I purchased lawn furniture from Service Merchandise on a 90 day same as cash plan. I had never used a plan like this before and did not know that it really didn't mean same as cash it meant same as cash if you make a payment.
When I received my first statement I did not notice the amount due (I guess because I wasn't expecting a payment). Anyway, I only looked at the amount to make sure it was correct. It was. I'm not sure if when the next statement arrived I noticed a late charge of 25.00 or if it was when they called me to tell me my account was overdue.
When I talked with them I explained that the payment due must be a mistake. The lady told me it was entered as a code 4 instead of a code 5 which meant a payment. Therefore, I was late and by this time I owed 50.00 in late charges. She told me to call the store to see if I could get it worked out.
I called the store manager and he said he would call them and explain that is was a misunderstanding and that I was not trying to get out of paying that it was an honest mistake. I called them back and they said he never had called. I called him back and he told me he would call them right then. He called me back and told me that they told him to fax them something on company letterhead explaining what had happened.
I gave it a week or two and called them back. At first they said they didn't have the letter then she said they did get it but it had to be forwarded onto another group for reviewal. She said for me to call back the 14th 11/14.
I called back the 19th and the person I talked to then said they had not gotten a letter. I asked to speak with the manager about the whole ordeal because I just wanted to get it cleared up. (I had made at least 6 phone calls to HRS and 4 to my Service Merchandise and they kept telling my credit was going to be affected). She told me that if I paid 110.74 that she would call it even. She said that was the interest accrued because the special deal (90 days same as cash) was off because I was missed 2 payments. (I did pay the total amount owed by the date
I was supposed too) My problem with all this is that I thought the payment thing was a mistake that they had entered it wrong. I attempted to get things cleared up.
While I was attempting to clear things up they were taking advantage of the time all this took and kept adding late charges and interest etc... And, they did not tell the truth about the letter from the manager of Service Merchandise. I know it was faxed to them.
What I really believe happened was they knew they weren't going to make any money off of me because I paid the amount owed in full so they were doing everything they could to make some money. Well it cost me 110.74 to learn this lesson. I should have paid it up front since I had the money!!! I have never had a credit problem. I've always paid my bills. This company was not interested doing the right thing but in getting money out of me somehow.
If I had not been trying to work things out and just ignored the whole situation I could understand but I was making every effort to correct the problem because I really initially thought the problem was an incorrect code being entered.
I will never deal with them again and I feel sorry for those that do!!!
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