My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

The BMO (Bank of Montreal) just drew me forty minutes closer to the end of my life (relax, a long way off yet).
Three weeks ago I was so busy chatting up Ivy, my favourite cashier at Swyers, that I keyed in my BMO Debit card number wrongly. Twice.
CLANG! went the gates.
I used my other debit/credit card instead and bicycled home whistling cheerfully, sat down at www.bmo.com and discovered that while I can change my BMO credit card PIN online, I cannot change my BMO debit card PIN online.
For the record, both cards are rectangular, made of blue plastic, magnetic stripe on the back, useful when unlocking doors, scraping ice off windshields etc.
Interestingly, BMO Mastercard is a spin-off organization housed in Burlington Ontario rather than BMO Itself, which is housed in Toronto.

From 10:41 until 11:20 I was on the phone with Andrea who made several forays and around 11:15 confessed that after several chats with her manager, there was nothing I could do if I was unable to visit a BMO ATM.
It is a six-hour and nineteen-minute bike ride to Clarenville, up hill and down.
I could break the trip into two parts and stop at, say, Lethbridge, but the nearest hotel to Lethbridge is in Bonavista or in Clarenville.
I could find a B&B but I would have to pay with my Credit Card.
Getting there would be a breeze, but pedaling home against our persistent north-easterly winds would not.

At 11:15 there arrives a long pause during which Andrea is hoping that I will say "Oh well, thanks for trying" and hang up the phone.

Instead I blurt out "Oh! Hang About!! I just realized that I didn't forget the debit card PIN - I lost the debit card. I can't see it anywhere (I had cleverly tossed it over my shoulder) It might have slipped out of my pocket while I was bicycling down to Swyers ..."

Much relieved at being able to help, Andrea has made arrangements for a new debit card, with a new PIN, to be sent to me by good old Canada Post. Piece of Cake; do it all the time.

Me? I want to call her "Debbie".

Now, back to work.
Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
HansV
Administrator
Posts: 78235
Joined: 16 Jan 2010, 00:14
Status: Microsoft MVP
Location: Wageningen, The Netherlands

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by HansV »

:grin: :doh:
Best wishes,
Hans

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

HansV wrote:
06 May 2022, 14:45
:grin: :doh:
I know.
Amazing, eh?
And there are those who laugh at me when I exalt "The good old days of punched cards", and yet, here we are, essentially solving a problem in modern technology by the device known one hundred and sixty years ago as the Pony Express!
Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
RonH
SilverLounger
Posts: 2057
Joined: 02 Mar 2010, 16:53
Location: An Aussie in Norway

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by RonH »

Brilliant Chris ... such quick thinking from a senior :clapping:

I have also had a 'no access card' because I entered wrong code twice on the net. Was an Aussie card and to reconnect card I had to phone from Norway ... difficult with answer delays of 1 hour +. Must remember to get a new card in future ... different phone number to call for 'new customers' with doubtless a quick answer.

Thanks for the tip
CYa Ron
W11 pc, Android toys.
The only reason we have the 4th dimension of Time is so that everything does not happen at once.

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

RonH wrote:
06 May 2022, 17:25
Brilliant Chris ... such quick thinking from a senior :clapping:
Thanks for the tip
You're welcome, Ron. Not bad for an old guy, eh?
To avoid soiling your own record, next time you forget your PIN or otherwise commit an evil deed with it, phone the help line, ask for Andrea (or Debbie) and tell her that this guy called Chris Greaves in Bonavista lost your debit card.

We know that she knows that I am in the habit of losing debit cards; nothing suspicious there.

Don't tell her that I a WEST Australian though, or she'll get suspicious and might not send me your new debit card with its new PIN.

Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
RonH
SilverLounger
Posts: 2057
Joined: 02 Mar 2010, 16:53
Location: An Aussie in Norway

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by RonH »

:hairout: :thankyou:
CYa Ron
W11 pc, Android toys.
The only reason we have the 4th dimension of Time is so that everything does not happen at once.

User avatar
stuck
Panoramic Lounger
Posts: 8125
Joined: 25 Jan 2010, 09:09
Location: retirement

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by stuck »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
06 May 2022, 14:12
...just drew me forty minutes closer to the end of my life...
I suffered a similar fate the other day when I phoned to renew car insurance. Apparently my call was important to them but it still took them 40 mins before someone took my call. Once I did speak to a human the renewal transaction took about 2-3 mins.

Hey ho, modern life.

Ken

User avatar
John Gray
PlatinumLounger
Posts: 5401
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 08:33
Location: A cathedral city in England

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by John Gray »

If one lives at the farthest end of the known universe, then it is not surprising that technology can often be found wanting. :sad:
Have you considered barter? :smile:
John Gray

Venison is quiet deer, and quite dear.

User avatar
BobH
UraniumLounger
Posts: 9211
Joined: 13 Feb 2010, 01:27
Location: Deep in the Heart of Texas

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by BobH »

Those automated response units (we called them IVRs for Interactive Voice Response) should all be programmed with the ability to leave a call-back number instead of placing you in a queue. That way you can get on with life until the return call comes in. We used to put that in the software when we installed those units.
Bob's yer Uncle
(1/2)(1+√5)
Intel Core i5, 3570K, 3.40 GHz, 16 GB RAM, ECS Z77 H2-A3 Mobo, Windows 10 >HPE 64-bit, MS Office 2016

User avatar
silverback
5StarLounger
Posts: 771
Joined: 29 Jan 2010, 13:30

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by silverback »

So I had to have a blood test. Results available by phone-in to the main phone number which is used by people trying to get an appointment. Ha!
Your are 14th in the queue. Calls taking longer because of Covid, staff sickness, only people wearing yellow today allowed in the surgery etc.
I was 57 minutes on hold. Finally, the receptionist answered - Name, address, oh blood test results. Doctor has seen them and all are normal. No further action required.
2 minutes, maximum 3
The thought that they might use a separate phone number for people to phone for results had not occurred to them; I asked. :hairout:
Silverback

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

John Gray wrote:
15 May 2022, 18:04
Have you considered barter? :smile:
Barter works a great deal here, Specifically the "scratch my back" type.
I wanted the driveway gone, and Bernard felt he owed me because he didn't have to drive 40 minutes to dump grass clippings. so he ripped the bitumen up by hand (that is, with mattock and shovel).
Bernard's friend Chris2 wanted a new driveway for his house and Bernard owed Chris2 a small favour, so Chris2 came and removed the bitumen.
Chris2 got credit at the bitumen recycling plant towards his future bill for asphalt.

At this point all three of us are happy.

I paid Lloyd Cooper to dig a trench for my electrical feed to the shed, and he agreed to break up the eighteen inches of gravel in the naked driveway.
As well he loosened the large rocks which helped to build my nasturtium/crocus rockery, which Debbie-across-the-street loves.
Then he wondered if he could have the gravel for HIS new driveway, I agreed, and was left holding a foot-deep cavity.

Finally Bernard and Gary both got to dump a year's grass-clippings from the roadside directly into the pit, and I added sawdust, which by now has turned to soil, so all three of us are happy.

The only cash expense was for digging the trench, which I wanted/had to have so that a plastic-conduit shielded cable could be installed against the time that I decide to push a steel shovel into wet soil.

Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

silverback wrote:
16 May 2022, 11:16
So I had to have a blood test. Results available by phone-in to the main phone number which is used by people trying to get an appointment. Ha!
You are indeed lucky.
For a year it has not been possible to get a blood test appointment here.
You cannot walk in and get a blood test.
You must phone for an appointment.
There is a message “We can’t come to the phone”, but no opportunity to leave a voice-mail asking for an appointment.
Called the hospital “There is only one girl working out there at the desk, you just have to keep trying." If there is only “one girl taking calls”, how is she busy 24/7? How can the clinic staff be so busy if we can't make appointments?

I know by direct conversation of two other people who have been unable to make appointments.
I know of two occasions where someone has had a blood test, taken medication for one month, and then been offered a second blood test - six weeks after the medication is finished. By which time the effects of medication may have 'worn off' which could easily lead to a mis-diagnosis.
Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

John Gray wrote:
15 May 2022, 18:04
If one lives at the farthest end of the known universe, then it is not surprising that technology can often be found wanting. :sad:
To my way of thinking it is the people in remote areas who would most benefit from technology. If you live in St John's you can request an inter-library loan online, fully automated, but if you live outside St John's - in Bonavista as an example - then after you have located the book details on your computer (or a library computer) you must write the ISBN, Author, Title on a piece of scrap paper (not a form) issued by the librarian, who then retypes the data into the computer; and of course if you get the response that " the computer couldn't find the book, sorry!", you are left wondering if the data was typed in accurately.
Banks ought to know that in small towns - anywhere in the world - there is likely to be only one brick-and-mortar ATM bank; or to devise a way for a checkout terminal doo-dad to serve as an authentication device. That used to be the case with credit-cards - we had to sign the back of the first receipt issued from a credit-card purchase.
Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
06 May 2022, 14:12
Much relieved at being able to help, Andrea has made arrangements for a new debit card, with a new PIN, to be sent to me by good old Canada Post. Piece of Cake; do it all the time.
My neighbour's want to know how my windows-project is coming along. yesterday in conversation with Linda I mentioned the debit-card debacle, and that if and when it arrived, my options were:-
1. Twelve hour and $50 round-trip to Clarenville (6am taxi pickup, 6pm taxi drop off) for five minutes at an ATM.
2. Get Darcy (currently unemployed) to drive me there and back for gas + his time, which would probably exceed $50 but would mean I was away from home for only three hours instead of twelve.
3. Rent a car for the day, but since there are no shiny new rental cars IN Bonavista, two guys would have to drive up from Clarenville (one guy to ferry the other guy back) so that I could drive that car to Clarenville and back, then the two guys would have to drive up from Clarenville so that the other guy could drive the poor car back to Clarenville. I have not looked into the cost because I don't want to clown around and pollute the atmosphere for three days.
4. Linda, like other residents, exclaims "Oh Come On!!! You come with us. We are always down there for a medical appointment, and never spend more than two hours in Clarenville." I point out that even so, that is five hours out of my life for the sake of a few dozen electrons, then I counter with "Why don't I just give you my debit card and ask YOU to key in the PIN for me? "Oh No!" says Linda, "they want you to key in the PIN yourself". I point out that this transaction has to be performed at an ATM, no teller involved. So how can any staff member know that it isn't me. (Apart from the fact that no staff member at that branch has ever met me). Linda is still thinking that one over.

Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
John Gray
PlatinumLounger
Posts: 5401
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 08:33
Location: A cathedral city in England

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by John Gray »

Can you not give The Lovely Linda®, or some other such person physically located in a place with modern facilities like electricity and roads, a Power of Attorney to act on your behalf when typing in PINs into ATMs, and the like?
Does the bank have a Policy for the Locationally Impaired members of Canadian society?
Seems like a chat with the bank manager is in order...
John Gray

Venison is quiet deer, and quite dear.

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

John Gray wrote:
16 May 2022, 12:36
Can you not give The Lovely Linda®, or some other such person physically located in a place with modern facilities like electricity and roads, a Power of Attorney to act on your behalf when typing in PINs into ATMs, and the like?
Does the bank have a Policy for the Locationally Impaired members of Canadian society?
Seems like a chat with the bank manager is in order...
Hi John. The bulk part of this idiotic situation is that there are no humans required in this decision-making process. All the decisions were made by human brains and encased in concrete years ago. (In the case of bankers brains, that degrades into 'from concrete to concrete'). Note that at the time I key in the PIN, no human other than me is involved, and if Linda, or John, or Hans or Rudi were to do me me the favour, no human other than Linda, or John, or Hans or Rudi is involved. That is, it is not in any way necessary that the card-lessee physically tap '1234' into the ATM; only that '1234' be tapped into the ATM.
No power of attorney is needed; only basic trust in the honesty of the accomplice in crime.

Let's face it, if I am already trusting Hubert or Linda or Darcy or ... with my life by having them hurtle me up and down twisty and hilly highway 230 for three hours, why shouldn't i trust them with the $12,153.08 CAD in the bank account? My life is surely worth more than $12,153.08 CAD, even though it is uninsured ...

The bank does have a Policy for the Locationally Impaired members of Canadian society? It is called SOL("Sertainly out of luck")

There is no longer any such thing as a chat with the bank manager, it is all toll-free help lines nowadays (for those of you who, like my colleague John Gray, live on tiny islands in the Atlantic Ocean) and the help line staff are armed with nothing else than a three-page script to follow.

(signed) "out on a limb(1)"
(1) Locationally Impaired Member of Bonavista"
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
06 May 2022, 14:12
... discovered that while I can change my BMO credit card PIN online, I cannot change my BMO debit card PIN online.... sent to me by good old Canada Post. Piece of Cake; do it all the time.
Update: Yesterday the new card arrived in the mail. I pedalled home quickly and spent two hours staring at the card, dreaming that everything might work out alright Real Soon Now.
It did; it has.
I pedaled to Swyers (hardware) and bought four metal pulleys, and used the new debit card with the old pin that I should have used four or five weeks ago. Ca-Ching!
So far so good.
I walked next door and brought bread flour etc at Swyers (grocers)
Ca-Ching!
Came home and put the card away.
Modern banks operate in real time but still do an awful lot of processing in batch mode overnight. No sense in pushing my luck by trying to pay off my Mastercard today (that is, yesterday). This morning, fooled away until after 7am Nld time, then had a shot at logging in online. The password didn't work until I changed the card number - the new debit has a different 16-digit number from the original debit card. Now we know why they need 16-digit numbers, right?
Used a different number, the new number. Pasted the Password from notepad.exe because my Shift key is wonky and I like to see what I am entering; that is, that the password in Notepad is correct.
Illegal!
Clicked on "Reset your password"
login20220518.png
I fooled around a bit more until I had swallowed my second coffee, then retired here to try logging in again before spending another 40 minutes on the toll-free-help-line-we-are-deeply-interested-in-serving-you.

This time I managed to log in. I think that I changed nothing. It is a 16-digit number and a pasted password, right?
I appear to have paid off the $5,612 balance, elevated a tad because i had problems logging in to BMO to pay off that $12 balance and in the time it took me to email myself 5,500 from my EQ savings account to my Scotia chequing, then log in to Scotia and pay 5,500 off my BMO Mastercxard (DO pay attention), the BMO slapped my wrist with with a $29 exceeded-limit-fee.
See? They can move like lightning when they want to.

This time tomorrow I might be in a position to email the hardware supplier in Lethbridge and tell him to send another $5,500 invoice that I can pay off with the Mastercard.
Or not, as the case might be.

All this because although I can change my BMO credit card PIN online, I cannot change my BMO debit card PIN online.

Cheers, Chris
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace

User avatar
ChrisGreaves
PlutoniumLounger
Posts: 15498
Joined: 24 Jan 2010, 23:23
Location: brings.slot.perky

Re: My life is slipping away, forty minutes at a time.

Post by ChrisGreaves »

ChrisGreaves wrote:
06 May 2022, 14:12
The BMO (Bank of Montreal) just drew me forty minutes closer to the end of my life (relax, a long way off yet).
I have mulled.
My working knowledge is limited to the Bank Of Montreal (BMO) one of Canada's five big banks, and operations within Canada.
Scotiabank says "Please visit a branch or ABM to create or change your PIN."
For the VISA card they say "You can set or change the PIN number for your Scotiabank Visa Travel & Hospitality card by calling the number on the back of the card. To set or change your PIN, you will be asked to provide your Date of Significance.
I have tried neither operation with Scotia.

In the long daylight hours of gardening that will occupy me if the weather gets warm, I shall continue to puzzle over why a credit card can be changed with a phone call or online web page, but a debit card change of pin is best resolved with a "lost card" and the purchase of a chocolate bar at a petrol station.
Cheers, Chris
An expensive day out: Wallet and Grimace