Find The Boots

Rantings from a few corporate types about life, technology, travel, guns, politics, and everything good in the world.

Credit Card Blocking

Friday, July 28, 2006

So, I was perusing Consumerist the other day and spotted their tips to stop "Credit Card Blocking" by hotels.

What is blocking? Read this disaster story:

I checked in to an extended stay hotel (Staybridge Suites) for a 30-day stay, and was smart enough to know they'd want to block 30 days at $80/day. I asked them to back it down to a week at a time, which the clerk said she'd do. I wake up the next morning with the week's block along with the 30 day block, effectively locking $3K up on my debit card. I called my bank, they needed a fax to Visa Merchant Services, which I had the desk guy at the hotel put together.
No dice this morning, and they blocked ANOTHER $660 from me to total my hostage funds at $3700. I did get the bank and the hotel to kiss and make up and got the 30 day charge knocked off, which was pretty painless. Chase telephone banking knew the right answer and got me squared away pretty quick. Still, know what you're asking for and don't assume the desk clerks know what the hell they're doing even if you're asking.

I guess I've been using Amex too long - just don't have problems with stuff like that. But I did like the part where the hotel made it worse and worse and worse.

Now what I could really use would be some way to get my ^&*!@# expense reports approved and reimbursed before my flipping Amex bill was due!

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Find The Boots

An executive goes on a business trip. When he arrives, it's raining cats and dogs. To avoid ruining his shoes, he purchases a pair of galoshes for $15, which he expenses under "Misc." on his expense report. A week later, the accounting department rejects his expense report, with a post-it note that says that the company does not reimburse for items of clothing. The next trip, the executive turns in an expense report without the galoshes, but with a post-it note that says "FIND THE BOOTS!".