|
Babble-on
March 6, 2011
Rip-off fees on revolving credit card
Revolving credit card balance from November 2010 was paid in full (card balance of $180 plus change) to Macy's. December - I bought a Christmas ornament for total of $7.45. Went out of town for Christmas 2010 and missed paying my $7.45 Macy's bill before the January 22, 2010 deadline. Criminal, I know. Received my January statement and they charged me a late fee of $7.45, and a minimum interest charge of $2.00 (if your computed interest for the month is less than $2.00 - too bad, you pay $2.00, minimum). Paid the $16.70 on Feb 9, 2011 - 13 days before the Feb 22, 2011 deadline for payment. Received my February statement - (now, mind you, I hadn't used the Macy's card AT ALL since December 7, 2010 - nada, nothing charged on it) - and it shows that I paid the entire $16.70 balance leaving a balance due of $0.00 (nothing due). Yet, there's a 'fee' being charged of $2.00. So, I call Macy's - and I want to know - "What is this $2.00 fee?" 40 minutes later (35 minutes of being on hold - talking to 4 different people and being transferred by 'customer service' from the credit/billing department to the macys.com department and back again) - and they're trying to convince me that it's a minimum interest charge somehow related to the balance that was paid in full 13 days before the Feb 22, 2011 deadline. I have a BA degree in math/computer science and an MBA - the customer service people didn't have a clue - they couldn't find anyone who did - so they stonewalled with a circular argument. Basically, what's happened here, I think, is that they computed the interest charge on the $7.45 that I owed them to three decimal places - and then rounded that number on my statement to two decimal places. When I paid what they said I owed - they deducted it - not from the two decimal place number - but from the three decimal place number - i.e. I will never pay off Macy's and they will forever, then, be assessing me a $2.00 interest fee every month on that haning third decimal place. I'm not paying Macy's $2.00 a month for the 'privilege' of carrying around their plastic in my wallet. After I paid the $2.00 - I closed the account. I don't do business with unethical companies who can't own up to their mistakes, do this kind of questionable accounting, charge an outrageous minimum interest on any amount due on your account (like $.001), and hire the incompetent in foreign call centers where US dollars are not the native currency. So, Macy's lost a +20 year customer who has spent, literally, thousands of dollars in their store over their greedy practices to gouge credit customers - hope they're happy they got their $.001 worth.
|