Where do I start? From the beginning I suppose. I signed up for Juniper Banks' 0%APR introductory rate for 18 months on balance transfers and purchases. I had a good rate on my Chase card. 8.99%. But Juniper's many tempting junk mails finally got to me. Plus, the APR after the introductory APR would be the same as Chase's: 8.99%. Sounds like a win/win, right? Not so fast.
I transferred over my balance and sucked up the balance transfer fee. Well, between the time of signing up and my first due bill, I went ahead and signed up for automatic payments to make sure I didn't have any late payments. What also happened was my wallet was stolen and I had to cancel my debit card and be issued another one. This is where I do admit fault: I forgot to change that payment information online.
None of the paperless statements (emails) said anything was the matter. I got an email saying that they received my payment. However, I checked my account, around the end of that month to see the next statement, only to see that the payment, in fact, did not go through, and now there was a late fee and a return fee.
I immediately called CS and talked to someone about what happened. When I do anything like this, I always write down everything that is discussed. So, by the end of the call, I read back what we had resolved. We resolved that he would be able to remove the late fee but not the return fee. He said it would show on my next statement. We resolved that the introductory APR rate of 0% would be restored, for this one time. We agreed that the payment would not have been late had the account number been correct. I believed all was right in the world again. I had it all written down and even had a reference number.
For the next statements, there was no late fee removed but the APR was still at 0%. The last two statements still did not reflect a minus $39 late fee. But there was definitely something different. The APR was up to 28.26% and there was one whopper of a finance charge!
I got my artillery all together before calling CS again. For 30 minutes, the CS agent, who sounded like a cross between an Eastern Indian and a Leprechaun, annoyed me to no end with the hard-to-understand canned responses, the lack of ability to help, and the mixing up of what he was saying, thus confusing me further. He said the return fee was noted as waived, but not the late fee. I told him it did not show any fee being waived, I was put on hold, he came back and said some other weird nonsensical stuff, and put me on hold again. Finally, he came back and apologized and said it would reflect on my next statement. But, he couldn't help me on the APR. I asked for his supervisor, and was put on hold. Within seconds of being transferred, I was magically disconnected. Hmmmm.
So, I took a deep breath and called again. This time I got some lady who wanted to hear the whole story over. She then said that there was no record of a call or conversation on 2/27/09, the date that I first called. She said this even though the last CSR I spoke with acknowledged the call. She did say her screen showed, that minutes before, the late fee was removed. She also said that the return fee would be removed (even though guy on 2/27/09 said that it could not). She also said that she could not do anything about the APR. Actually, she ignored me and asked if I was asking for a lower APR. She was equally annoying as the first guy and a tinge more unhelpful. I asked to speak to her supervisor. Can you guess what happened next? Yep, disconnected after being transferred.
SO, one hour of wasted time and many more to go. This is apparently a famous tactic of credit card companies. They hope you are too busy and too annoyed to keep calling and complaining. I found a site that might be helpful to me and to others in this predicament. If I can, I'll post an update if anything is resolved. Here is a great site with some great information:
I have no idea how much this will help, but it's better than feeling helpless. Don't let them get the best of you. Keep fighting and try and keep your cool with the CSR. They are more apt to help you if your not insulting them or cussing. It's hard, trust me. I lost it on the first call with the leprechaun. Keep your cool and go to that site above.
Good luck!!
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