American Express

It seems to me that more companies are trying to get you to do the work they are getting paid for. It's become"Well, you need to call such and such..." Go buy something and see how you even swipe the credit card while the cashier stands there. Think about the airlines; they advertise how you can go to to their website to make changes to your flights, then charge you for it. Southwest is an exception.

American Express sent me a bill on a card I cancelled last year. There was a charge from Federal Express on it. And the bill even said "Your account is closed" on it. The rep there says she could see the account was closed, how she'd never seen anything like this happen, and proceeds to tell me that FedEx must have made a mistake. I reminded her that it was two companies' mistakes. Then she tells me to make sure I call FedEx to let them know. Arghh!

I did it just to be sure. The FedEx person said the charge was from someone in Pennsylvania. And that she'd reverse the charge. She still didn't get it that it was a dead card. "You won't have to pay it", she says. No kidding.

How does a credit card company allow a charge on a cancelled card, then send you a bill? And then ask you to call back in three days to make sure they did it? I'm not their Dad. I shouldn't have to "call them in three business days" to see if they did their job. Am I alone on this?

And don't get me going on the new Ft. Myers airport. It's regularly 45 minutes to get your luggage, even with a new terminal and state-of-the-art baggage system. Worse than any airport except Vegas, where half the civilized world goes on any given weekend. I finally complained and the airport blames the airlines and the airlines blame the airport.

Two things bug me about this. One is the lack of taking responsibility. The other is that it takes my time, and I can't get that back. I'll bet I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the credit card and FedEx people. I shouldn't have to do that if they do there job and it just seems to be getting more frequent.

So tell that cashier, "You're working, you swipe it."