The RV park we are in, Mesa Village, has recently changed hands. Before it sold it was hard enough to pay our rent as they would not accept cash or a cheque with the word "Canada" on it, even though it clearly stated, "US Dollar Account". The only option was Visa, which is what we used up to now.
This morning Norma walked over with my Visa card only to be told they are not accepting Visa. So, no cash, direct debit, cheque or credit card. That pretty much covers all the choices. Norma pressed her and was told another Canadian had paid with a money order.
So... down to Fry's Grocery I go and line up at Customer Service where they sell Western Union Money Orders. There I find out that these are to send money to someone and are generally used by Mexicans sending money home. For this they pay a $12.95 US service charge!
Next I tried the Wells Fargo Bank outlet in Fry's. Sorry, you have to have an account with Wells Fargo to buy a bank draft. No go.
Then it was a drive to the local Safeway where they have a branch of the US Bank. Finally! They will sell me a bank draft but only with cash, not my debit card or my credit card. I went to the ATM and withdrew $400 US in spite of the fact I thought my limit was $500 Canadian and this was way over that. I combined this with $50 from my pocket and I finally had my $450 US bank draft.
This all took about two hours. It is a good thing I am retired! And calm!
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That is just ridiculous. Are they trying to discourage people from staying there. My blood pressure would have been soaring.
ReplyDeleteHmm, for us we would just move on down the road. If you don't want our money somebody else will.
ReplyDeleteYep. See yah...pretty simple!
ReplyDeleteThis is a temporary glitch as the change of hands was just last month and the new owners don't have their payment setup in yet. At least that is what the email I got said. Sorry I forgot to warn you. I'll have to do the money order thing myself.
ReplyDeleteI think money orders at any Post Office are reasonably priced - now if you can find a PO without long lines.
ReplyDeleteNow there is a guaranteed way to go out of business!
ReplyDeleteNuts, glad it worked for you and you kept your cool. Me, I lost all my mexican patience in the first our in LA. A dude tried to line jump to register in the hotel and I told him wait his turn. Then we tried to buy a cheap bottle of wine at the corner store and he said know booze can we sold between 10 pm and 6 am!!!! Peter thought he was joking but he said it is the law. So we ended up with a $29 bottle sold from the Denny's attached to the hotel.
ReplyDeleteSometimes you gotta do what yo gotta do. Miss Mexico already.
Goodnews is we are shocked by how clean and dustfree our house is after three months. Seems we had a super dusty place in SMA. Have fun there, looking forward to reading about it.
We are looking forward to going!
DeleteIf you do your finances with a credit union, you are able to request changes to your limits on your card. There are two "sections" on the card for limits - one is for purchases you mAke, and the other is cash requests from atms. If you are a member in good standing, you may request changes to these limits, either up or down. There is a form used for you to sign requesting and "ok-ing" these changes. If you request a higher daily( 24 hrs) for cash withdrawals, say $1000.00 canadian, then your signature is the request and indemnity to cover the extra $500 that the card defaults to. I hope this makes sense. When Don and I travel, one of our debits cards has higher limits in case of emergency .... Hahaha ....like " bobs in jail"....anyway, your card may have been "upped" on it's limits, but it is a good idea when you get home to ask what the two 24 hours limits are at, at the present time. Cheers
ReplyDeleteThanks. I remember raising my limit a couple of years ago because I needed cash for something and I guess they never lowered it back down. The ATM withdrawal I made yesterday came to $555 CA and it went through so I guess this proves I am not at the default limit. I will talk to them when I get home.
DeleteYou can let a number of things slide in retirement that used to be issues when working day to day.
ReplyDeleteYes, it was less trouble to pay them the way they wanted that to pick up and move.
DeleteU da man!
ReplyDelete