In case any of you are wondering why I haven’t written for a while , it’s just because August has been one crazy month.

It all began with my 3 1/2 month old Samsung refrigerator that suddenly stopped working.

An August escapade

I rang up a Samsung Customer Care number that I found on Google Search to register a complaint about my new Samsung fridge.

The person told me that he would give me a WhatsApp call and take the details as he couldn’t hear clearly .

So he WhatsApped me and told me that he would send a techinician within an hour . He also sent an SMS with my Complaint number and sent a link to complete the registration process

When I did so, he asked me to pay a Service Booking fee of Rs 5. I told him that he was talking nonsense because no company had ever asked for a payment before . And that I would pay the visit charge after the visit.

But he insisted that the Engineer would only visit AFTER I booked the appointment. And besides it was only Rs 5.

So I asked him how I could send it .

He said he would send me his bank details. So he asked me to screen share and told me his bank account no .

Then he asked me to fill in the first 5 digits of my phone number as the amount and Rs 5 in the message and press proceed

I told him this was rubbish and that he would be taking Rs 98200 from me .

So I still told him that this was highly irregular as Samsung would have all my details as a registered customer in their data base.

He said no madam , this money won’t go anywhere it is YOUR phone number that we want to verify .

Again he insisted that this was only Rs 5 and since many websites do ask for a Re 1 transaction to verify I foolishly complied

And then when I didn’t get another SMS confirming the engineer’s visit , I rang up another number which turned out to be the genuine one .

I mentioned my complaint number to him and he said that there was no such number on his call register that day.

So immediately I went to the local Police station and told them what had happened

Then I went to the bank and froze my account after ensuring that only Rs 98200 was debited.

Then I spent the rest of the day making a statement to tthe Cybercrime branch and registering an FIR with the police station

What amazes me is how I invited such a situation in the first place .

I don’t know what made me do it . But you be warned . These scamsters come up with new scams everyday .

Even the police were amazed at the ingenuity of asking for the first 5 digits . Because a UPI transaction upto rs 1 lakh can be done .

So let us remember that we are getting older and should be more than careful when doing online transactions

Funnily enough I’ve seen through so many scams and am shocked that I could fall for this one .

Hot bhajiyas and smelly clothes

This monsoon has been a most unusual season with frequent breaks and breathers. Normally it rains three months at a stretch. If there is any pattern it generally is a light rain during the week and a veritable deluge over the weekend.

Years ago in Goa, Uncle Vernon our neighbour below would predict the exact time of impending rain by looking out on the horizon and pontificating “ see there you can see the front approaching us” . At that time I thought he was a genius but now, I realise it was quite obvious. If you look at the horizon especially, you can slowly see the sea get darker as the rain advances.

But this year with ‘climate change’ we’ve had a change of monsoon patterns and have experienced weekends of torrential rains and weeks of dry spells.

This is of course perfect for the mosquito borne diseases and viral fevers that thrive in this environment.

So in some ways, the breaks in the rain are good for they give you some sunny days to enjoy dry laundry.

The upside of a rainy day ( if there can be one) is the opportunity to stay home curled up with a book and munching on hot bhajiyas. Alternatively called pakoras, this year I particularly enjoyed munching on freshly made Oregano pakora.

No amount of fabric conditioner can prevent the smell of damp and dank clothes. Turkish towels particularly smell of wet dog- a warm comforting smell but jeans or trousers are something else!

Lord Ganesha removes all obstacles

Our Ganesh festivities were dampened by my mother-in-law’s health scare, the scam and a fridgeless existence.

We did bring out our little idol and I did make the steamed modaks but there was something missing .

However, before September rolled in, I got my money back and just yesterday, a MONTH after haranguing with Samsung, I got a NEW REFRIGERATOR instead of a new Compressor that they were trying to fob me off with .

So after this break or a breather from the blog, I’ve finally found the band width to get back to it .

September is half done and I hope it is easier and less stressful.

Ciao,