Contacting Credit Card Providers

I had a letter form one of my credit card providers, saying that they had not managed to collect my direct debit. Well, yes, it had been a difficult month and yes, there probably hadn’t been enough for the direct debit to go out.
So, I tried to phone. I got through to their automated paying service. After much punching in of numbers, it recognised me, my card, and the debit card with which I was paying. Then it started to read back the number I had given, in its funny, tinny voice. It got almost to the end. Then silence.
I rang back in, and went through the whole rigmarole again. It was still saying I owed money. I opted to speak to an operative. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait too long, although by the time I did speak to someone, I had been trying to solve this for forty minutes – forty minutes I wouldn’t normally have. And by the time everything was solved, we had used up an hour. Depending on which way you calculate it, my time is worth anything between fifteen and sixty pounds an hour.
I’d also been puzzled by the fact that the machine told me that my next payment would be paid by direct debit and the letter said it was cancelled. The young man I spoke to did get it all sorted out. The direct debit was still in place, but the debit card payment had not gone through. Good job I checked, really.