Stupid tax, that's what Dave Ramsey calls it when you get in to a financial situation because you didn't pay attention to the details. I found some stupid tax yesterday. I haven't been using my Discover card because the reward categories aren't good for me this month. I checked the bill just to make sure I didn't owe anything and there was a $44 charge. The date was from last week and I didn't remember making a purchase last week. The company name was Yahoo and then a website. I thought for sure that it was an error and was about to call Discover when I decided to do a quick search for the website. As soon as it came up I realised what it was.2 years ago I was messing around with the idea of setting up some sort of web based business. I didn't know what I wanted to do or anything about websites. I saw a promotion from Yahoo that offered web hosting and a web site for $10. Great, I thought, a cheap way to get my feet wet. I signed up and charged it to my credit card. Not long after I lost interest in that idea and totally forgot about it. The $44 charge was for web hosting of that blank web page. Evidently, I signed up for more than just a $10 trial.
I was able to find my log in and password for Yahoo and I clicked on the tab that said 'payment history'. Yes, they charged me $44 last year too and I didn't even notice. I do scan my credit card bills but I must have missed it last year. If I hadn't stopped using my Discover card I might have missed it again. I cancelled the web page and deleted the credit card from my account. I briefly thought about trying to use the website for another year since I had already paid the hosting fee but I don't want it, I don't need it and I just want to get my credit card away from them.
So that's $88 in stupid tax that I have to work in to this month's budget. I would have much rather used that money for dog treats.
7 comments:
Water under the bridge or whatever they call it. Spilt (spilled?) milk.
Anyway, at least you caught it. Maybe you could email Yahoo customer service and ask for a refund because you never actually used the product. They would probably not do it, but an email is free.
I bet you find some money for dog treats somewhere.
Yes, water under the bridge. They had warnings about NO REFUNDS all over the place when I cancelled. I'll just add an extra month on to my mortgage plan and buy $1300 worth of dog treats. That would last a while!
You must use your credit card a lot, Daizy. I don't know how you could have missed that. I use mine so rarely that most months I don't even get a bill! No chance I'd ever miss a charge I never made or authorized.
Not that I keep a running total of these "live and learn" things, but I put this loss into the bucket of fortunate versus unfortunate things which happen. For example, when I find $10 on the sidewalk, I don't feel so bad if I do something stupid later which costs me $10. Call it "Even Steven," to use a more common term.
My first big entry into the plus column came many years ago when my bank made an error in my favor, posting a $100 deposit twice to my account. [I was pissed at the bank a few weeks earlier for bouncing a check in less than 24 hours after I wrote it so I wasn't gonna tell them about their error, figuring they would realize it and take the money back. They never did.] And in 2008 I found that $10 on the sidewalk and maybe a week later I found another $10 in cash plus an electronic transit fare card I was able to sell to a friend at a discount. Another $20 in the plus column.
I don't know if these things even out for you or are you in the red on these little life events. If you are in the red, I hope you are the beneficiary of some error in your favor so you can tell us all about one day.
P.S. Over the Cubicle Wall, "spilt" is an acceptable word in Scrabble. Feel free to use it again. :o)
Dave, yes things do seem to even out eventually. Like the reduction in salary last year and then the bonus this year. It wasn't really even but since I didn't expect the money it really was a bonus. And I do use my credit card for everything that I can for the cash back. Those are like little bonuses too.
wow, good catch though, before they charged you a lot more.
Hello sfgirl, thanks for stopping by. It was a good thing that I caught it after only $88. They could have charged whatever they wanted to since they had my card. that is scary.
How about a HOT AIR TAX for all those blabbering this GLOBAL WARMING bunk like AL GORE and GREENPEACE
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