One of the strangest calls I’ve received lately.
Last month, a woman called, didn’t identify herself, and wished me a happy birthday as if she knew me. The call went something like this:
Caller: Happy birthday Erik!
Me: I’m sorry, who is this?
Caller: It’s such-and-so from Innovative Merchant Solutions.
Me: I’m sorry, I don’t recognize that company name.
Caller: We’re your merchant account provider.
Me: Well, I have several merchant accounts, and that name doesn’t ring a bell.
Caller: Well, we always try to call our customers and wish them a happy birthday on their birthday.
Me: Thanks for that, but if I don’t know who your company is, then your greeting doesn’t really mean anything to me.
It turns out that Innovative Merchant Solutions is a division of Intuit and provides merchant services for QuickBooks. Which I found out by Googling them after the call was over.
It’s weird (and a bit spooky) for a merchant provider to be calling me on my birthday. Weirder still not to identify the company in a meaningful way.
