The Week that Was

It's been a week I hope I never have to go thru again but not as bad as it could have been thanks to my State Farm friend, Steve Ostrowski.
Started out last Friday with a letter from Arizona DOT. It stated that if we didn't have AZ insurance on the Honda within 15 days they would suspend our license plates. Yes we've had insurance on the van since we bought it January 15th. Nothing to do over the week end so I called our agent's office on Monday. The lady whom I spoke to, turned out to be the office manager, refused to do anything to help but send me a "binder". She kept saying that it would prove we had full coverage. I tried to explain to her that AZ doesn't care if we have full coverage, they're only interested in liability coverage. Her answer was "well then it's between you and the State of AZ". Thank goodness I've been involved in the insurance industry and State Farm for a hundred years or so. I didn't want to interrupt my friend, Ozzie, so I sent an email explaining both problems. He answered me that evening with a short note that it was being taken care of.
Tuesday morning dawned with a trip to the beauty shop for a hair cut but when I went to pay with my State Farm Visa it rejected the card. Well I figured it was the beauty shop's problem and paid them and left.
When I got home I picked up my kindle and sat outside reading. Just finished a book and decided to order another one by the same author. Well, Amazon informed my my State Farm Visa wasn't any good.
Straight in the house and up the stairs to my computer, logged into State Farm Bank and found a charge on the Visa bill for Safeway in Chandler, AZ. A quick call to State Farm Bank gave me the answer. They had noticed some questionable charges on our account and upon trying to contact us (they had the house phone number which is no more) with negative results they suspended the account until we contacted them. They took over from there, issued new cards, which we received today and sent out a document for us to verify the fraudulent charges. So far there are three, two to Safeway and one to Home Depot, all from Chandler/Phoenix, AZ area.
Back to the previous problem. After Steve got the answers from AZ, he put me in contact with an agent in Tucson who got a hold of my soon to be former State Farm agent and got the van policy transferred to their office. A letter sent to proper authorities and the hopefully no suspended AZ license plates on the van.
I know the coincidence is rare but I believe it was just that. Thank you State Farm for keeping an eye on our account and taking proper action. Thank you Steve Ostrowski for being a good friend and helping me contact the correct people.
I believe I know who and how the credit card happened but can't prove it. Just a word of advise, if you're in a store that's not busy and all the clerks are helping you at the same time, do not let anyone touch your credit card. Swipe it yourself if you can.