Grrr...credit card companies are tools of the devil!

kymaera · Post by **kymaera** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 10:40 pm

No..not because they actually expect you to pay the bills.

[RANT ON]
Don't get a card with First USA/Bank One/Chase or whatever they're called
this week..it's not worth it.

Back in Feb of this year, my credit card # got stolen. I call and get it frozen
and have them issue a new card for me. I fill out all the paperwork, send it
in. The charges get reversed and I think all is good.

Around June/July, I see a bunch of ~$24 charges posted all at once as
"balance transfers". Call them to see what's going on. Turns out that the
person that had stolen my credit card # had signed up for AOL (talking about
adding insult to injury). So, despite me having reported the card as stolen,
what does the cc company do? That's right...they transfer the charges from
my old stolen number to my new card. So, I have to go through another
round of phonecalls and paperwork to get those off.

Then around October, I get rebills for some of the AOL charges. I have to
call up yet again (another hour of my life wasted). The person says "But
we can't tell these false charges from the AOL charges that you'd ran up
before." In a harsh voice, I point out that I've never had AOL "and never
will". She checks the records and says that the charges will be reversed.
She says that she will send me the paperwork for it and I tell her no,
that I've already filled it out once for these charges and I'm not going to
do it again. She agrees and that's that. I get the charges reversed and
things are ok.

Today, I do a sporadic check online and what has happened? They've
billed me again for AOL....and from the charge date, it's for the months
of Oct and Nov...over half a year from when I reported the card stolen.
Needless to say, I've had enough and my card has been turned into card
confetti.

[RANT OFF]

Sorry. Just need to fume and fuss and get that off my chest so that I can
get on with my life.

klet · Post by **klet** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:09 pm

Making home-made confetti for New Year's, eh?

Ashura · Post by **Ashura** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 11:24 pm

Wow, that really sucks

Sorry to hear about that. I'm having the same problem with U.S. Cellular. They never sent me my phone, so I cancel my service with them. Yet they charged me for services that I never got. Got it refunded, now they are sending me letters saying that if I don't pay they will send me to a collection agency. A$$holes.

ReiTheJelly · Post by **ReiTheJelly** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:08 am

The only problem I've ever had with any of my credit cards (past and present) was when MasterCard upgraded my card from Platinum to Diamond w/o telling me. This upgrade also changed my billing cycle for some unknown reason, so I had one week less than before to pay my bill. Needless to say, I didn't notice the change and got landed with late fees. After bitching at them, they finally took the charges off.

I hate calling any kind of large corporation to complain, because you *never* get the same customer service representative twice so every time you call you have to explain the entire situation all over again. Plus, those poor people are making terrible wages and don't give a rat's ass whether or not your situation is actually resolved.

Cloud · Post by **Cloud** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:08 am

There might be others.

aernath · Post by **aernath** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:04 am

Kymaera, I have to apologize for laughing at that.

I read it out loud to my husband who said something along the lines of "That's insane!".
Definitely confetti time for that card!

Did you send it back to them in an envelope?

Maiko · Post by **Maiko** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 4:44 am

Urgh- that sucks. Thanks for sharing, tho, because Bank 1/Chase is my newest credit card ( got it back in July ). So far, no problems. But I'll definitely be keeping a close eye on my account- I've already had my bank account and social security number stolen- now I'm just waiting for the card numbers to get stolen too

zerospace · Post by **zerospace** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 5:12 am

Wow, that really sucks... I think in your shoes, I'd be cancelling that account and moving to a different CC company.

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:08 am

zerospace wrote:Wow, that really sucks... I think in your shoes, I'd be cancelling that account and moving to a different CC company.

Oh I believe that would be a safe bet.

The interesting part these days, of course, is trying to find a credit card company that isn't a subsidiary of Chase!

Krafty · Post by **Krafty** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 8:55 am

Bummer, Ky. Perhaps the issue will be resolved this time? Even by destroying your card, make sure your account is settled and the account closed because this fiasco could continue.

ReiTheJelly wrote:I hate calling any kind of large corporation to complain, because you *never* get the same customer service representative twice so every time you call you have to explain the entire situation all over again.

I'm going through that right now. There was a problem with a chritmas gift order I placed with a large company. I couldn't redeem a coupon, therefore didn't finalise the order and asked what the problem was. 'Moses' from Customer Serices got back to me saying that he couldn't find my order on file. Of course he couldn't I didn't finalise the damn thing because I could see an error!
Having discovered what the problem was (myself), I emailed back to let them know I've placed the order to fix the problem.
I get an mail back from 'Arun' saying that "We are unable to assist you without the coupon code, Please provide us the coupon code for further assistance."
If the idiot only scrolled down the email to read my message it would have been explained and he would have known that the issue had been resolved. *DUH!*

Despite paying for expedited shipping, I'm unsure whether the order actually went thorough OK and will arrive before Christmas. I don't want to confuse their tiny minds by emailing again. *pfft*

Who say's shopping online is easier?

kittens · Post by **kittens** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:03 am

Wow..... WHat the cc company is doing? Maybe they took some smoke????

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... or just AOL really loves you????

yoshito · Post by **yoshito** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:40 am

Guess another "warning" of sorts. For those who go to sporting events and see the, "Get a free towel, hat, shirt, etc." by just signing up for a CC... don't do it. Just not worth it.

Found out that when you sign up, you also sign up for a years subscription on that same CC for Sports Illustrated. They don't tell you that, and it is in the small print (at least that's what they told me). >.> Slimy jerks... so far I've been lucky with my Credit Union's CC. *crosses fingers*

Hmm, thanks for the warning for Bank One, etc., etc. You know... now that I think about it, think it was Bank One that did this sports CC deal too (and to top it off, I didn't even get the card I wanted =P). Hope they enjoy going to hell for what they did to you.

Baakay · Post by **Baakay** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:40 am

I've got one, but it's kind of in reverse.

Bought, at a special promotional price, last fall, the new edition of the Sage Encyclopedia of Qualitative Research (yes, it's a real page-turner). The book would have cost $150 all told at the regular price, because it weighs a ton and a half. This price was a pretty decent discount to begin with, and had free shipping.

So I got the book, got the invoice, and saw that they charged me for shipping. This is not a huge amount, but it irked me a bit. So I called and explained the situation and the rather confused person at the other end asked if I'd like to return the book, (no, I wanted the book!) or have the charges reversed. Yes, that would be great, said I. Assuming, of course, that I would see a credit for the amount of shipping charges, on my credit card bill.

What I GOT, in the mail, was a credit memo -- for the entire amount of the transaction!! Meaning that I could find another $100 book of theirs, if I wanted, and get it as a freebie.

I may be a jerk, but I'm not ordinarily a dishonest jerk.

So I called them up, explained the situation again, and said "I don't really think you meant to give me the encyclopedia for free, did you?" "Oh.. no," says the nice person at the other end, "but we don't usually have this happen!! You're a good customer!" (Well, yes. Let me just shine my halo for you a bit. The more you get ripped off the more you charge us poor libraries for your stuff. Gimme a break here, I'm not a saint.)

She thanked me kindly and told me she would take care of it.

A week ago I got a copy of my account with Sage. I still have a credit memo for the entire price of the encyclopedia on my name.

Oh well!

I tried!

kittens · Post by **kittens** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 9:45 am

So you got a free book?

kymaera · Post by **kymaera** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:31 am

Spent a half hour on the phone being shuffled around from person to person.
Got the charges reversed and also closed down my account. The funny part
was the person at the end trying to talk me out of closing out my account.