Please don't put me on hold

Oh my goodness. I just got off the phone with my credit card company. Again. The week before Christmas, someone used our credit card for their own amusement all over Manhattan. Even though our card(s) were still in our wallet(s), somehow someone used it at the Olive Garden, Red Lobster, Hallmark Store, Duane Reade (like Rite Aid) and for thousands of dollars in cash advances. Anyway, it's taken months now for the credit card company to finish their "investigation" and remove the charges from our account. In the interim, they told me to just pay what I actually owe and to ignore the charges and mounting interest/finance charges. The last of the fraudulent charges were removed last week (after MANY calls on my part) but they failed to remove the interest/finance charges and the cash advance transaction fees. Ugh. So I called them today. Again. This time, at least, I have a direct number to the fraud investigation department. That saves a lot of time. Anyway, the call went a little something like this:

***5 min. pause while I listen to Muzak and wait for the next available associate***

Credit card company: Thank you for calling the fraud investigation department. Can I have your 16 digit account number please?

Me: Hi, please don't put me on hold. Whatever you do, I'm begging you, please don't put me on hold.

CCC: I just need your 16 digit account number, ma'am and we can get started.

Me: **sounding even more desperate and somewhat hysterical** I don't mean to sound weird, but seriously, if you put me on hold I might actually go postal or something.

CCC: OK, ma'am, let's get through the 16 digit account number and security questions and I'll do my best to not put you on hold.

**Flashback to 15 min. earlier**

I call the credit card company, after listening to 5 min. of Muzak I talk to a real person and tell him my dilemma of not getting the finance charges credited to my account, etc. He asks what the amounts are, we get into this big complicated discussion that involves a LOT of math and then he tells me to hold on for a moment. He puts me on hold while, I assume, he's calculating all the amounts. I wait and then I hear new Muzak with an intermittent voice telling me that my call is important to them and that I am waiting for the next available associate. But wait, there's more. It says the average wait time right now is TEN minutes. AAAARRRRRGGGGHHHH! Why am I even waiting for the next available associate? I already had a guy. We were friends. We were working together! Or wait, maybe not. Maybe he didn't like doing all that math so he decided to ditch me!?

SO, I wait on hold for about ten minutes (while listening to Muzak--it feels more like 10 hours) and try making my lunch at the same time. I can multi-task, right?! And then guess what happens. Oh yes. I get disconnected. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH! So I call back (thank goodness for that direct line) and wait my turn and get a new associate.

**Fast forward to present**

CCC: OK, ma'am, let's get through the 16 digit account number and security questions and I'll do my best to not put you on hold.

I explain what happened during my previous call and why I sound somewhat hysterical. She apologizes on behalf of the other doofus who was "helping" me--the guy who I thought was my friend--and tells me that she can solve my problem withOUT putting me on hold and that I should see my account credited within the next 1-2 billing cycles.

Me: That's it? I don't need to do anything else?

CCC: I'll take care of everything.

Me: We don't have to do any complicated math? You don't need me to tell you what all the finance charges are?

CCC: No, ma'am, I can do all that on my end. I apologize again for the what happened previously and you have a nice day.

Wow, that was it. I'm still a little skeptical that everything will magically be OK on my next statement, but we'll see. Maybe I won't cancel my account afterall. I was getting REAL close!