Sun 21 Feb 2010
Over the past several weeks, I have been involved in a rather absurd email debate with some woman who lives her life in the darkened dungeons of credit card customer service hell. I was quite annoyed to discover about a month ago that my 5% interest rate had unexpectedly been hiked to 12%. No prior warning, no explanation given, and absolutely NO cause (other than of course, the changing industry laws that were intended to protect the consumer but that appear to have inspired interest hikes for them instead).
In any case, in our email debates, I have repeated several times that I was NOT notified of an interest rate change, to which she has consistently (and quite stubbornly) replied that her records indicate one was mailed. WELL THEN. I’m sorry, I must have accidentally shredded this very important piece of paper that told me you were going to more than DOUBLE my interest rates and that I had 30 days to protest said changes before they went into effect. RIGHT. (In case any credit card representatives from this unnamed company are reading… this was EXTREME sarcasm, not to be read as any form of agreement that said paper was EVER in my hands!)
Of course, as I was writing my latest argument with this woman, it occurred to me that really, I was engaging in a battle I could not possibly win because I was shouting in the wind at an entire system that was corrupt. I found the woman’s arguments to be absurd. When I stated that I never received the notice, she countered that it was mailed. When I stated that the hike was unreasonable in any case, she said the company had the right to do anything they wanted, so long as they notified me in writing. When I reiterated that I received nothing in writing, she again stated it was mailed, starting the ridiculous cycle all over again. When I questioned the intelligence of anyone believing that I would be okay with a 7% interest hike, and brought into question the ethics of presuming my agreement based solely upon my LACK of a response, rather than, say, receiving a signed agreement from me, she claimed that her company’s “business practices are continuously reviewed to ensure we provide valued services and remain competitive in our business”. Umm… anyone else notice a distinct lack of response to the question of their ethics? Instead of insisting this company adheres to ethical business practices, she instead insists they are … competitive? Oh, and that they provide valuable services? You bet they do. To those who are desperate, and to people like me, who are weak.
Am I the only one who is sick and tired of the business practices of corporate America? I think in the end, I am mostly annoyed at myself, though. After all, I hate credit card companies and everything they stand for, and yet… here I am, sitting on my new bedroom furniture bought with a Nebraska Furniture Mart credit card, typing on a laptop purchased with a Dell credit card, snug in my grumpy sweatshirt paid for by Chase VISA.
Yep. There is absolutely no denying that I am most definitely part of the problem.