In December my car would not start so I called my auto club to have it towed. I normally would have chosen Sears but the closest one was Firestone so I agreed to be towed there.
I was advised by the technician that there would be a $25.00 diagnostic fee to determine if it was my alternator or battery. I had no choice so agreed to the charge.
After 1/2 hour I was advised that it was indeed my battery but also my cooling system probably had never been changed as it was black and should have been green. I called my husband and explained the situation and explained the cost of about $250.00. He said to go ahead with the job. As I waited I noticed the advertisement of the Firestone Credit Card with zero percent interest rate if paid within six months with repairs of over $249.00. I inquired with the technician and filled out the application and was granted a credit line of $3000. He also gave me a $25.00 credit for opening the account which I said OK but also questioned the fact that is would take my bill below the $249.00 needed to qualify for the six month rate. He said that would not happen.
When my first statement came in I noticed there were no Promotional Balance so everything was subject to minimum payment with finance charges. With the $25.00 credit and paying more than the minimum I did not fret as the bill totaled $220.23.
I made my first payment of $50.00 thru my bank's electronic payment. When I received my second statement I noticed a late fee of $19.00. I rechecked the sent payment and saw that it had in fact been received when due. I called and spoke to a live person at 1-800-321-3950 and I told her it was not in fact late, she agreed to issue a credit for the $19.00.
Yesterday February 11 I received another statement and it shows a credit for my February payment received on February 4 and a credit of $19.00. I though I was in good shape, until I noticed in the Fees Charged way up on the top of the page $25.00 being charged.
I tried logging into their web site but it asked for credit card information in order to establish their site and I was not going to do that.
SO I again called the 800 number and spoke with another live person. He explained that the $25 was a late fee. My payment received on February 4th but was due on the 3rd. He said my credit of $19 was a one time courtesy credit. I had printed the record from my bank and it clearly shows the payment was received on the 3rd when due. He explained that they pull their reports at 6:30 AM and if my payment came in at 10:00 AM or 2:00 PM it was not received until the following day.
Any other institution gives until 5:00 PM and will be credited on that day. It appears to me that Firestone Complete Auto Care has set up their own credit receiving agency and making up their own rules. Firestone address PO Box 81410, Cleveland, OH 44181-0410 V/S Credit First N.A. Address PO Box 818026, Cleveland, OH 44181-0826
What a rip-off!!!
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