Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Gunslinger on March 19, 2005, 10:15:03 PM
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I get calls all the time to come into work and take care of priorities (wich are usually a result poor planning on somone else)
I will never shop at Sears AGAIN!
I trasnfered my credit card balance from them to my capital one card because they offered me an interest rate I could not refuse. I had a remaining balance of $10 on my sears card.
I called sears earlier this week to pay off the remaining balance on the account and CLOSE it.
What I get as a result of it was Sears cashing a check for almost $1700 leaving me with a checking account balance of -$96.
I call sears and after talking to a low level call center person I get to talk to Tom, The low level call center manager. Apparantly his departmen ONLY answers the phone. The department that handles these types of transactions does not work weekends.
I ask for their direct number. He tells me "they don't answer the phones we do"
Now I realize that this is probably a computer error caused by bad input information.....BUT if I or my company caused somone's checking account to get completly wiped out I would do a little more than say "call us back on monday" Literally call the CALL CENTER on monday. He actually said "call the number on the back of your card" Not a manager......I have to call and first interact with the computer that answers the phone.....enter in my account number....listen to my account balance and when i made my last payment and when the next payment is due. .....no....I could not get a managers number....nore could have anyone call me back.
I am sofa king mad right now my BP must be at 180/100. How can you completly wipe out a familys bank account and then not at least appear to be jumping through hoops to take care of them.
I've allready called my bank but they say it could be upto 10 days before any money is returned to my account. I guess fraud doesnt apply to Sears.
OK I'm calmer(ish) now. I am a slight optimist and I have to tell myself that there is a bright side to this. At first I thaught it was a Hacker or something because I do online banking and such. But I think if that was the case I'd have my money back imediatly.
Thus starts my campaign against Sears. First stop....the better business beuro. Anyone else have any Ideas?
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Sears wiped out your bank account?
Lol.... why does this stuff always seem to only happen to people whose blood pressure "must be at 180/100."
Dig deep somewhere's because I am telling you this 5hit has its roots in Karma somehow.
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First, don't get mad at the guy on the other end of the phone line. He didn't do it, and if you work with him he can help. Second, when you are doing the balance transfer dance, allow plenty of time for the transaction to take place.
Third, never, ever, allow any company direct access to your bank account.
Hope it works out OK for you, be sure and request a letter from Sears explaining the issue. FYI, I gave up on Sears about 20 years ago over their crappy credit.
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I have been having fun with Sears too. Bought a couple new appliances and just charged them. When the bill came, the wife paid in full, and for some reason she has yet to explain, she overpaid by $50. So, instead of having a zero balance, we had a 50 dollar credit. Not planning to buy anything there in the near future that we would care to charge, she called to have that money refunded.
What a hassle that has been. They try like heck to avoid refunding an overpayment it seems. She has made two calls and I have made two calls. Supposedly the "check will be sent out within 10 days" Not the first time we have heard that.
Only $50, and not like it wiped out my checking account, but frustrating nonetheless. Sometimes you have to wonder is it incompetance, indifferance, or what?
Good luck on getting your money back.
dago
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Originally posted by Lizking
First, don't get mad at the guy on the other end of the phone line. He didn't do it, and if you work with him he can help. Second, when you are doing the balance transfer dance, allow plenty of time for the transaction to take place.
Third, never, ever, allow any company direct access to your bank account.
Hope it works out OK for you, be sure and request a letter from Sears explaining the issue. FYI, I gave up on Sears about 20 years ago over their crappy credit.
I'm not really doing the "dance" so to speak. It's simple math. Sears charges 20%. I stopped using the card and have been paying it off slowly but it's hard to put a dent in it with the interest rate so high.
Capital one, whom I have a pretty good credit card with, offered me a balance transfer at 3.9% for 1 year. This way I can role my sears payment into my capital one card wich a just payed off but plan to keep and make both payments to pay down the balance twice as fast. When I called to pay off the account and close it they told me over the phone what my balance was and I only authorized a certain amount but I KNOW it wasn't $1700.
The most disapointing thing, other than having to get a small loan from the AF aid society, is the fact that my finances are so much better this year than the last. I'm no longer living paycheck to paycheck. There's finally money left over after paying the bills.....then this. I don't get paid again for 11 days.
I know what you mean about not blowing up on the guy cause he's just doing his job. He was nice for the most part but the fact that this happend and there's nothing HE or anyone else as Sears can do till monday just bugs the crap out of me.
I bet if their CEO happend to hear me talking about this on an AM talk show or something he'd be calling people in to take care of it.
To top it off companys like this usually don't admit they made a mistake and I am going to end up paying probably $300 in overdraft fees because of it.
EDIT:
In addition My son's 3rd birthday is in two weeks. Not sure if this is going to be resolved by then.
Originally posted by Nash
Sears wiped out your bank account?
Lol.... why does this stuff always seem to only happen to people whose blood pressure "must be at 180/100."
Dig deep somewhere's because I am telling you this 5hit has its roots in Karma somehow.
What's Karma?
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keep a record of what it costs for their mistake. then take them to court to pay for their mistake.
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Originally posted by DieAz
keep a record of what it costs for their mistake. then take them to court to pay for their mistake.
Yeap.
Also, learn a lesson here, don't let convenience drive you to give your credit card number over the phone. If you must use it remotely, do so online on a secure website and save the html of or print the image of what you did. People negotiate better when you hold a gun to their head.
culero
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If you need to use a credit card, then you are poor & will never get any justice. stick to cash; no spam, no junk mail, no telemarketers, no paper trail
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Originally posted by bunch
If you need to use a credit card, then you are poor & will never get any justice. stick to cash; no spam, no junk mail, no telemarketers, no paper trail
Yeah, semantic error. I agree, but my Mastercard simply debits my checking account. That's cash, just a more convenient form.
culero (kinda hard to make the paper fit through the modem yanno)
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Originally posted by Gunslinger
What I get as a result of it was Sears cashing a check for almost $1700 leaving me with a checking account balance of -$96.
How did Sears get a check from you to cash?
sounds like a debit card and not a credit card.
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Dood, us rednecks call plastic money "credit card" whether it's using credit or accessing the bank account.
Well, us older rednecks, anyway ;)
culero
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Originally posted by NUKE
How did Sears get a check from you to cash?
sounds like a debit card and not a credit card.
I did a check by phone. Somehow the $15 check turned into $1698.68. I KNOW I did not authorize the latter amount though.
But of course that department does not work weekends nore do they answer their phones.
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Wow, that suks Gun.....but I'm sure it will be easy to get your money back.
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Ask for their manager. When the manager can't help you ask for the number for their corporate headquarters. Then ask for the VP in charge of Consumer Affairs. As you get higher and higher up the ladder be more and more polite. Make sure you take names.
Seriously, this is what the boss does all the time, for various situations. Works like a charm, but takes hours.
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You know sears has a life time warranty on all its tools. Thats how long they last.
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I know you won't understand this now because you're hopping mad, but there are a few big lessons you can learn from this. I hope you think later about how to not put yourself in this position again.
Your position is an outstanding example of the coming risks to the American economy. $1,700 wipes a family out (that has been financing what they believe to be a middle-class existance on high interest loans) and has to borrow to eat until the next paycheck arrives.
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Some of the card deals are pretty deceptive. For example American express offered a card to me for something like 3% interest (with big bold letters.) It spouted how profitable it would be to change all my credit to them for a cheap interest.
The catch was that after the first year, the interest would have skyrocketed to about 20%. Currently I pay 11.5% for the small credit I have with the debit card.
No thanks I said.
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Dago: Ive worked for many big corporations as a costumer service rep...
your $50 wont come back to you for at least 4 to 6 WEEKS. Thats because most big companies dont process refunds until they process their monthly cash flow.... then they have to send a request for the refund to some other dept. which takes a week or so to get to your 'number'...once they approve it they send it to whoever is in charge of sending the refund checks out..then 3-4 days in the mail.
Gun: I know what happened to your payment. Someone in data processing put someone else's bill in your account #. Happens all the time in sears (i know, thats my sister's job IN sears..catching those mistakes in her dept).
Just call in on monday, dont even bother talking to the guy in the phone because the only thing he'll be able to do is 'escalate' the issue through half a dozen people in the call center which wont have a clue how to get it done and they can only send a form to the dept that researchs the issue.
So just tell the guy you need to speak with a supervisor right off the bat. The supervisor should not only put in the escalation form but should be able to e-mail it directly to that dept, bypassing a lot of beaurocratic bullcrap.
and get his name and badge #.. any future call you have, talk with him directly.
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I can one up you.
Last Christmas I picked up a new washing machine for my wife at Sears. While I was checking out the guy says, hey, you can save another 10 percent and have no interest or payments for 6 months. I normally only carry one card for the cash kickback but for 130 bucks and 6 months float till payback I figured why not?
well... they never sent me the card or a bill but I did get a "pleasant" phone call from a collections agency demanding I pay my bills. Come to find out, they never sent the card or bill and did not provide the 6 months free like the contract I signed said. Having enough of that crap, I closed the card and did a balance transfer to my other citibank card. 2 days later my card gets declined and I call to find out that Citibank did not only the $1040 balance transfer for the washing machine, they decided to toss in a $9769 tip as well.
So yet another call and Citibank tells me that despite it being their error and them both being Citibank cards they won't do a balance transfer back and I have to request a credit refund from Sears. I'm still waiting on the check from Sears/Citibank so I can send it back to Citibank. Oh ya.. I had to call both Sears and Citibank twice each so far to get rid of false charges they toss on there for their errors.
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Originally posted by MrCoffee
You know sears has a life time warranty on all its tools. Thats how long they last.
yep, maybe 10 or 15 years ago they did. a good, solid, "if we made it and you give as a broken one we'll give you a new one", lifetime guarantee.
now they estimate the life expectancy of their tools and pro-rate the replacement value by the percentage of it's expected lifetime. then you simply pay them for the time you had the tool and it wasn't broke, and they give you a new one. providing of course, that you have the receipt for that socket set you bought 12 years ago.
I sued to be willing to pay a bit extra for a company who would stand behind their product. now it's either, buy the cheaper tool that will get this job done today, or pay the extra money and buy snap-on (or other top brand depending on the type of tool).
why pay more for craftsman if they are gonna give you a wal-mart type hassle when it breaks? (oh ya, they seem to break more often now that they don't actually guarantee them any more too. but I won't head down that rant today)
I used to be a regular sears customer but haven't been to one in about 2 years. lately their just wal-mart in a mall (2 of my least favorite places to be)
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I actually use more bargin bin tools than anything. They are low quality and will eventually wear out.....BUT I definatly get my $4 worth of use out of them.
I raided the bargin bin at our exchange yesturday got me: Tin snips, Nut drivers (metric & SAE) and a small mini socket set to put in my wife's car for minor repairs.
I know you won't understand this now because you're hopping mad, but there are a few big lessons you can learn from this. I hope you think later about how to not put yourself in this position again.
Your position is an outstanding example of the coming risks to the American economy. $1,700 wipes a family out (that has been financing what they believe to be a middle-class existance on high interest loans) and has to borrow to eat until the next paycheck arrives.
Rolex,
Two years ago at this time my Debt to income ratio was a wopping 95%. I barley had enough to get by. Then, I read this Dave Ramsey book and started taking an active effort to pay down my debt. I am proud to say that the ratio TODAY is at 45%. I plan on getting this down 30% by this time next year.
For the first time I'm making EXTRA payments on loans. With this transfer I'm now able to pay off the same amount but at 3.9%. It will take me less than a year to pay this off.
Yes in the past I've lived beyond my means but I've seen the error of my ways and I'm closer than I've ever been to being Debt Free.
Utill this. Anyone have any experience with small claims court. I plan on taking sears to court to pay my overdraft fees if they refuse to.
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Make sure you also sue them for your time. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-te.bz.sears17mar17,1,4918743.story?ctrack=1&cset=true)
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Originally posted by myelo
Make sure you also sue them for your time. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-te.bz.sears17mar17,1,4918743.story?ctrack=1&cset=true)
Could you cut and paste....requires registration.
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Originally posted by myelo
Make sure you also sue them for your time. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-te.bz.sears17mar17,1,4918743.story?ctrack=1&cset=true)
and also the cost of court, lawyer fees, etc. when I said for the cost of their mistake, I mean everything.
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I still cant get that article to come up.
BUT
Leave it to the golden state of California to have a VERY helpfull website on how to sue somone.
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/
Their bill is allready up to $50 + $75 in overdraft fees I've allready been charged, for the direct deposit advance I had to get to cover bills I had allready written checks for.
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and also the cost of court, lawyer fees, etc. when I said for the cost of their mistake, I mean everything.
Gun, don't forget to add interest to the damages list on that litle loan you *cough* gave them ;)
Get every cent out of them that you are due.
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Originally posted by pugg666
Gun, don't forget to add interest to the damages list on that litle loan you *cough* gave them ;)
Get every cent out of them that you are due.
I figure the person I talk to on monday I will not blow up on them. I will calmly as possible explain the situation and share with them my reasonable expectations.
Have $1698.68 put back in my bank account in 2 business days.
+$125 for damages.
+$10 for the check fee.
after that I will charge them 22.65% inerest (the exact same amount they charged me) and there will be an additional $50 finance fee.
If I have to take them to court you can double all those numbers.
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Think CitiBank just recently took over the credit department of Sears.
Thinkin i've heard allot of un-nice stuff about citibank?
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Originally posted by wrag
Think CitiBank just recently took over the credit department of Sears.
Thinkin i've heard allot of un-nice stuff about citibank?
that's actually who the check was made out to. I called them last night actually to try and get a lean put on sears' account. It didn't work of course.
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Originally posted by Gunslinger
Could you cut and paste....requires registration.
Sorry. Basically lawyer Joseph Williams called Sears because his washing machine was broken, and the service department said it would send someone to fix it between 8 a.m. and noon on a Friday. So, on the appointed day, Williams waited at home. About 11:15, he called to find out the repairman's whereabouts. That's when he was told that service crews were in a meeting that morning, and they hadn't even reached their first appointment yet.
"I said, 'You mean I have been waiting for three hours and nobody has even started?' They weren't even apologetic about it," Williams said. "They said, 'Yeah, that's right.'"
He canceled the service call and warned that he would sue.
A Sears representative said the company holds meetings between 7:30 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. every other Friday and service crews go out only after that. The Sears representative added that even though the service department knows of the meetings, it still tells customers to wait at home during hours the crew is unavailable.
In his lawsuit, Williams asked for $1,000 to make up for four potentially billable hours he lost while at home. Baltimore County District Judge Robert J. Steinberg lopped off $999 of that, saying Williams hadn't proved he lost wages. Besides the $1, Sears must pay the $20 court fee, according to court documents.
What the judge was upset about is that Sears knew that they weren't going to get there for at least two hours and yet demanded Williams be there for two hours.
While Williams can pursue other legal action, it's unlikely. "We made our point," he said.
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KEWL,
Even if I don't get a dime, If I cost them a few grand in lawyer fees it will almost make up for it.
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Gunslinger,
You may dismiss this, but I recommend letting it go. Get your money back and move on. Spending time and energy trying to 'get even' with Sears (or anyone else for that matter) is part of your life spend on nothing. Spend more time with your son and wife and doing the things you enjoy.
Revenge makes for some pretty good movies, but it is a waste of time and effort. Being a Christian, I can relate that to what "love your enemy" is all about. Sears won't be hurt by your efforts as much as you will hurt yourself. However, if you have documented overdraft bills due to Sears mistake, then ask them for compensation through a letter.
Focus on getting out of consumer debt. Consumer (credit) debt is the real 'demon' in your financial life. Yes, Sears screwed up. Forgive them and move on.
Regards,
Malta
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You can probably get the documented expenses that they cost you with out much problem, but remember they have a bunch of lawyers on staff that they have to pay anyway.
If they feel that you are just trying to teach them a lesson they might just stonewall you and then you will be suffering the legal fees.
This aint the 70's consumer protection laws are not what they used to be:)
shamus
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If its any consolation, I screwed Sears, or more aptly allowed them to screw themselves out of a microwave about 20 years ago.
My wife (at the time) and I went and picked out a good one on sale for a good price and when we told the sales fella "that one" he said he didn't have one in stock at the time, but he could give me a loner (different model, but comparable and brand new) till they got some in stock. They would deliver it and I could pay when it showed up. I was thinkin that these guys are great!!! I lived almost an hour drive from the store, so I asked him if there would be any charges for such a long delivery drive. No, none.
About 3 months later and a couple phone calls, I get told that my model has been discontinued, but that they would get me the next better one soon...it was out of stock as well.
Another 2 or 3 months goes by, I haven't paid for anything and have a free microwave...I had stopped calling and pretty much forgotten about the whole thing.
BAMBAMBAM on the door...Delivery guy says he's here to pick up a microwave. I point him to the kitchen. Guy picks it up and walks out. I'm thinkin...there goes my free microwave. 2 minutes later, BAMBAMBAM, the guys back with my brand spankin nib top of the line micro. He unpacks it, plugs it in and leaves. Hardly says a word, I reciprocate. Never get a bill nor a phone call.
I like FREE!
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Yeah untill you get slapped with 5 years of 20% interest for the unpaid delivery. :aok
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UPDATE:
I talked to a call center manager (very politely I might add) and she told me to make sure my bank actually accepts the check and to have them fax sears proof. After that she will have their credit Dept. "jump through hoops" and cut me a check overnight to include and fees I may have incured because of their error.
I called my bank and since the check came in on a friday and over drew my account by $232 they might actually bounce it by this afternoon. That IMHO would be the best case scenerio because I would still bill sears for all the fees and I would have my money back imediatly.
So the Little guy 1 Sears 0 so far! :)
Well maybe not because I am still broke for the week and I'm not going to be able to buy that shop compressor that I wanted. (still can't decide between that or a new smoker)
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Gun,
You might want to hold off on non essential stuff until you build up a better warchest. I'm not your financial advisior but I would suggest setting aside 10 percent of your income and leaving it untouched to avoid such pain in the future.
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Originally posted by rabbidrabbit
Gun,
You might want to hold off on non essential stuff until you build up a better warchest. I'm not your financial advisior but I would suggest setting aside 10 percent of your income and leaving it untouched to avoid such pain in the future.
Beleive it or not that is my warchest. I keep $1500 in my checking account at all times. Anything left over after that is put into savings after bills are paid. This is something new I've been doing so my savings account wont really help with cash flow problems as of yet.
As far as retirment investing goes. I put $50 in a mutual fund that I have. I have what's call the TSP (thrift savings program) at work wich currently 7% of my income goes into. Each time I get a "cost of living" rais I raise that amount by half of the raise. Currently my TSP is doing well and making money with the funds I have it in.
I'm not a financial genious or anything but I am Human. I find that I do have to "reward" myself every other month for being financially responsible. I don't go overboard and I make sure I budget for it. Currently I was saving up for a new compressor ($134) or a new smoker ($148) I've learned the lesson not to live beyond my means, and If I can't pay cash for it then I don't need it.
A friend of mine gave me some good advice once. He told me if you see somthing you want (material wise) save up the cash for it untill you have enough to buy it outright. If by the time you save up for it, you still want it...get it. He say's half the time he changes his mind or his priorties are different. Either way his cash flow isn't suffering.
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Wow. I need Sears to wipe out my bank account. My overdraft would dissapear and I would be debt free! How do you get them to do it again!?:lol :lol :lol :lol
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Guns,
AOL, Chase, Citi, Sears, Verizon (just to name a few) are the big sucktion machines clearing ordinary folks' pockets (right after the moment they have cleared your wallet).
Due to the (intentional?) software glitch (or maybe just due to my involuntary mistake) AOL was charging my credit card for two separate accounts at the same time to the same residential address. They did it for 5 or 6 months irrespectively of my protests and multiple letters both to my credit card and AOL itself. Finally, when it became obvious to me that they are playng dirty games, I just refused to deal with AOL anymore. My credit card (after several long calls and at least two of my letters) stopped paying wrongful charges, but probably not before driving the problem into the deadend where they could also rise their own interest rate because AOL sold my "debt" (about $250. including "late payment" charges) to some
agency.
That agency resold it to another agency. At last some wizards sold this "debt" to my bank. All these institutions for several years (!) were showering me with the letters damanding the money (never payng attention to the copies of my letters to AOL and my credit card from which any 3rd grade student can figure out that there was evident AOL accounting scheme directed at the small guy).
Now I had to write a personal letter to the general manager of my bank with a simple threat to publicly disclose all this dirty scheming. That letter worked, but not for long.
I send in time my personal check from my bank account to my credit card. It was something like $16.71 (sixteen and 71/100dollars). But in about a month I received my credit card statement with the late fee. It so happened that at that time I had been working overtime
six days a week for several months. My head was far from being a computer, so only after another month (two months' period for my claims having expired) I found out the gross (intentional?) mistake made by my bank : instead of 'sixteen' dollars they only paid SIX.
As the result, my credit card sharply rose the interest rate, and following it ... my bank rose its interest on my overdraft reserve. The sad joke is the following : both these institutions were owned by the same old family of financial moguls.
But the AOL had its revenge too.
Last year I started to rent my friend's apartment because he split for the greener pastures of the Garden State.
So when changing the name on the phone account I was asked if I would like to have DSL service. My stupid answer was that I did not need it because it's quite enough for me to have my dial-up account. That was a perfect AOL trap. But who knew it ?
This more that funny AOL institution charged me through Verizon (!) for non-existent AOL service for two months even without me having
their account for more than five years. I was able to stop this financial hooliganism with great difficulty because Verizon reps kept on insisting that they have nothing to do with AOL even though the fictitious AOL charges appeared on Verizon bill (!).
My proposal : any public service company (be it transportation, utilities, financial institution, ISP) can't have more than one million customers, and it should also have a sufficient number of representatives (not phone machines) working directly with the customers.
Otherwise it can't be called business, it is scheming.
P.S. And Sears simply revoke my card sometime in the middle of the described above financial manipulations.
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Hey this is Y they are getting rid of all those clase action suits....
After we get rid of those we can pass the saving onto the billionares and the stockholders:rolleyes:
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one thing i've never understood about companies that screw up credit reports..........
Why can't you sue them for Slander?
Could a newspaper get away with lieing about some company and watch it's stock drop?
NO, they would get sue'd for slander .... where are the citizens rights?
I've never heard of a case of identity theft etc where the company wasn't resposible for lousy security.... yet they can post a credit report that slanders your name?!?!?!
Maybe if you make THEM pay for THIER mistakes THEY will increase THIER secuirty .....
I fail to see where a 'victim' of identity theft, cards stolen etc.... is ever involved in it?
It's all the company that screwed up with thier lousy secuirty or just lousy accounting in the frist place that allows such problems. I've yet to see them held resposible for slandering credit reports.......
IF we held them resposible is such ways maybe they would shape up.
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Originally posted by Trell
Hey this is Y they are getting rid of all those clase action suits....
After we get rid of those we can pass the saving onto the billionares and the stockholders:rolleyes:
nice troll
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Originally posted by Manedew
one thing i've never understood about companies that screw up credit reports..........
Why can't you sue them for Slander?
You can, maybe not slander but negligence
would be easy to prove.
So what are your damages? a few hundred?, are you going to hire a lawyer to prove your case?, of course not.
Gunslinger's problem isn't even a problem, as he has already found out.
shamus
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Originally posted by Shamus
You can, maybe not slander but negligence
would be easy to prove.
So what are your damages? a few hundred?, are you going to hire a lawyer to prove your case?, of course not.
Gunslinger's problem isn't even a problem, as he has already found out.
shamus
Well I still have some "leg work" to do with them. My bank did not bounce the check so I have to wait for them to mail me one. I also have to fax them my bank statment and the check for them to see the 3 $33 overdraft fees and the $50 direct deposit advance fee.
Either way I don't have any spending money for the week.
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UPDATE:
after spending 3 hours on the phone this morning I nearly blew a blood vessle when I was told that "your refund request was cancled"
Seriously I saw red and heard the action music from the kill bill movie.
It took me 5 more phone calls and 3 more call center managers to get the action restarted and they told me they'd be printing a check for me this week.
Not good enough....
I've decided to play dirty. An investigator from my bank FINALLY called me today to inquire what's going on. I didn't get to talk to her because we played phone tag. But, she refunded my overdraft fees ($150) wich was awsome, now my geico payment wont bounce. Tomorrow I'm going to call her and ask that the original check be returned to sears for fraud. This will return the funds to my account almost instantly.
When sears calls to find out when they get their check back that they mailed me my reply will be simple: "7 to 10 business days"
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Guns,
You may want to make a friendly inquire to you state's attorney generals office and file a formal complaint against both Sears and the servicing company (if it is not sears). This gives you a documented statement and may give your state tax money some use for you.
Second, I would call the Sears corporate office and ask to speak to either the EVP of Marketing or better yet, the CEO. You will not get either of these people, but you should get to their administrative assistances (who are actually the power brokers). Inform them of your problem and indicate that you will be calling back frequently until your problem is resolved to your satisfaction. The CEO and his admin don't want to deal with these items. They will delegate it to their underlings, but instead of you working up through the call center and that management chain, you will start at the top. The poeple who report to the CEO will make sure this "problem" (you) go away from their bosses attention quickly.
If your account is not serviced directly by Sears, but by a co-brand or partnership issuer, you have more pull with Sears as this is a black eye to them and they will address it for you with the issuer. I would also call the corp. HQ of the issuer and bug their CEO.
When dealing with both organizations, be clear on what you expect and when you expect it from these organizations. Be willing to fax them the complaint you've filed with your attornery generals office. Also be clear that any negative impact to your credit history should be immediately corrected by Sears and the card issuer. A letter from the card issuer should be sought that clears you of any misdeeds that you can fax to the 3 credit bereaus (spelling) to have added to your history.
This should both assist you with clearing up your current problem and help repair any damages that may have been done to your credit history. It sounds like you've been working hard to improve your credit rating and cleanup your use of credit. I commend you on those efforts and pray that everything will be worked out.
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Hello, Action 5 News? Local editor, please.
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Thanks for the advice but....
Second, I would call the Sears corporate office and ask to speak to either the EVP of Marketing or better yet
Do a google (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sears+corporate) on sears or sears corporate and let me know who their staff is. I was looking for about 30 minutes today and could not find it at all. I found Sears Canada but not 1 piece of info on who runs it in the US.
This company is largly compartmentalized. Not too many divisions of it talk to eachother and most of the time they do not allow customer communication to anyone but customer service.
DAM! :) I'm still thinking like a Marine. Here I am planning an attack and gathering intell on my enemy :aok
OK back to reality. They have call centers all over the US but they very by time zone and location as per wich one you get. They, however are a no go. Most of their supervisory staff is well trained in not letting the customer any further than them. YET, they have absolutly no power to accomplish anything as they can only communicate outside their call centers via email and to other call centers vai bad phone listings.
Definatly not the worst company to deal with but definatly one of the more defensive. Good luck getting a phone number other than 800-917-7700. If you do get another number its to a specific call center and that's only after talking to a call center manager with massive common sense wich is in vact not a common virtue here.
Not exactly a SALUTE report but definatly good intel on my enemy so far. I think I will put on some cammi paint and go stalk the neighbors
;)
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Looks to me they're emptying client accounts on purpose and then use defensive approach to delay the payback as long as possible.
Do this to 10 000 clients around the country and you have an interest free $90 000 000 at your disposal. Call it an involuntary lawyer-in rebate.
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but not 1 piece of info on who runs it in the US.
find someone who owns even one share of stock. or if you own 1 share, you can find out everything you want to know.
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when I start to realize a company is going to be a PITA to deal with, the first thing I do is start taking notes on every call. especially get the name of every person you talk to, what they said and even notes about their attitude twards you.
if you want to take this to some sort of legal action, having the run-around mapped out will go farther than just saying you called them a bunch of times and got no help.
it's also handy because your ability to give them some of the aggravation they give you increases. you can ask to talk to he same people you talked to before, so every person you talk to doesn't act like this is the first time you tried to fix this. plus calling the same person back.
the person who told you you were going to get a refund could get a call asking why your refund was canceled. who canceled it or was it really ever made? when talking about what was said on other calls use the name of who you talked to instead of 'the guy in this department' it lets them know that when you end up talking to a supervisor, that their name will be brought up when the service you receive is discussed.
also if this ends up costing them penalties they would probably like to know who in their company cost them the time, money, and crappy customer relations. having a list of who-said-what will help make sure that the guy who caused your problem gets full credit for it.
also I've found that when you ask them to repeat their name when they answer the phone or how to spell it (to give them the hint that you are writing this down) they become much more helpful.
a lot of times I don't think it's so much company policy, but just lazy or rude people who hide in the anonymity of a big company. knowing you won't be able to pick them out of the herd to account for their actions. but with a record of the time and number you called, when you were transfered to another employee and even just their first name they become a lot more ID-able and cooperative
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I'm tellin ya Guns, call one of the TV stations that covers SoCal. They eat this stuff up. I can see the headline now..."It's The Corps versus The Store! What happens when one of the countries top retailers declares war with a Marine? Consumer reporter Tashi Kawasaki has the inside story tonight on Action News 5."
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Originally posted by Gunslinger
UPDATE:
"your refund request was cancled"
ooooh I missed this. who said it was a refund?
I see it as getting your money back that they stole (or embezzled) from you.
If it was me. I'd let them know, in no uncertain terms, that is how I see it.
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sears is being bought by k-mart.
this is the same k-mart that went bankrupt and made all k-mart stock shares worthless, they now have the money to buy sears.
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Guns,
Any publicly traded company has to list corporate headquarters and contact information. Went to finance.yahoo.com and determined Sears's stock ticker was "s". I then did a company profile on stock symbol "s" and got
Sears, Roebuck and Co
3333 Beverly Road
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179
Phone: (847) 286-2500
Fax: (847) 286-7829
Email: invrel@sears.com
Wether or not this is the CEO's HQ, this number has to have a receptionist that is not a call center person and should at a minimum have the accounting deptment or executives. It would be a great number to start at.
I also looked at the EDGAR filings to get some executives name and found:
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO.
By:
Michael J. Graham
Vice President and Controller
With a bit more digging (look at the annual report on the SEC website) I could get you the names of the CEO, president, top executives and board of directors. Its just where you look.
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Originally posted by Siaf__csf
Looks to me they're emptying client accounts on purpose and then use defensive approach to delay the payback as long as possible.
Do this to 10 000 clients around the country and you have an interest free $90 000 000 at your disposal. Call it an involuntary lawyer-in rebate.
Even worse than that.
Just yesterday got a letter from the goons at "Cavalry Portfolio Services, LLC".
As it appeares they bought from SPRINT my former account with "outstanding balance $351.76."
The above account was closed by me with some delay after I lost my $399.99 cell phone on the 11th of September 2001 when at about 11 P.M. I finally arrived to the gates of my Seagate community (the very tip of Coney Island) from Midtown Manhattan where I worked on that terrible day. It looked as if I lost that phone in the place where it couldn't be recovered by anybody else, so in the aftermath of 9/11 I did not immediately closed my cell phone account (just wanted to by a new cell phone) until I got
the SPRINT cell phone bill with out-of-the-blue charges. Apparently, some jerk or jerkress found my cell phone and were using it.
So I cancelled my account and settled (as I thought) this matter with SPRINT : it took some time and paper for me to even make the SPRINT representatives believe in the possibility of my story with the loss of the cell phone on 9/11.
Now, after three and a half years since the terrorist attacks on America, look who's trying to get the goods out of whole situation. It is SPRINT company that has sold my 9/11 "outstanding balance" to the goons from CAVALRY who threaten me to "notify the credit bureaus."
If anybody of you, guys, is going to contact TV or press on the issues like mine (secondary debt market and immoral greed of big companies not even disturbed by people's loss or grief), just let me know, and I will allow you to use for it my self-coined headline.
But do not recommend me to file for a class action together with other people who lost their valuables on 9/11.
:rolleyes:
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UPDATE:
So apperantly my check has "been in the mail" since the 24th of this of march.
That's the story I've gotten all week long. (and I HAVE called every single day)
Today Sears sends me a BILL......YES.....A BILL!
I owe them 1680.86 with a minimum payment of 38.00 due on the 22nd of April.
I call again today to inquire as to WHY i have a balance at all and WHY it only takes me 3 days to get mail from Ohio but it's been 7 days since "the checks in the mail" and they have the gall to actually bill me.
I guess they cut me two checks. This is change 3 to change 4 because this is the first time I've heard this from these idiots.
So now I have a BILL saying I owe them money but no check as of yet. In order to calm myself down I'm sitting here thinking of ways to screw sears once they send me my checks. I was thinking maybe of mailing it back to them in $10 increments and yes 160 checks and then charge them for printing fees and postage.
but either way I don't beleive a word they say that the check is "in the mail". It does not take me 7 days to recieve mail from almost anywere in the US. The call center manager couldnt even tell me were the check was mailed from.
OH I talked to wellsfargo again. This time a lovely manager in their research department told me that this wasnt a fraud claim because we had a "draft" with sears and that it was an error...not fraud. Should couldnt return the check or refund me the money because the federal reserve doesn't allow it when the amount is greater than $1000.00.
Feal my phuggin pain :mad:
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I just hope that this gets cleared up before it hit's your credit report....Having worked for sears (As a tire and brake installer) I do feel your pain....and offer any assistance for retaliation that you may be planning:D
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Ok so I have decided. I am the better person here and I'm not going to do anything stupid. BUT, I am going to cover my bellybutton when it comes to them.
When/IF the extra check gets here I am not mailing it back to them untill my account balance is ZERO. then I will put it in an envelope and mail it off to them but not any sooner.
I will not pay them one penny either until this happens. I may be making my last stand here and they may send me to collections BUT I will fight them in court with there check in my hand more than willing to give it to them (in 7 to 10 business days of course) when my account balance reflects what it should wich is $0.00.
Yup I'm standing up for the little guy that get's screwed everywere.
This is my....(dang I cant think of one famous last stand were the outcome was good for the home team)
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You might want to pick another metaphor. You do know what happened at the Alamo, right?
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Originally posted by Rolex
You might want to pick another metaphor. You do know what happened at the Alamo, right?
LOL
Good call!
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Give em hell :)
btw, I would just shred check #2, if and when you get it, if you sent it back and it gets stolen and cashed, you are in for round 2, and I dont think you would want to fight that one.
shamus
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Originally posted by Shamus
Give em hell :)
btw, I would just shred check #2, if and when you get it, if you sent it back and it gets stolen and cashed, you are in for round 2, and I dont think you would want to fight that one.
shamus
That's kinda why I want them to change my account balance. It's their check and their money and If I don't cash it I'm not obligated to pay it.
But the whole missing check thing is something I'm trying to avoid.
EDIT:
I see what you're saying now. I could void the check by writing "void" on it and mail them a copy of it along with my written request but they arent getting the actual check till my balance reads ZERO.
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UPDATE:
Gunslinger WINS
My account balance is ZERO! I got a check today for 149$ to cover my expenses.
AND I got a letter in the mail saying my account has been closed!
WOOHOO!
I think I shall drink away the entire $149 just for sheer principles!
:aok
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WTFG!