A Laundry List Of Incompetence

(The laundry machines in my building use a card system. The machine eats my card with $40 left on it. I call the card company and they say to mail it in and they’ll send a replacement. After a few weeks I haven’t heard anything and my laundry is piling up, so I call them to check up.)

Phone Rep: “I don’t see anything about it in my system. I’ll need to enter your information now.”

Me: “Oy vey. Okay, I can’t really wait for a replacement card anymore, so when that goes through can you just send me a refund?”

Phone Rep: “Okay, so you want a refund check and then a blank card?”

Me: “No, I’m going to buy a card in the machine here. Just send me a refund.”

Phone Rep: “So you want a $40 card.”

Me: “No. I want a refund. I will buy the card myself.”

Phone Rep: “Okay, so it is a $40 refund and a new card.”

Me: “…I think we’re having a miscommunication somewhere here. Please do not send me any kind of card. I just need a refund of $40.”

(We repeated the above almost exactly twice more. I hung up feeling very nervous, but she swore she understood that I would take care of purchasing my own card and she only had to secure my refund of $40… which is why I was very confused when I opened my mailbox today and saw a new card with $4 on it.)