Home Depot was one of my favorite stores, and I know I've done more than $10,000 worth of business with them. However, now I have such a sour taste in my mouth regarding Home Depot. I made a purchase costing $118 on their credit card (I only recently learned that the credit card is through Citibank) in January.
I've always paid my accounts off before the due date. However, for some reason this one slipped by me and I completely forgot it. In late June I received a call from Home Depot Credit Card (Citibank) advising me that I owed something like $240. Of course I was shocked and asked why they would allow anyone to go 6 months without contacting them. They advised that they did contact me, but by email. I said the email must have gone to spam, and all email that goes there automatically gets deleted. Now I realize that's not their problem, but I told the caller that since they were calling me now, this means they had my number all along, and if only I had been called the 1st, 2nd, etc. month, I would have absolutely and immediately taken care of this.
Nevertheless, while on the phone with the caller, I made the payment of $118 with no intentions of paying anything further. But after being contacted about 4-5 times a day, including Sundays, and knowing that not all fights are worth fighting, I simply paid an additional $140 in July. In my mind, I knew this was more than enough.
Not so! I got a bill telling me that I owed $42.75. I called the corporate office immediately, at which time I was advised that Citibank was the one customers get credit through. I told her that all I know, like many other customers, is that Home Depot is providing the credit. After all, their name and colors are all over the card. She transferred me to Home Depot Credit, which is actually Citibank.
I was advised that the $42.75 included late fees. I said that this couldn't be, because I had already paid the initial $118 purchase from January in June, although late, and then reluctantly paid $140 on July 26, which added together is $260. I was told that a $35 late fee was charged to me on July 8 on a balance of $260. Again, I said, "WHAT?" That's not possible. According to Mr. Bernard Brown, Senior Supervisor out of the Florida office, they continue to charge late fees on anything not paid.
The Attorney General needs to intervene with big companies like the ones that are working in cahoots against consumers and charging outrageous fees.
For the record, I will never shop at Home Depot or Citibank, and I will never pay this $42.75 charge.
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