So, school starts one week from today. For those of you who might be new to my blog, I have home-schooled Jake for the past 2 years. He is going back to public school in one week. So, we spent the weekend doing all the things I haven't had to do for 2 years...buying school clothes and school supplies.
The day started out pretty uneventful. We went to Sketchers (I love their deals - 4 pair of shoes for $107!) and then to the dance store (Kaylee starts ballet on Monday, too), then to Old Navy...we were truckin' along! Then, to the dreaded Wal-mart.
Now, everything that is in me hates to go to Wal-Mart...too many people, not a clean store...I just hate it. I *almost* went to HEB for school supplies...why did I not listen to myself? Ugh!
I have a habit when I shop. I ALWAYS (well, almost always, obviously) put my purse where the child seat is and buckle it in. Seriously, I mean, wrap the seat belt around the handle of the purse and buckle it. However, Saturday, Kaylee wanted to sit in the seat and so I dropped my purse into the back of the basket.
BIG MISTAKE!!!
So, there we are...all 4 of us...feeling really good about what we have accomplished...trekking over to the school supply section. There are a bizillion people in the school supply section! Everyone is grabbing crap off the shelves, bumping into each other, yelling at their kids. It is crazy! My family is dividing and conquering...read the list, go find the item, come back and drop it into the cart. I don't remember what I was looking for, but I turned to pick it up and the moment I turned around, I knew something wasn't right. I look in the back of the basket and see my purse wide open! I knew immediatly my wallet was gone!
I then start looking for David, who is off finding his school supply. We find each other and I tell him my wallet is gone. Now, at this point, we have probably been in the store a total of 15 minutes. He asks if I am sure I didn't leave it in the car and tells me he is going to check. I responded and asked him to give me his wallet so I could start calling the bank and the credit card company because I knew it was missing.
I was on the phone with the bank within 5 minutes of me realizing my wallet was missing. In this short amount of time, the bank told me that the idiots had already checked out of Wal-Mart TWICE! AMAZING!! She stopped the usage within a few minutes of me being on the phone with her. Then, as we were talking, within about 5 minutes, they were trying to use the card at HEB grocery store! CRAZY! Thank God she had already cut the card off! That was kind of sweet, actually! I loved it theat the idiots already knew that I knew! HA!
Once we called the police, called the credit card company and the bank, we went to talk to a manager at Wal-Mart. When I left my information for her, she told me that I was the 4th wallet reported stolen that day. WHAT???? Do you think someone should be working security in the school supply section?? (Guess not!)
So, then we went to HEB to talk to a manager about the charges that the idiots made there. You see, when they couldn't use the debit card, they started using my credit card...before I could get that call in, they had racked up $600 at HEB. I spoke with the manager about what had happened and gave her the times of the charges. She looked them up and discovered they had purchased gift cards...4 separate transactions, minutes apart, all for gift cards (why does this not red flag the system as suspicious activity?).
So, now I have spent the day getting a new drivers license and new social security cards for myself and the kids. I am so over the money part of this...I could actually care less that they stole my cash (of which I usually have none, but actually had $60 on Saturday) and my credit cards. I can put a stop to those things. I am really hating the fact that my drivers license and social security card is floating around out there somewhere...and those of my children! (Not to worry, we joined Life Lock Saturday night, but what a huge pain!)
So, all of this to say, 'Go with your gut!' I so wish I would have listened to myself and gone to HEB or locked my purse in the child seat like I usually do! I could just kick myself.
Lesson learned!
1 comment:
I actually like our Wal-Mart during the week but avoid it like the plague on weekends & the week before school starts. HEB can cancel the gift cards if they hadn't been redeemed by the time you notified them. That is what Wal-Mart did for us when our numbers were lifted. We had the actual debit cards but someone was using them in San Antonio of all places! Soc Sec is your big worry. Contact the credit bureaus and put out fraud alerts, unless that is part of Life Lock's stuff.
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