positive for a change

I have a category for posts called collected moanings. Stuff that aggravates me gets dumped there from time to time. I'm mellow for the most part, but I've had my moments. There was the time when rental car agencies, online auction houses and credit card companies were trying to rope me in with the long lasso of customer fraud. Curiously, there isn't a category for the opposite. What if something positive happened? Well, it did today, and that reminded me that some other issues need setting straight as well.

What happened today is that I got an email from Delta notifying me that mileage expiration would henceforth be a thing of the past. Whatever the small print, I'm delighted. In my six years in Salt Lake City, a Delta hub, I've acquired plenty of miles, but since leaving the US, I haven't added to them. Once, only weeks before losing them, I had to buy a silly game for my iPod through the Delta SkyMiles website, investing three bucks to reset the countdown on my balance. Now, the countdown itself is a thing of the past. Thank you, Delta.

The two things that need to be setting straight concern Santander and eBay. Santander had charged me late fees and interested when their system failed to debit my current account with the outstanding balance. Phone calls got me nowhere, but in response to a physical letter, everything was sorted out. I received a response that had been signed by a human being and some remuneration. I still use the card.

eBay really frightened me with their handling of what was an obviously fraudulent user. I had paid for goods I never received, but the auction had disappeared online and it felt as if eBay were stonewalling the issue. This farce lasted a few more days but in the end I was refunded and there was no loss. I have since used eBay again, grudgingly.

Taking about grudges, Hertz couldn't even be bothered to respond to the letter I sent them complaining about the many disappointing rentals I had got through them last year. I was under the impression that if you want to make it absolutely clear to a company that you care, you should write and old-fashioned letter. Maybe that's not true anymore. Or maybe Hertz is just absolute rubbish. But saying this would be a bit too negative for this post.