I appreciate the Visa fraud prevention people.

I really do, but it’s getting to the point that you can’t even use a credit card anymore.  Michele at Bookster sent me a bill to get on with the making of my overcoat this morning, so I whip out a credit card and proceed to attempt to pay.  Denied.  Annoyed, knowing I have a limit on that card high enough to buy a car, I pay the bill with my debit card and that went through fine. Five minutes later, I get a call from Visa Fraud Prevention asking if I bought something from Bookster with my debit card and informing me that my card would be frozen unless I told them I approved the purchase.  A half hour after that I get a call from Visa Fraud Prevention asking if I’d TRIED to buy something from Bookster with my credit card, and giving me the same story about my temporarily frozen card.

The last time I ordered from Hemrajani, Joe Hemrajani e-mailed me to say that the bill had been denied, and I had to call the credit card company to approve the purchase and tell Joe to run it through again.

I really do appreciate that they’re trying to protect themselves and me, but when it becomes impossible to use a card to actually, you know, pay for things, the utility of the system has to be called into question.  And maybe that’s what they want right now, I don’t know.  All I know is that it’s becoming a pain.