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I am a life coach and motivational speaker.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Third Party Involvement

I received my credit card bill the other day and saw that a charge that should have been credited, wasn't. I called the company that provided the service and they did not return my call that day. I decided to be proactive and call Visa to alert them of the pending credit, so when I did not pay the bill they would know I was not delinquent. I was connected to JoMarie who told me that she would make a notation of this, but that I needed an "independent third party", who provided the same type of service, to write a letter on my behalf, saying how they would have handled things instead. What? Why would a third party, who I am not doing business with, take time out of their day and pay an employee to write a letter for a stranger? Were we now in English 101? I tried to explain to JoMarie that the letter would never be written. She then transferred me to Linda, her supervisor. Linda gave me the same story and could not understand that no independent company is going to do what they asked. I then decided to use my Life Coaching skills and treat her like a client. I started to ask her questions, until she came to the same conclusion as I did.:
Me: "Linda, do you think that a letter should be written, by someone that does not know me"?
Linda: "Yes, Ma'am".
Me: "Do you think that you could write a letter for me, to that third party, requesting a letter and explaining why Visa needs them to do this"?
Linda: "No. I can't do that".
Me: "Why"?
Linda: "Because, I work for Visa, and cannot write a letter for someone else".
Me: "Why"?
Linda: "Because it has nothing to do with my job".
Me: "Tell me why".
Linda: "Because there are legal issues involved with putting things in writing, for someone else".
Me: "OK, now you just answered the question as to why I would not be able to get this letter".
Linda: "Ohhhhhh".
At this point she put me on hold, connected into a three way call with her supervisor, and the charge was put on hold, without a letter. I congratulated Linda on passing her first Life Coaching class.

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