Give me credit

I'm going to stop posting that all is calm it just tempts fate. This week Mr FF tried to renew our car insurance but his credit card was declined, I offered him mine and that was declined too. Our cards were due to expire in August while we we'd be in Italy so we contacted Barclaycard before we left, explained the situation and in April we each received new Visa and American Express cards that ran until 2020, great. However when we spoke to Barclaycard after the cards failed they happily explained that they'd ceased their association with American Express, issued new Visa cards in August and stopped all the cards we have with us. Mr FF asked if the existing Visa cards could be reactivated till we came home, no chance, computer says no. Cue several lengthy and expensive phone calls with lots of holding, repeating the same information, passport number etc, spelling out our Italian address to three different people, receiving texts and emails demanding we phone America to progress our request. Eventually after a few days they approved the issue of an emergency card. Meantime I remembered that I had a Marks and Spencer credit card that I hardly use, fished it out and tried a small on line purchase to see if it worked, card declined. I phoned M&S bank, explained our dilemma but they said I should have told them I was abroad, it's in the terms and conditions, who knew. I asked them if I could have the card working but they said they wrote to me in August asking if I wanted to keep the card, that expires in 2018, and since I didn't reply within 14 days they'd stopped it. I explained that we were in Italy for the summer so not receiving post and questioned why they couldn't just let my card run to expiry, they said its in the terms and conditions that I have to keep using my card. I asked if they could reactive it, no but they could send a new one to my home address, I said that wasn't helpful and finished the call before I lost my temper. By now I was furious with frustration and though I hadn't spoken to Barclaycard thinking that just one emergency card would be enough, I decided to call them to ask just why they'd decided to issue new cards within four months and stop the existing ones. We knew that the American Express cards were defunct but didn't understand why the Visa had to be replaced. The lady was lovely, she said she'd try to get the card I have reactivated, I explained my husband had tried that and she'd be wasting our time, hers and mine, but she insisted. I only held a couple of minutes and she came back saying that's your card back functioning until the end of the year. Unbelievable, it's infuriating that one operator tells you no while another solves your problem, just the luck of the draw. Mr FFs emergency card was being couriered out at this stage but he was cross and phoned to ask for his existing card to be reactivated, they said no and when he told them that was wrong they offered to do so until the end of October, you can imagine his response and eventually he got his card live until the end of the year too. What a shambles, we are exhausted with fighting and worrying about booking our journey home without credit cards, goodness knows what would have happened if we'd been in a hotel having to pay for accommodation and meals or travelling from place to place with no means of paying. All Visa had to do was reactivate our cards but they took us down a lengthy expensive and stressful route they means we'll be leaving them and applying for cards with different providers when we get home. It's a pity for that lovely lady who actually helped, she probably gets no recognition for her dedication and is treated the same as the jobs worths who bang on about terms and conditions or just tell you no and don't give a toss about customer service.