Credit Card Stupidity

[Heksubah]

I am now working for a company that backs thousands of various credit cards. I have four clients (the stores that the card is for) that I take calls four and one of them is a rather well known, very prestigious clothing store. Most of their clients are old money, lawyers, doctors, politicians, etc. ...AKA - Entitlement Whores!

Here are two stories from the last couple of weeks that tickled me to no end. Stories slightly truncated for ease of retelling.

Statements? I don't need no stinkin' statements!

Me: Thank you for calling, this is Heksubah... [verifies customer and gets into account] ...how may I help you?
SC: Yes, Heksubah. I don't usually read my statements but I happened to read my last one and I noticed that I had a late fee and that my APR has gone up. While investigating it seems that you people have changed my due date on me. I have an automatic draft that pays much more than my minimum due each month but now that you've changed the due date it is coming in late!
Me: *looks through the last year of records, which is all I can see, and discovers he has had a late fee every single month... has not read his statements in over a year!* Yes, sir, it does appear that way. We do send out the statements since the due dates can change and this is so you have information as to when your bill will be due. (Since that time I've learned we only have two due dates for those customers, the 1st and the 14th... his was the 14th... so it had never changed. He's just paying us on the 16!)
SC: Yes, but surely something can be done about this.
Me: I can remove one late fee, but that is all I am able to do, sir. This is why we send out a monthly record of your account to you...
SC, cutting me off: One fee? You've been charging me for over a year and you can only take off one fee?! Get me a supervisor!

Fortunately, that supervisor seemed to have a spine though I don't know the official result.

APOLOGIZE! NOW!

Me: [Introduction and verification] How may I help you?
SC: Yes, I am a long time customer of your store and your card. I took your card with me to a salon and it was declined! How could it possibly be declined? I was so embarrassed in front of my friends and I know the owner. It was mortifying!
Me: *checks info* Yes, ma'am, it seems we sent you a new card in the past. Have you received this card?
SC: I most certainly have not! And how could this happen if I've never activated the new card?!
Me: *checks* Actually, ma'am, the card was activated in June... do you recall this?
SC, speaking to husband in background: Could we have activated a new card in June?
Mr. SC: It's possible. You should get an apology.
SC: Yes, yes. *back to me* I want your company to send a letter of apology to the store where my card was declined. This was absolutely unthinkable to do in front of my friends!

Right, and pigs will fly out of my butt. You used an old card which has long been shut off for your security, because you have and have activated a new card, and you want us to apologize for your oversight? HA! The supervisors weren't in to handle that one, too close to closing.

[EvilEmpryss]

I love when the customer thinks that because they made a mistake, you should apologize.

Yeah, I apologize for the fact that you're a total goober and I'm sorry that I had the misfortune to be the one to have to encounter your nuttiness.

[workerbee222]

I had a card declined, and when I found out why, I was relieved. There had been a breach of security at a chain of supermarkets, and my bank had thoughtfully sent me a new card for my safety and security.

I found it in the stack of mail I went through when I got home. I was a little embarrassed, but the cashier didn't sneer at me or anything when it was declined. She just shrugged and asked for another form of payment with a "Meh, shit happens" kind of attitude.

[smileyeagle1021]

You know, with cards being declined, I know most of the time it is stupid shit (I had a visa that was blocked because I bought gas at 7-11 and that was clearly suspicious because I normally get gas at Chevron... umm, I was low on gas and couldn't find a Chevron, how is that suspicious)... but, I would rather deal with unblocking my card for stupid shit than let someone run wild with it because there are no safe guards.
Then there was the experience my mom had with Citibank, and God bless this agent who actually understands demographics. She called in to let them know that she was going on vacation to Arizona and Utah (she lives in Nevada). This agent had her re verify her information three times, and she finally admitted that it was because all her previous travel had been to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland, suddenly going to Arizona and Utah was suspicious, not just because of going the opposite direction, but most people who would go on vacation to Cali are not the same people who would go on vacation to Arizona or Utah.
Yeah, it was a pain in the ass, but even after spending half an hour assuring the bank rep that she was indeed going on vacation to Utah and please don't suspend the card for suspicious activity when they see it show up in Utah, she'd much rather go through that than what happened when she was with BofA and $5,000 worth of charges just showed up in Philadelphia one month (a city that she had never been to at that point).

[Teskeria]

Then there's the many many times your card HASN'T been declined. Their machine just never sent the request through to the CC company OR it was approved and their machine doesn't show that. (Yes, I can see whether a charge was approved, declined or referred. BTW, a referred is not the same as a decline. a referred requires them to call their CC company, usually to verify ID because it is out of pattern.) A lot of times a decline can be as simple as wrong zip code or security code entered (not all cards have the security code in the same place).

[Kristev]

I often buy "Magic, the gathering" cards from E-bay. It's so much easier for me to search for exactly what I need than take a risk of buying a random deck.

But if I spend over 20 dollars on it, I will call the bank or stop by in the morning to tell them that: Yes, in a few days you'll see approximately (slightly higher than I spend, it's a trick I do), come out to E-bay. I did it, it was all me. No one took my card."

I'll also tell them that it was me if I go out and spend a bunch of money, say in Boise, since I live in Caldwell/Nampa. This is extremely rare, but it happens.

[Android Kaeli]

I much rather have the company I have my CC with call me to verify that I, indeed, spent money in places that seem suscipious to them. Because they know for a fact that where I spend my money at and if it seems suscipious to them, then they'll give me a call. They did that last year, and I'm glad they did -- shows that they are keeping an eye on my account.

[BlaqueKatt]

SC, cutting me off: One fee? You've been charging me for over a year and you can only take off one fee?! Get me a supervisor!

Fortunately, that supervisor seemed to have a spine though I don't know the official result.

well considering giving back any more than 6 months would be a nice violation of a federal law(known as Sarbaines-Oxley or SOX)-and if that's caught on an audit...jail time.