I’ve been living with my girlfriend for a little over a month now. We found our apartment by doing various Internet searches for “apartments in … .” Eventually, we found an apartment we both liked and made a final decision. One of the many sites that featured this apartment was Rent.com. On Rent.com, if you claim and verify that you found your new apartment on their site, they’ll send you a personal debit card with a $100 balance. Pretty nice. All you have to do is fill out some online forms and about 4-6 weeks later, voila, your card arrives in the mail.
Sounds pretty nice and simple.
We’ve authenticated and authorized; signed the back and what-not. Now, how are we going to use this newfound monetary freedom? I suggest groceries. Not a bad idea.
So, we’ve done the grocery dance – walking up and down all the aisles – browsing, picking up, putting back and we’re in the checkout line. My girlfriend suggests I go browse the Redbox vendor (maybe worthy of a separate post), so I do. I’m browsing when my girlfriend walks up to me and says, “hey, the card won’t work.” Ugh, here we go, I think as I walk back to the checkout counter. The clerk is some teenage girl, so I’m pretty sure I won’t get any help there. So, in an exercise of futility, I swipe the card and follow the necessary steps only to see the card has been rejected yet again. I sigh and choke back unbridled rage as I pull out my bank card and proceed to pay. Of course, after the payment clears, the clerk says something to the effect of: “oh, maybe it didn’t work because the card is for $100 and the bill was $101.xx.”
“Yes, maybe,” I say, as I try not to accidentally run her over repeatedly with the shopping cart.
$101 lighter. Thank you, Rent.com.
Which brings me to a few days ago. I’m on a video assignment for work when I realize that the current time is a good time to fill my car up with gasoline. I pull in and select my preferred method of payment thinking, ok, the grocery trip was an aberration, this shit’s got to work.
Um, no. I pay with my ATM card again, and pull away from the pump in a huff. Now, roughly $140 lighter.
But I digress, this piece of shit card has worked on something. Redbox, that sexy little DVD vending machine. It works on you. At $1.06 a pop, however, it’s going to take me a good deal of movie-watching to get that $100 worth. But, by god, I will be getting my money’s worth.
Thanks again Rent.com, you sons of bitches.
