Shops for Home

In northern New Mexico, winter is more than a season: it’s a state of mind. Snowstorms alternate with brilliant sunny spells, and the shadows of the Jemez and Sangre de Cristo mountains stretch moodily across pinon-studded mesas. Charming adobes festooned with candy-red chili ristras peer out from under a blanket of snow, looking like icing-topped gingerbread houses.

With the first snowfall comes a slowing of life’s rhythms, as if both land and people heave a collective sigh and settle into repose. The mood is in sharp contrast to summer, when tourists by the carload create a kind of theme-park ambience.

Visitors this time of year can enjoy the season’s moods and vistas, as well as some distinct advantages. Air fares to Albuquerque (the closest airport) and hotel prices in Santa Fe and Taos are at their lowest December through March (not counting the Christmas-New Year’s period). Many accommodations come with fireplaces– mere decoration in summer but a welcome treat now. Shopkeepers, artists, and restaurant owners have more time and inclination to visit with guests.

Restaurant are easy to get into, except at Christmas, when you’ll need to reserve several days ahead. The same is true of hotels and ski resorts; while holiday reservations should be made up to a year ahead, the first three weeks of December and the rest of winter after January 6 are bookable on short notice.

             This was not a good day for my nerves in maintaining my various financial accounts. Today I have had to waste nearly an hour on the phone to fix errors by my banks. Here’s a rundown of the stupidity:

Chase - I opened a new Chase personal credit card account in October and did a balance transfer to my Capital One account, where the promotional rate was about to expire. After a couple of weeks, the account was no longer available for viewing on my Chase Online page and over a month past the opening date I had yet to receive a statement. I called to find out that a fraud alert had been placed on my account (although no one from Chase ever called to tell me that) and I had to basically re-answer all of the questions from my application to verify that it is indeed a legitimate account. Thankfully everything is fixed now, but it is still a royal PITA. Time wasted: 22 minutes.

Capital One - Despite calling twice to verify that no finance charge would be assessed on my promotional balance if I paid it off before November 1, on my latest statement the clowns at Capital One proceeded to charge be a finance charge on the balance I paid off on October 23. I called up customer service and waited on hold for a while for the first line rep, who immediately declared he could do nothing for me and I would need to talk to an account manager. After waiting on hold for the account manager for a while longer, she comes on the line and I repeat my story and she looks at the account and agrees that an adjustment is needed almost immediately. Time wasted: 25 minutes.

HSBC - Reviewing all of my accounts in Yodlee, I noted that my HSBC Checking which I closed last month had been charged a service fee of $12 for falling below the minimum balance requirement. I call up HSBC and after navigating their Labyrinth of a phone tree menu I finally talk to a person and explain the situation twice. She reviews the account and noted the account had been requested closed last month and manually closed the account and submitted the credit to reverse the finance charge. Time wasted: 9 minutes.

In total I spent 54 minutes on the phone correcting errors made by my banks. This isn’t including the time I spent to pull up my notes on the accounts. I also didn’t even do anything with a bank by mail deposit that isn’t showing up on my Presidential Checking account, although at this point I can’t be sure if it is an error by the bank or the postal service lost the deposit in transit.