Real Life reasons to careful II

raceman · Jan 19, 2005

Because you all truely seem to understand and others are getting help from this I will continue to show you the fall of an Empire. :0 From my first POST you know the situation. I will now add some info for you to be sure you really have money even though you are sure you have money

Bare with me. I ordered my transmission and Clutch assy. I gave the Manufacturer credit card (DEbit Card) over the phone to ship the parts. I called this morning after talking to the garage to get shipping info. They transferred me around and finally I was told nothing shipped because my card was denied. In a panic and almost in tears I called the bank. Here is the lesson. The bank informed me they put a $2000.00 limit on that card for theft reasons and that because the bill was much more than that it was declined. So be sure you understand your card limits. I then thought I had all worked out called back and explained we would have to break it up on two cards because of the fact even with the bank increasing the limit it could not happen for 24 hours. So I said I would some of it on a Discover. They would not take Discover. I finally asked General Truck Parts how I can do this today. They said I would have to wire the money. I did that. Called them and they said they would have to wait until everything could clear or for me to fax them a copy of the wire. The bottom line is that I think it will now ship tonight and arrive Thursday. I hope.

The things that I have learned here is that even though I could pull the money together it just could not be done because of bank limitations and so on. I suggest one of the things to be sure is that you have a few options to transfer money over a phone or credit cards to pay with. Evidently AMEX and Discover are not as widely accepted as we all think. I am sure there are many ways for all this to work but with this company it was Visa, MasterCard or someway to pay via wire. If I had the time a check would have worked or if I had an account with them it would have worked. Maybe something good to have would be a parts supplier where you have an open account.

I will also put in here without a lot of info the places that are bending over backwards to help me. Schille National Lease in Indy(I have a background with them)We intially went to Stoops Freightliner but they could not get us in for 3 days. General Truck Parts in Chicago(again a history)I do recommend them highly just make sure you can pay by their methods. The Knights Inn in Indy is being very good to my driver(I have no idea why, maybe just good people) Freightliner in Cincinnati has my other truck and lets just say at this point they know I am against the wall and they are being patient.

So although I am very well versed in my ability to research I never saw all this coming. I take better care of my trucks than I do my own bedroom or bathroom and this still happened. I guess the big lesson is we can do everything we can do to get ready but being ready is a very different story.
The Owner who once went by RACEMAN but due to the outcome of the Nextel Cup, am now just 6.

Dreamer · Jan 19, 2005

I too, learned this the hard way.. after that happened, I started calling banks, till I found one that's daily limit is simply whatever you have in your account.

I understand they're trying to do fraud prevention, but they get carried away. I had a fight with one of my bank cards this Christmas because they locked a card.. My wife went too many times to one store in the same week, so they assumed it was fraud, and locked it without calling or anything. Took me a week, 2 phone calls, and waiting on an official form to be mailed to our home address, to fill out to prove who we were, and get it unlocked.

Had this been a business purchase, like yours, it would have been disastrous.

It would be in everyones best interest to make sure their bank's limitations don't limit YOU.

Dreamer

Twmaster · Jan 19, 2005

Hey Raceman!

Bravo on your posting this next act in your saga.

Many of us, myself included, would probobly not be willing to share that kind of detail and frustration about one's issuses getting payment squared away.

This truely is a lesson to *everyone* that they need to be prepared financially to deal with the worst. I will also (shamefully) admit that if I were to lose an engine or trans in my van I would be in deep doo-doo as I don't have much in my 'fund'.

Thankfully it sounds like you are on the way to getting that truck back on the road.

It just hit me. I could not imagine trying to deal with this while away from home without all the information/details/phone numbers at my finger tips.

--
Mike N

Faster than a speeding poulet.

raceman · Jan 19, 2005

Tw, You are right. I am at home and it is still a nightmare. I would suggest everyone keep a notebook with all your needed phones numbers and contacts and accounts. I am in my own home and I can not get this done easily. On the road as you mention, I think I would be in a ball crying. I am moments away from that anyway. I am waiting for the call to tell me they got the wire and it has yet to come. So I am still uneasy and worried. Another 10 minutes and I will call them again. All I can folks is plan for more than the worst. Because it does get worse than that. I can only hope this helps some people because it is this side of simply unreal.

The Owner who once went by RACEMAN but due to the outcome of the Nextel Cup, am now just 6.

Tom Robertson · Jan 20, 2005

Raceman...

Once again truly sorry for the problems you are encoutering.

As an owner, if you are set up as a C corp or LLC, it is important to establish credit for your "company." If you are just starting out it may be impossible to get credit cards. You can however get a debit card in your company name. This will help you to acquire a credit card at a later date. You have experienced the reason I suggested the figure of $10K being set aside for the unforeseen expenses in this industry. If you have set aside this fund, and cannot obtain credit, it would be an excellent idea to place these funds in the debit account mentioned earlier. I would suggest either MC or Visa. Use this method to pay any and all repairs for your vehicle(s), and replenish the amount as quickly as possible. If you can accomplish this within a 30 day period, for several months you will find it much easier to obtain credit with either of the CC companies mentioned. Once that is done you still need to keep the $10K set aside, but then you can place it in a savings account and draw interest rather than having it collect dust in the debit account. I use a simple rule both corporately and personally,

If you can't pay for it today, then wait until you have the funds.
That statement includes the purchases of trucks. You will still need credit for your company for situations like you have gone through, but it so much easier to get credit...when you don't need it.

raceman · Jan 20, 2005

Tom, I agree 100%. To clarify this card problem was on a debit card I use for the trucks. What happened was that I had no idea they had limits set on it. It was not based on what was in the account. It was just a plain old flat limit on a one time purchase. The bank had it set and rejected it the charge which was above it. I had no idea they do that but they said it was standard practice. I never heard that and I do not remeber reading that. But I will not forget it.

Once we figured that out then they claimed it takes 24 hours to an increase to go into affect. It is just nuts. I wired the money to make it happen. I can tell you what, TWMaster is right. If some poor guy was on the road and all this happened, I could see where once the tears stopped a few cracked skulls may follow. It is just crazy all that happens once the doo starts down the hill. I am happy to report that the Tranny arrived at the garage today and I hope that truck is rolling sometime Friday. God knows I am asking for that to be the case. Again I do thank everyone for their concern and kind words. All I can say is that this has really sucked.

The Owner who once went by RACEMAN but due to the outcome of the Nextel Cup, am now just 6.

DocRushing · Jan 20, 2005

My Mastercard account also has a daily limit of $2,000.
However, when I do intend to make one or more purchases exceeding that daily limit, first I call my bank, answer the usual security questions, then explain my need and get an increase on the spot.
That increase remains valid until midnight that night.
When we've gone to Mexico or overseas, we've called ahead -- to assure the bank that we really were the ones who would use the card in those unusual places.
We did likewise in 2003 before going to Turkey and Iraq (yes, really!).
That technique helped to make it very easy to charge a hotel bill and to change flight plans while still in Istanbul.
The people at the bank have never hassled us about our calling about that, and they've thanked us for having called ahead.
Doc.