Softer Side of Sears.........

OK, this is something that has PISSED ME OFF! I’m taking my fight to the blogsphere. Well let me set the stage.. Back in March, my minimum payment for my Sears card was $2 short, yes that’s right two bucks, short of the minimum payment. And I don’t always get my statements in the mail so I was not aware of this, and yes I know this is my fault that it did not get paid in full, I accept that, the credit card company which is currently run by Citibank, refuses to talk to me about this problem. Their “customer service” which is a term I use lightly in this case, offers no customer service and all they have demanded is payment and will not talk to me about this, in my opinion their behavior with me has been borderline harassment. So back to my story, well I was going to buy a DVD burner and called Sears for my balance and got transferred to a customer service agent, who told me my account was past due, and I inquire how is this so, I have made payments on time, so I thought and had online banking records showing I had paid them and that the payment was received. They tell me about the $2 and that since its more then three months, that I will have to pay the entire amount. I asked the CSR why they didn’t leave me a message or email me. She said it was against the law for them to leave a message. Which I don’t believe, other credit card companies have done that, even when it wasn’t about a past due account. Cigto left me a message one day when I totally forgot to pay them that month and I paid them right then. Then the SRS stared demanding payment now to which I told her she wasn’t getting the money now, and I request to speak to a supervisor, but there was not one available and I left a message, well over a week later no call had been returned.

So Saturday morning I call them back and request to speak to a customer service supervisor and get her on the phone, well her name is Donna, and she would not let me talk for most of the call. She went over my account and gave me a piece of information that I didn’t know. They allowed a charge to go through in the end of April, even thought the account was past due. I enquired why the purchase was allowed to go through, she said the account wasn’t past due enough, so it was allowed. Which I felt was very odd, no other card allowed past due accounts to have new purchases on them. I told her, that I don’t get my statements, and that is my fault, but they failed to contact me about the account. I was told they only send statements and make calls, there are no other communication sent out, i.e. letters, emails or anything else. She kept saying, you haven’t requested how we can fix this problem. Well at this point I finally have to tell her, that if she would be quiet for more then 5 seconds that I would tell her what I want. I tell her that both sides were to blame on this, since they allowed charges to go through, that there should be a reduction of the fees, that I would pay 50% of what was due. She said she could not do that, and kept asking what I wanted them to do, which at this point I said there is nothing you can do since you can’t talk to me about reducing the fees. So they made no real attempt, as far as I’m concerned to get in touch with me. And all through the call Donna kept demanding money and said there was nothing she could do, I then asked her to put on her supervisor, who she replied, “My supervisor doesn’t get on the phone.” I then asked for their name, to which she replied “I cannot give you that information.” I not getting discouraged, asked to speak to someone who could waive the fees, and she replied “there is no one here who can do that.” To which I replied” I don’t believe you” She then informed me that if I wanted to do anything I would need to send it in writing to their company, which I am doing tomorrow, and that she couldn’t give me her last name or where the customer service facility was located. To which I responded, “I’m not asking you for the address, I want to know what major city the call center was in.

I personally think this is a dishonest way of doing business, if you have a call center, just demanding payment, and no one there to help, why not save money and just put in a computer. In this situation I fully talk responsibility for my part, I didn’t ask them to waive the entire amount, nor did have I ever. I have had late payments to Sears before and have paid it in full every time the following month. I have also made payments, to what I believe were the minimum payments, and now I feel like I’m being treated like I haven’t paid my bill in a year and I’m asking for a hand out. Which I am not. But when you have a customer who makes payments and has done so for regular basis to treat them like they are trying to screw you over, is just a wrong way of doing business. People make mistakes and for $2 I’m getting charged over 250 bucks right now. I had something similar happen with Capital One, and they looked at the account and saw how ridiculous it was, and I said, I will pay the late fee for the month, granted it was my fault, but it’s crazy, and they agreed, once I got above the customer service agent. At this company you can’t get to anyone in the company, other then people who demand payment and no one will look at the account and go, hey this is a mistake, this person has been a very good customer, we can make a deal.

This situation has made me seriously reconsider shopping at Sears/Kmart and doing business with Citibank. I have had a Visa card through Citibank for over 17 years, and after this I really want nothing to do with them ever again. I do plan to write the VPs of Marketing and Customer Relations for both companies and do what I did here. I will give updates on this blog as things happen. It just pisses me off, that I’m here trying to make things right, and have admitted my mistake and willing to own up to it, and they are making this to be my entire fault and they are right and that’s it. If I had not paid my bill in months and wasn’t attempting to make it right I wouldn’t complain but here I am trying to make it right and they make you feel like you are a deadbeat and a criminal for not paying.

Citibank and Sears really need to look over its policies, because I will constantly bring this up with everyone I will tell my story to anyone who will listen and it will be up to them if they want to do business with these two companies. I will not do business with them any more, I will not set foot in a Kmart/Sears store until their practices are changed. I will no longer use my Citibank card once I get my debt consolidation loan. These will be the first two I pay off and will close the accounts immediately.

Has anyone out there had similar problems with Sears? From what I gather this is nothing new from them. Please post it on my comments or email me. I know comments can be a pain to type in but email me and I can post it as well. I want to know anyone else out there who has had problems with Sears Credit Cards. I think it’s time the executives know what is going on.

Sorry for the downer, but this really had me PISSED OFF, and I’m not going to take it!