September 5, my husband and I went to purchase a mattress/box springs with the 50% off sale. We found a great buy and proceeded with the clerk to the computer. She was very helpful, asked all the right questions, and I gave her a check to pay cash. She rang the transaction and asked us to check our personal information so the delivery man would be sure to have the correct phone number. She handed back our check and said it was an electronic withdrawal and the money had intantly come from our account. Our cell number was incorrect, so she went back into the computer to correct the cell and voided the entire transaction.
She corrected the phone number and asked for another check. I commented I thought the money had already come out of our account. I was told when she accidently voided the transaction, the check was voided and went back into our account. Reluctantly, I wrote another check and it was declined due to duplicate trnsactions back to back.
At this point she did not know for sure what to do. We had now been purchasing this mattress for 25 minutes and still had not finished the deal. She mentioned a credit card - we had the cash for this set aside and did not way to add it to a credit card. I gave her my debit card - BIG mistake - and the deal was closed. She assured me we had not paid twice.
We came home, went online to check our account and nothing had come out yet. Went back into our account on Monday and there was one $955. Purchase. We were very pleased. Went back online Tuesday - and there was a second $955. Purchase.
We immediately called the bank - they confirmed it was the purchase, but Sears had to correct it. My husband called Sears, talking with someone in the business office and was told it would be corrected. Wednesday - both charges were still out of our account.
We live about an hour from Sears so headed to the store to get the problem corrected. The clerk was there and very apologetic, took us to the business office and the store manager was out to lunch - having just left and would be gone for 1 1/2 hours. Now we had just drive one hour to get there and chose to pass the time running errands in a nearby town, where we again stopped at a branch of our bank and were told they could not do a thing. We were told the store manager would call us upon her return. Almost 2 hours later she did call. She was very adamant there was nothing she could do but wait for the check that was voided to run it's course and the money would go back into our account. She had checked with the check tracking company and it would take at least 7 working days.
I explained we did not have unlimited money in the checking account and what would she suggest we do when other checks made their way back to the bank, bouncing due to insufficent funds? Then there would be the late fees not only from the bank but from the companies returning the checks. Then the bad credit history due to bouncing checkes - what should be do? She stated she understood perfectly - offered to pay the fees since it was obviously their error - but she could not just put our money instantly back in the bank by sliding our debit card the way it had instantly come out.
She again stated nothing - absolutely nothing could be done and we would just have to wait. So - it has been 7 days today - that is only 4 working days however, because of Labor Day Holiday. Our bank states it could take up to two weeks to have this transaction reversed by the check tracking company.
The mattress/box springs were delivered yesterday - but we have been so preoccupied by spending all our time trying to get our $955. Back we did not notice if they were even comfortable. We have 30 days to decide that - and if we need to return them we pay the return delivery fee, plus 15% stocking fee. Now you tell me where we go with all of this? Several years ago we stopped shopping at Sears because it seemed that every purchase had some kind of complication that it took endless energy to straighten out. Some old habits are just not broken easily. Hours have already been spent trying to get our money back from their admitted error!
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