Sears CitiBank Sears MasterCard
Billing Address Error Caused Past-Due Calls on New Card

My wife and I have shopped at Sears loyally for more than 30 years. Our existing Sears credit card has an $8k limit, with $6k still available.

Last October my wife stepped into a Sears location around Spokane, WA to buy a few kitchen accessories. A sales associate proposed that she apply for a Sears CitiCard Mastercard account. To tempt her into completing the application, they offered an immediate $15.00 off that day's purchase.

Approval came right away. She finished buying, and the $80.00 total was charged to the new account. Shortly afterward the holidays arrived and things got hectic. As always, we received and paid various bills through November, December, January and February.

At the start of February, irritating robocalls from SearsCard CitiBank began. I phoned them and talked with a representative, and together we found out that our billing address had somehow been botched. I was promised that this was fixed and that the bill and the new card would soon reach us.

The irritating calls did not stop, so my wife phoned them back. She was told the account was past due and that extra interest and penalties were being charged to us. The agent also said the new card would not be sent until payment came in.

Several weeks have passed, we have still received no bill, and the calls keep coming every day.

This very morning I rang Sears at the phone number printed on the reverse of my first Sears card, asking them to shift the unpaid balance off the new CitiBank Mastercard and onto our original card account. The agent replied that she could not approve the move, as the new account carries only my wife's name.

We are both furious. Neither Sears nor CitiBank merits our business or yours. My wife has just worked three consecutive night shifts of 12 hours each at a nearby hospital NICU, and now she must phone Sears to sort out a billing mess that they caused themselves.

As a consumer, I long for a time when merchants and customers alike answer for their actions and decisions. Will I ever walk into another Sears store? That depends on whether they decide to show my wife and me the respect we are owed.

Company: Sears CitiBank Sears MasterCard
Country: USA
State: Illinois
City: Hoffman Estates
Address: 3333 Beverly Road
Phone: 8472862500
Site: citibank.com

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