The stupidity, that is. Ebay, a company which, until now, I've thought of as pretty smart, write:
We are writing to alert you that your balance is not paid, because your credit/debit card declined eBay's attempt to charge your monthly invoice amount to your card.
Your payment is due by your next invoice date. Please follow these steps to make a payment:
- Go to the eBay Home page
- Select My eBay and logon with your eBay User ID and Password
- Select the Accounts Tab
- Select an option to Pay Your eBay Seller Fees (you will need to logon again)
As a courtesy, eBay will automatically make a second attempt to charge your card. This attempt will take place in about 5 to 7 days.
As a reminder, past due accounts may be restricted from buying or selling until payment is received
How much to I owe them?
Outstanding Payment Due: £0.00
I've written back.
So, if I don't pay you the £0.00 I owe you by the end of the month you'll do something horrible to me? I await your reply with amused indifference.
Let's see if they have a sense of humour.
It was cold and damp and foggy when Daisy and I went out for our walk this morning, unlike yesterday when it was bright and sunny. Then, we walked right round the hill to the neighbours; today, she refused to go past the end of the drive and is now sitting on the spare chair in my office in front of the fire.
I still have a recalcitrant computer to fettle and some articles to write before setting off to drop Ms Dog off with Wendy and then get to Avignon in time to get up at 6 tomorrow morning to start the whole stupidity all over again. I was feeling quite good until I wrote that.
Good news, though. My bag has turned up. Just after I'd started calling to cancel the credit cards, a very nice Mme Pongy rang to say she'd found it when she was parking her car and, she was very, very apologetic about this, she'd gone through it to find my telephone number.
Better, it turns out she's a teacher at the school next to Marie's and will be lunching at the square there today at midday. I call Marie and pass on the details, asking her to hand over a €50 reward. In the event Mme Pongy refused the reward so Marie quietly paid for her lunch - after which Mme Pogny rang to say thankyou, thankyou, thankyou, insisting that what she'd done was only normal and there was no need but thankyou and sorry again for riffling through your bag.
This is - I am really not exaggerating here - about the 10th time I've lost my bag; I've left it in taxis, on tubes and on supermarket shopping trolleys and every, single time it's come back completely intact. I once left it on the roof of my car and it was returned, intact and unharmed after falling off at several miles an hour.
But this is the last time. I've promised now to give up carrying it and to stick with carrying just a wallet in my pocket. Which I will also lose, of course. Sorry about that in advance.
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