Credit cards ripped you off? Report them to the BBB

Credit card companies, especially certain ones like Chase, are notorious for playing games that cost you money and could affect your credit report. It seems some of these companies will go to extreme lengths to take your money. While the unfair practices of raising your interest rate for no reason are under scrutiny and the government is working to pass bills to prevent CC companies from doing this, they still find other ways to rip you off.
Of course, the best prevention is to not have a credit card at all. Second would be to have a card like American Express and pay the ENTIRE balance off every month. For those of us who have leftover debt from a leaner time in our lives, such as college or graduate school, we are stuck with what we have and have to pay the balance off as best we can.
When Chase bought out WAMU, I was one of the unfortunate consumers who had a WAMU account, which I was very happy with and steadily paying down the balance, who now has to deal with horrible Chase. Over the years, Chase has lied to me telling me there were bad marks on my credit report that caused them to increase my interest (pulled said credit report, not one bad mark), that they were trying to "control my spending" so they increased my interest (balance wasn't increasing, just only could pay minimums at that time), etc. This buyout had me nervous from the beginning. Turns out, my nerves were right. Chase did not notify me that they now held my account, did not send me a paper bill, did not send me an email, in no way notified me of anything. My bill was always due no earlier than the 9th of the month and usually on the 12th. Yes, I know credit cards have variable due dates, but they have a minimum number of days between closing periods so it was never due before the 9th when I had WAMU. Chase changed the due date to earlier without notifying me so when I went to pay the bill, it ended up late according to them because the due date was now the 5th. When they assessed a late fee of $39 the next month, I called customer service. The phone center people were very rude, told me they couldn't reverse the charge and that it was a legitimate charge, blah blah blah. Asking to speak to a supervisor got this response "I can let you talk to them but they'll tell you the same thing". I repeated my request and got "It won't do you any good". So then, I screamed and got a supervisor. Of course, the supervisor said they wouldn't reverse the charge so I asked to speak to someone higher than her and got the first person I talked with. They just sit there passing the phone back and forth I guess. So, I was told that I could not speak to anyone higher in the company by calling and would have to communicate via mail. I sent a certified letter requesting that the late fee be reversed. Letter response said, guess what, they were not reversing the charge. By this point, I was so angry that I contacted the Better Business Bureau. They forwarded the complaint and, just yesterday, the lady from Chase called and reversed the late fee and made certain that my account showed as paid as agreed and on time. I don't care about the stupid $39 so much as the principle of them jerking me around, being rude, and then marking my account that I paid late when it wasn't my fault.
My advice, and this goes for businesses other than credit cards, if you have done everything you can to resolve an issue without satisfaction, contact the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint. Most companies do not want bad marks on their BBB profiles so they will try to resolve the problem. You may have to compromise.

Reverting IE8 back to IE7

Installation of IE8 may cause instability in Windows Mail that makes it periodically not open attachments of various file types although the attachments will open if you can get them to save. Most often, clicking on the attachment button just does nothing. Restarting Windows Mail may or may not allow you to open the attachment. Here is a fix from microsoft, revert back to IE7.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957700#fixit4me

To summarize, go to Control Panel, Programs, View Installed Updates, then uninstall Microsoft Internet Explorer 8. After a restart, it will revert back to IE7.
I suggest Mozilla Firefox as a more stable browser. Google Chrome is fast for any google related pages and faster for alot of other pages as well but it's not compatible with many types of media.

Parvovirus

http://www.examiner.com/x-7557-Birmingham-Dog-Care-Examiner~y2009m6d15-Parvovirus-even-older-dogs-can-contract-it

Latest Examiner article on parvovirus in canines.

Fostering

http://www.examiner.com/x-7557-Birmingham-Dog-Care-Examiner~y2009m6d14-The-rewards-of-fostering-a-homeless-dog

My latest Examiner article.

Newest foster Dakota

Dakota is a large, black and white German Shepherd. He was turned into a shelter for playing too rough with the Chihuahuas. The weird thing from my perspective is that he was fully vetted, neutered, up to date on heartworm prevention, and seemed to have a good temperament. So, we pulled him from the shelter and brought him home, on the request of GSRCA of course. This dog is fantastic! He gets along well with our male and 3 females, is already crate and house trained, is not destructive, and is fairly calm. The shelter said he was energetic but some playtime with my male, and he's lying on the couch wanting to be petted. Now, he is a BIG boy, will likely be 90 lbs at full maturity and weight and is very tall. He can put his head onto the kitchen table without stretching. However, he's not a snatcher and we haven't had much issue with him at all. He's very sweet and attention motivated. He likes to walk beside you with your hand scratching his head. I can't imagine anyone not wanting him and for the previous owner to take such good care of him but then take him to a shelter, I am flummoxed. Most dogs die in shelters, some kill rates are as high as 70%. The lucky ones have a Rescuer come get them but most do not because rescuers only have so much space in their homes to take dogs.
This boy hit the jackpot when the wonderful adoption coordinator from his shelter contacted us. We will place him into a good home and he will live with us until that time, as part of our family.

Natural flea control

Some info and some cautions on natural flea control from fellow Examiner and veterinarian Lorie Huston. Check out her great articles on other topics, including the differences in commercially available flea control products.

http://www.examiner.com/x-7468-Pet-Health-Examiner~y2009m6d10-Natural-flea-control-methods

PLEA FOR FOSTERS

If you live in the Alabama area and love dogs, we NEED you. As a dedicated rescue for German Shepherd Dogs, we do not want to turn any shelter dog away but right now, we are having to do so due to a lack of foster homes. We only have a few active fosters and two of them have multiple foster dogs. If you could open your home, even for just a short time, to a dog in need, the reward of seeing these dogs adopted is immeasurable.
Before you say it, no you will not get "too attached". When you know it's not your dog and you will not be keeping them, you do not become so attached. You don't let yourself. Besides that, this is not about the humans. Fostering is about literally saving the life of a dog who would otherwise die. Be selfless and help these dogs.
Please go to www.gsdcentral.petfinder.com and fill out the fostering application.
Remember, fostering expenses (food, heartworm preventative, flea preventative) are tax deductible since GSRCA is 501(c)3. GSRCA covers all veterinary expenses.
Please find it in your heart to help us help these dogs and save their lives.