entry tags:
Daily Happiness
I finally got all the paperwork ready to be mailed to change my name with my credit cards. It was even more of a huge pain in the ass than I'd been anticipating. Irene didn't have any trouble when she changed hers, just called up and said she wanted to change her name, and they sent her some forms to fill in and return with copies of the docs.
Unfortunately the first card I called, Citibank, ended up not being nearly that easy. The rep I originally spoke with said he needed to forward me to a different rep. I thought nothing of it, and assumed it was just that he didn't know what to do for name changes, but then it turned out he sent me to fraud. Because I guess a person switching from a female-sounding name to a male-sounding name is so super suspicious, that even though they won't process a name change without copies of the official documents, which is what I was asking to send in, he can't just send me the paperwork, he has to report me as fraudulent. Okay, fuck you.
So then I got stuck with this woman in fraud for ages, who could neither help me nor seem to figure out what to do with me. Finally after much putting me on hold (thankfully I had the forethought to use Irene's phone instead of my own, since hers has plenty of minutes while mine is prepaid), the fraud woman said she was going to conference me in with another rep in another department, but then couldn't get that person on the line. Then she put me on hold again, and another person came on, but because the fraud woman wasn't there anymore, this new person said she had to hang up on me.
I was really pissed off by that time, so I complained on twitter, @replying Citibank, and that got the notice of a customer service person who told me to DM them and they would call me and tell me what to do. The rep I spoke with then was very helpful and apologetic, and told me this is a really basic thing that they process all the time, so she didn't know why these other people had had so much trouble, and just told me to send a letter and copies of the docs to their customer service.
So, I'm glad I finally got to speak with someone who wasn't treating me like a criminal for wanting to change my name, and I'm glad that you can get someone's notice on twitter like that these days, but I am still annoyed that I had to go through that in the first place. I have had that card for 17 years, though, and it has a high limit, so I want to keep a hold of it in case of an emergency, otherwise I would have been tempted to just cancel the account.
Anyway, I called three more out of five total credit card companies, and they all said the same thing, just send a letter and copies of the docs to this address, so since I was super sick and tired of the phone by then, I just assumed the fifth would be the same, found their customer service address online, and have all five ready to be sent out tomorrow. What would be really nice is if all this info was easily found on their websites so I could have avoided calling. Ugh.
Also I'm a bit worried because four of these cards were actually in my maiden name, so I am sending copies of the marriage license, too, and explaining that I changed my last name years ago, and then my first name recently. Hopefully that won't be too complicated for them to deal with.
I'm super glad to have it all done, though, as it's something I'd been dreading. Next week I will really for reals tackle the DMV. -_-
Daily Happysong:
![[personal profile]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nixwilliams - I Respect Women
I had forgotten about this song! How could that happen!? But I found it again tonight going through my library. This is an off-the-cuff song setting the words of an anti-feminist concern troll to music, which is a pretty awesome thing to do with troll comments. After listening to it I always get the catchy "but I am by no means a sexist" chorus stuck in my head.
Unfortunately the first card I called, Citibank, ended up not being nearly that easy. The rep I originally spoke with said he needed to forward me to a different rep. I thought nothing of it, and assumed it was just that he didn't know what to do for name changes, but then it turned out he sent me to fraud. Because I guess a person switching from a female-sounding name to a male-sounding name is so super suspicious, that even though they won't process a name change without copies of the official documents, which is what I was asking to send in, he can't just send me the paperwork, he has to report me as fraudulent. Okay, fuck you.
So then I got stuck with this woman in fraud for ages, who could neither help me nor seem to figure out what to do with me. Finally after much putting me on hold (thankfully I had the forethought to use Irene's phone instead of my own, since hers has plenty of minutes while mine is prepaid), the fraud woman said she was going to conference me in with another rep in another department, but then couldn't get that person on the line. Then she put me on hold again, and another person came on, but because the fraud woman wasn't there anymore, this new person said she had to hang up on me.
I was really pissed off by that time, so I complained on twitter, @replying Citibank, and that got the notice of a customer service person who told me to DM them and they would call me and tell me what to do. The rep I spoke with then was very helpful and apologetic, and told me this is a really basic thing that they process all the time, so she didn't know why these other people had had so much trouble, and just told me to send a letter and copies of the docs to their customer service.
So, I'm glad I finally got to speak with someone who wasn't treating me like a criminal for wanting to change my name, and I'm glad that you can get someone's notice on twitter like that these days, but I am still annoyed that I had to go through that in the first place. I have had that card for 17 years, though, and it has a high limit, so I want to keep a hold of it in case of an emergency, otherwise I would have been tempted to just cancel the account.
Anyway, I called three more out of five total credit card companies, and they all said the same thing, just send a letter and copies of the docs to this address, so since I was super sick and tired of the phone by then, I just assumed the fifth would be the same, found their customer service address online, and have all five ready to be sent out tomorrow. What would be really nice is if all this info was easily found on their websites so I could have avoided calling. Ugh.
Also I'm a bit worried because four of these cards were actually in my maiden name, so I am sending copies of the marriage license, too, and explaining that I changed my last name years ago, and then my first name recently. Hopefully that won't be too complicated for them to deal with.
I'm super glad to have it all done, though, as it's something I'd been dreading. Next week I will really for reals tackle the DMV. -_-
Daily Happysong:
nixwilliams - I Respect WomenI had forgotten about this song! How could that happen!? But I found it again tonight going through my library. This is an off-the-cuff song setting the words of an anti-feminist concern troll to music, which is a pretty awesome thing to do with troll comments. After listening to it I always get the catchy "but I am by no means a sexist" chorus stuck in my head.
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