Goofy Financial Mistakes

[AmyMac1109]

I just spent a stupid amount of money on a single ticket to Game 5 of the World Series. Let's hope I don't leave devastated.

 

[AndreaDM]

I have a $50 gift card for Best Buy. The balance could be 0 for all I know now, got it from work years ago. Can't think of anything to buy at Best Buy. Not even sure where the gift card is even at.

I had $27 winning tickets from the big lottery a few years ago (1.7 billion?) Sat on a table for so long when I finally thought to cash them in, they were just blank pieces of paper.

$50 of overpriced snacks in the checkout lane. Stocking stuffers!

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I have a $50 gift card for Best Buy. The balance could be 0 for all I know now, got it from work years ago. Can't think of anything to buy at Best Buy. Not even sure where the gift card is even at.

I had $27 winning tickets from the big lottery a few years ago (1.7 billion?) Sat on a table for so long when I finally thought to cash them in, they were just blank pieces of paper.

$50 of overpriced snacks in the checkout lane. Stocking stuffers!

I was just going to say, at least buy $50 of Twizzlers from the check out lane! Chargers, cords for phone, earphones. Look online--they have a lot of stuff you'd never think they'd have at Best Buy (a memory foam pillow for example).

 

[gottalovepluto]

I was just going to say, at least buy $50 of Twizzlers from the check out lane! Chargers, cords for phone, earphones. Look online--they have a lot of stuff you'd never think they'd have at Best Buy (a memory foam pillow for example).

True story. I bought a waterpik from BB a couple years ago, they really do have some random stuff.

 

[AmyMac1109]

True story. I bought a waterpik from BB a couple years ago, they really do have some random stuff.

Yep, my most frequent purchases at Best Buy are baseball cards, Legos, and filters for my Air purifier. They truly carry such a random assortment of stuff, especially online.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I just spent a stupid amount of money on a single ticket to Game 5 of the World Series. Let's hope I don't leave devastated.

A few years back, Dh's brother had Red Sox season tickets, which gave him an "in" when they made it to the World Series. He treated DH to Game 2, I think, at Fenway, for his birthday. We live in North Carolina, so it was a splurge, but a great birthday gift all around. That year, the Sox won in 6 games. Had there been a Game 7, it would have been in Fenway, on DH's birthday (Halloween). I said, "If Game 7 happens, you're going. Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence!"

Afterwards, I took his various memorabilia from Game 2 to Hobby Lobby and had it mounted and framed, including a picture of him and his brother at the game, grinning from ear to ear. I call the display, "Two Idiots at Fenway". Especially after DH tried to mount it in the hallway, replacing the formal photo of our four children. Um, no. I have my limits.

 

[DisneyCowgirl]

I just spent a stupid amount of money on a single ticket to Game 5 of the World Series. Let's hope I don't leave devastated.

We're in Houston and looked at tickets, but we needed 4 so it was a NO! I guess this is one goofy financial mistake I didn't make.

 

[AmyMac1109]

A few years back, Dh's brother had Red Sox season tickets, which gave him an "in" when they made it to the World Series. He treated DH to Game 2, I think, at Fenway, for his birthday. We live in North Carolina, so it was a splurge, but a great birthday gift all around. That year, the Sox won in 6 games. Had there been a Game 7, it would have been in Fenway, on DH's birthday (Halloween). I said, "If Game 7 happens, you're going. Talk about a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence!"

Afterwards, I took his various memorabilia from Game 2 to Hobby Lobby and had it mounted and framed, including a picture of him and his brother at the game, grinning from ear to ear. I call the display, "Two Idiots at Fenway". Especially after DH tried to mount it in the hallway, replacing the formal photo of our four children. Um, no. I have my limits.

Haha! Amazing gift, but even as a diehard baseball fan, I would also draw the line at replacing the formal photo of your kids, lol.

We're in Houston and looked at tickets, but we needed 4 so it was a NO! I guess this is one goofy financial mistake I didn't make.

Ideally, I also wanted 4 tickets, but prices were insane. I spent twice as much on 1 WS Game 5 ticket than I did on FOUR NLCS Game 5 tickets. And the NLCS seats were significantly better. The prices in Philly were absolutely crazy compared to Houston. It would have been cheaper for me to buy a non-stop rt plane ticket from NJ to Houston and a single ticket to Game 2 than it was for my single ticket to Game 5 in Philly. Once you added in uber costs and a hotel overnight, they probably would have been the same cost, which is the only reason I didn't fly to Houston.

 

[bjscheel]

I wouldn't say this is entirely my fault. DD21 was going to Ireland for a short term study abroad in May for about 12 days. Verizon offers International Calling plans for daily, a month, and ongoing. After 10 days it gets cheaper to buy the month. So I put in online to sign her up for one month at $100.

A couple days before the trip, I chatted to confirm because I never got the email instructions they said would come. Rep said, no, she's not signed up, did you want daily or monthly? I said "monthly", which was apparently my fatal error.

Fees continued to show up after May, each time I would get on chat and they would apologize, say they cancelled it, and I'd get at least a partial credit. Yet it wouldn't be cancelled. Finally got it actually cancelled with someone who explained that my answer of "monthly" was the problem (monthly = ongoing). And who wouldn't credit me any further despite other reps promises of cancellation. Probably spent $400 on the $100 plan.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Haha! Amazing gift, but even as a diehard baseball fan, I would also draw the line at replacing the formal photo of your kids, lol.

Ideally, I also wanted 4 tickets, but prices were insane. I spent twice as much on 1 WS Game 5 ticket than I did on FOUR NLCS Game 5 tickets. And the NLCS seats were significantly better. The prices in Philly were absolutely crazy compared to Houston. It would have been cheaper for me to buy a non-stop rt plane ticket from NJ to Houston and a single ticket to Game 2 than it was for my single ticket to Game 5 in Philly. Once you added in uber costs and a hotel overnight, they probably would have been the same cost, which is the only reason I didn't fly to Houston.

See, I don't really consider this a financial mistake, so long as you're not doing it all the time and aren't going into massive debt because of it. Like with my husband--who knows when he's going to get the chance again to see the Red Sox in the World Series? And because his brother had the season tickets, he just paid face value for them. Of course, DH also had a bat, and a ring, and judging by the picture, they had swilled down a few of those $20 beers. Still, he may never get another chance in his lifetime, so I'm glad he went. Just don't put the framed memorabilia in place of my kids' portrait.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

Not really goofy but I have so many different monthly subscriptions that I never use and come out automatically from our account that I never get around to canceling. I also forgot to put parental controls on my youngests iPad and he wrung up a $700 bill on in-app and Amazon purchases. And last week I lost my wallet at target and didnt stop my cards quick enough and ended up with a $200 Etsy purchase on one of them.

 

[disneychrista]

Not really goofy but I have so many different monthly subscriptions that I never use and come out automatically from our account that I never get around to canceling. I also forgot to put parental controls on my youngests iPad and he wrung up a $700 bill on in-app and Amazon purchases. And last week I lost my wallet at target and didnt stop my cards quick enough and ended up with a $200 Etsy purchase on one of them.

You should dispute the Etsy purchases with your bank/credit card.

 

[afan]

You should dispute the Etsy purchases with your bank/credit card.

It's fraud if the card was stolen which is what it needs to be called. A dispute is when you don't get what you paid for. The first will get you a new card number, the 2nd won't.

 

[disneychrista]

It's fraud if the card was stolen which is what it needs to be called. A dispute is when you don't get what you paid for. The first will get you a new card number, the 2nd won't.

Either way the poster needs call her bank/credit card and let them know this charge was not made by them. But made when the card was lost/stolen.

 

[EilonwyWanderer]

I've posted this story elsewhere but, on our first cruise when we did Remy we misunderstood the pitch our waiter gave for the champagne pairing and thought that it was $180 including the meal, which seemed like a pretty good deal so we got it for both of us.

But no, it was $180 on top of the price of the meal for each of us. Spent basically our entire cruise budget the first night. We nearly fell over when we got the bill.

 

[afan]

Either way the poster needs call her bank/credit card and let them know this charge was not made by them. But made when the card was lost/stolen.

Agreed. There's a lot of people out there that use dispute when it's fraud and I think it's important people understand the difference so you use the correct words when calling. The rep you get may get to the actual problem but if they don't ask the right questions it could end up being disputed instead.

And any time you lose or misplace your card/wallet etc you should at a minimum freeze any card that was there. A lot you can do online or with the bank app. I know it's a hassle, left my purse in one of my college classes many, many years ago and we had to have our landlord come change the locks since we didn't know who had it. Had to take the bis home, roomate drive me back and use my spare key to get my car with no license. Thankfully the prof saw it and I was able to get it the next day but still a hassle.

 

[Jml813]

$50 of overpriced snacks in the checkout lane. Stocking stuffers!

Best buy also carries batteries so it's a good opportunity to use the gift card to stock up on those.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

You should dispute the Etsy purchases with your bank/credit card.

I declared the card lost and they’re issuing a new one and I’m not liable for the Etsy charge. Really disappointed me that someone would do that instead of turning in the wallet but that’s the world nowadays. My ID was in there too