portfolio problem

[AKoch]

I want to renew my portfolio photos, but the electronic beast has raised its ugly head, so perhaps someone may have a suggestion. It went this way: I sent pix, visa card #,etc. to the portfolio people, only to be told that they were told that my card was blocked, and advised me to contact the Visa people. This seemed strange to me , as I had just successfully made purchases in the US and the UK, but I called the Visa people just the same, only to be told that not only was my card not blocked, but there was no record of ISC making a payment request. I wrote Portfolio again, and they said they tried twice more, with the same negative result. I sent ISC a fax with my card # and personal #, but I see that nothing has happened- maybe they're discouraged. Well, I certainly am, and feel that I'm caught in the middle- ISC telling me that my card is invalid, and Visa saying that all is well, and that there is no record(and they say that there should be) of ISC's three attempts. Now even someone with my scarce experience in the electronic world is aware of the pranks that computers play, but how to remedy this? From here(Italy) the only way to send $ to the US is wtih a credit card- the Italian post doesn't send money orders to the US, and my bank knows only of bank drafts, which is not shown on the portfolio form. Neither is a check in euros, or(ack!) cash. I want very much to update my portfolio, but I'm at an impass wtih the payment. Any ideas, anybody?

[Julianna]

Have you tried getting ISC to call the Visa people directly? It sounds like there could just be a small communication problem. Perhaps they didn't read the numbers correctly.

[AKoch]

Well, the problem resolved itslf, that is, the portfolio people wrote me that that my card was finally accepted, but the idea of getting the ISC to talk to Visa is a good one- who knows, maybe that's what they did. The electronic beast has again retired to its lair!