Phoney Baloney

I don't think of myself as someone who is easily swindled. I have a healthy dose of disbelief for anything that sounds too good to be true. But recently I have found myself playing the fool. Twice.

Foolhardy moment #1 - I got a telemarketer call from HBC about some sort of rewards membership thing. To be completely honest with you, I cannot even recall what the benefits were of buying into the thing. But the savvy person on the other end of the line kept me on long enough to explain that I'd get a $25 HBC gift card just for signing up and that I could cancel my membership before they charged me anything, but still keep the gift card.

It sounded like free money to me! That's when the warning bells should have gone off.

Several months go by and every once in a while I think to myself, "Hey, I never got anything from HBC!" Until a couple of weeks ago when I finally did receive something. A bill. A bill for a service that I didn't understand and had never received any supplementary information about.

I was mad! But, to their credit, once I got in touch with the proper person they cancelled my membership and the charge, no problem. Phew!!

Foolhardy moment #2 - A few months ago, when the SATC movie had just come out and the buzz around the show was all over the place, a Facebook ad caught my eye. It was a contest to win a MacBook and a trip to NYC. !!! Those are two things at the top of my wish list! So I clicked on the ad to enter. They asked for all the regular information and then asked for my cell number. I didn't think too much of it, so I entered it. AFTER I entered it and clicked through, there was a message saying that they would be sending trivia questions to my phone. Every right answer was a ballot in the contest AND WOULD COST $2!!

So obviously when the texts started coming in - at least a couple every week - I never responded. I wasn't about to pay $2 to respond. And after several weeks of annoying messages, I responded with a single word: STOP. (My deskmate had called her service provider to find out how to stop some messages that she was getting and they explained that that's all you have to do. Take note!)

Anyway, my cellphone bill arrives last week and there is a $38 charge for 19"premium" text messages! So obviously I was also being charged $2 every time they sent a message!!

I have no intention of paying this charge, particularly since there was no mention on the contest thing until after I gave them my number, but I'm still working up the energy and nerve to call Telus and complain. I mean, who gets that $38? Telus!? As if. It's so ridiculous.

I'll let you know how it plays out.

And, sadly, the Nano update is that it's still MIA. I am losing hope that it will every be recovered. And I feel really terrible that I lost it. It was an expensive gift that I didn't take good enough care of. My bad.

Total debt: $4739 and a bit
Spent Saturday: $5
Spent Sunday: $38-ish
Spent today: $9.77

PS. I'm concerned about money this week. I'm not sure I can stay within my budget and do all the things I need to do...