Is it worth it to push an issue with my credit card?

February 20, 2008 8:37 PM

Should I try to escalate my recent experience with my credit card provider? Please help me understand what I might be able to gain from doing so.

The short question (many more details below): What action items are within the power of a typical supervisor in a credit card call center? What might that person be able to do to make amends for an egregious customer service experience?

Background: I am a platinum account holder with a major American bank (which I will not name in this question). Prior to a recent trip to Europe I was trying to be a responsible card holder and assemble information in case my wallet were lost or stolen. Since it is often not possible to call the usual toll-free 1-800 numbers you would call in the US, most cards also have another number to call collect from outside the US. My debit card listed both of these numbers on the back, but my platinum Master Card only listed a 1-866 "automated account information" number.

I poked around on my web account for the card and couldn't find the number I needed. I then tried using the customer service portal to make my query. I cannot reproduce the text of my query here because my messages were mysteriously deleted following what happened next, but it was along the lines of: "I am planning a trip to Europe and would like to know what number to call in the event my card is lost or stolen. Is the number different than the one I would call in the US?"

The next day - 24 hours before I left on my trip - I discovered that my card had been canceled as a result of my question. I phoned in and got a rather apologetic representative, but there was nothing that could be done. He offered to send a new card overnight FedEx, but could not guarantee that it would arrive before I left for my trip at 9 am the next day. I did not want a FedEx envelope with a credit card sitting on my doorstep for a week, so I declined his offer and said that I would call again after my trip to have the card reissued. I am 100% clear that he understood I did not want the card sent - he repeated that no action would be taken until I call.

Fast forward to my return home - there's a week-old FedEx envelope on my doorstep with a new card.

I'm really, really annoyed about this. I feel that I have had a horrible experience that is not in any way my fault, that my direct instructions were ignored, and that having the FedEx envelope on my doorstep for a week was a breach of security on a couple of levels (advertising no one was in my house and also exposing my credit card to theft). I am capable of calling and having a rational conversation about this, but I'm not sure if it is worth it.

If I did call, what might I be able to ask of the bank to make amends for my experience? My card doesn't offer any points or bonus air miles or anything like that. I've also never carried a balance forward, so they've never make a penny in interest off me. Will they even care if I cancel my card?

I feel the ideal thing to do would probably be for me to cancel the card and move my bank, but that's a rather large project and I don't have a lot of time for it right now. I also don't know what other bank I'd go to - I have a feeling they are all probably equally terrible at some level.

I usually resolve situations like these by deciding that sometimes annoying things happen in life, and it's probably not worth my time and angst to pursue it. This feels different. Can anyone weigh in one way or the other, or tell my what I might be able to expect in terms of compensation?

posted by handful of rain to work & money (15 answers total)

If it were me, I'd send a letter to the bank detailing how they fucked up, but not asking for anything. See if they offer you anything. I can't think of anything they might offer--if you don't carry a balance, an offer to reduce your interest rate isn't going to make a difference, and you didn't lose any money, so I don't see why they'd offer you any. But maybe they can think of something. If they can't, or if they don't respond, then when you do have enough time to switch, do so and make sure they know why.

Honestly, though, is it worth the mental effort? It's done, you didn't lose any money, you haven't been the victim of identity theft, presumably you were able to have your vacation in Europe without that card. They fucked up, but what did that cost you, really?
posted by hades at 8:53 PM on February 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

Rest assured that the bank is making money off of your transactions every time you use the card. In your position I would certainly make that rational call, and escalate as high as possible without revealing any of the reasons for escalation. Then when you've dead-ended, make them convince you to keep the account open, and escalate more if possible until you start liking the answers you hear. If it's a platinum card as you say, and you never carry a balance forward, and have the wherewithal to visit Europe (and congrats for that, I hope you had a lovely trip) it's probably safe to posit that you have sterling credit and have certainly earned better treatment than you've received.

Boil all the above down into: Threaten to take your business elsewhere and see what happens. If they call your bluff, okay, huge project ahead. But maybe they don't.

Another note: simply because your current credit card doesn't have any perks doesn't mean they're not available, either by special exception or by issuing a different type of card.

Additionally: I wouldn't expect any direct monetary compensation, just credits / concessions against future business.
posted by ZakDaddy at 8:59 PM on February 20, 2008

...and a rejoinder to hades: sometimes, I'd be right along with the forgive and forget, what's the real harm philosophy you seem to suggest (and in many cases it's the best, I agree) but I think Handful of Rain has reason to be a little more upset than usual here. In a similar position I'd take some of that legitimate angst and see what I could get from it.
posted by ZakDaddy at 9:01 PM on February 20, 2008

Wow. What a crappy experience.
Don't let the bank get away with this. There is far too much competition in the card market to give companies who betray your trust, any more of your money.

Zakdaddy is right that they make some money off each transaction that you make, but it isn't that much. They make far more from people who carry a significant balance and only make the minimum payments. This means that they may not fight that hard to keep you.

But you never know. Ask them what they're going to do to make up for their catalogue of errors here. P'raps move you to a different card and give you a shit-load of miles?

If not, screw em. It really isn't any bother to switch credit cards. You can always sign up for the amazon card and get a free $30.
posted by tonylord at 9:09 PM on February 20, 2008

I'm leading more toward hades' answer. (Hmmm... how that might bite me in the afterlife.)

Anyway, yeah, it's annoying. Who knows where it was messed up. Yeah, it was likely the rep, who clicked when he should have double-clicked, or didn't know that one click makes the order and un-clicking doesn't do it.

I would count yourself lucky that their screw up didn't harm you. Write the letter. Let 'em have it, for yourself, if anything, but if moving banks is not worth it to you, the best you can get it letting them know how much potential trouble they caused you.

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posted by tcv at 9:10 PM on February 20, 2008

I work for one of largest credit card companies around and we love to have "transactors" like you who do not carry a balance but have a large "spend" each month. If that truly is the case, then you should have a reward card. You would benefit and the company would benefit by keeping you longer.

The advice about "escalate, escalate, escalate" won't get you much if anything. There's no point. Call in, ask to talk about other "reward cards" and once the representative finds one that suits your desires ask for a bonus pool of points due to your experience.

If you really want to give the company your feedback for positive purposes or to restate your desire to get a reward bonus, write a letter.

Threats and adversarial attitudes don't get you as far as many people think. Politeness and respectful approach are the keys to success.

You never know, the root of the issue may have not been the person you spoke with at all. Some times there are systems for plastic delivery in some companies that take over and expedite plastic mailings based on criteria.... Hard to know without knowing who you are referring to.

Regards,
posted by jseven at 9:31 PM on February 20, 2008 [1 favorite]

That is terrible customer service. Forget getting anything from them. Just leave them and name the bank. Every card I have tells you the number you use to call collect from anywhere in the world right on the back of the card. And there is no excuse for screw-ups where you get contradictory information and errors involving cancellation of cards or sending of new cards.

Also why is canceling a credit card a major process? It sounds like you have no balance and you are not getting anything except for terrible customer service. Even if you have your other checking or savings accounts in that bank, just cancel your credit card there. Maybe it is convenient to be able to pay your credit card directly via your bank to your bank's credit card, but you can do ACH transfers for most any credit cards; just find one that won't charge you a fee to do that. And, if you are spending enough money to be a platinum at your bank, you are probably spending enough that you can get a credit card that will give you something for your spending (no matter what it is, miles, cash-back, points on some web site, something); just make sure that your new credit card company doesn't have an annual fee and doesn't charge you for ACH transfers.
posted by iknowizbirfmark at 9:44 PM on February 20, 2008

One thing you may want to keep in mind is that the age of your credit lines is a significant factor in your credit score. If this is a particularly old account, or you don't have many credit lines total, you may just want to set the card aside as opposed to cancelling it, if you do get to that point. (Use it occasionally so they don't cancel it on you--maybe put a small recurring monthly charge on it, and have it automatically paid through your bank's billpay.)
posted by dixie flatline at 10:21 PM on February 20, 2008

I have found when I have had poor customer service, that calling back and escalating has worked. What's more, these calls are recorded and can be pulled up by them, (I've had them do it, get back to me about a week later and say "you were right, we did say that").

Call them. Have them pull up the records. Get a supervisor from the start, work your way up.

I agree canceling your credit card may effect your credit score. But then again, they may have already screwed with that when they canceled your card the first time. Even more reason to pursue it, and I'd would let them know this.

Good luck! Keep your tone civil and persevere.
posted by 6:1 at 3:12 AM on February 21, 2008

I think it's worth pursuing, but I would do it in writing (presumably you are under no particular time constraints) just to have the record and because a written letter seems to have more impact.

Also, I think you should have a sense of your expected compensation. It may come down to them asking you "What can we do to make this right?"
posted by dzot at 6:33 AM on February 21, 2008

Thank you guys so much for the responses!

A few points of response...

@hades - it's true that I didn't lose money or have my trip ruined as a result of the card snafu. I'm not expecting a check for $1000 to cover my pain or suffering - but this has cost me time, as well as a genuine degree of angst. When I encounter things that don't go perfectly, like late flights or a restaurant not having a table ready at my reserved time, I usually take a deep breath, consider the bigger picture, and decide not to let whatever happened ruin my day. In this case, I can even get beyond the mistaken canceling of my card - but I'm having trouble letting go of the fact they sent the card when I told them not to. I'm not looking to turn this into a huge cash cow, but I definitely want some response from them about what happened.

@ZakDaddy - thanks for pointing out that they are making money off of my transactions even if it's not an interest payment. I'd forgotten about that side of things, and one of my keep-my-zen approaches had been to remind myself that they aren't making money off of me and being rewarded for their incompetence. But that's not right! I do have an extremely high credit score, and I would like to think that's worth some attention to detail from them. And thanks - we went to Switzerland for some winter hiking and had a blast!

@ everyone who suggested writing a letter and asking for a bonus card - I actually hadn't thought of the letter path at all. I really like that idea because I can make sure I'm calm and articulate. I would definitely be interested in what bonus cards they have - I've never really looked at using one, but I think it would be a great tangible thing to ask for and see what they say.

@jseven - thanks for reminding me that this might not have been a human screwup, but an issue with the larger system. I really hope that's true in some sense, because if not it leaves me with little faith in the ability of them to provide me with a minimal level of quality in the future.

@ iknowizbirfmark - the reason this would be a huge project is because I have all my banking through this institution (which, OK, is Washington Mutual), including a platinum checking/savings/debit card and the MasterCard. If I went that route, I want to move everything out of that institution, not just the credit card. Also, here's the craziest part of this, which I just discovered: the new card has both the within and outside of the US numbers right on the back! But I just triple checked and my old one definitely does not have those numbers. I wonder if this old card was a flawed design or something...
posted by handful of rain at 6:36 AM on February 21, 2008

but I'm having trouble letting go of the fact they sent the card when I told them not to.

Don't. The only people they endangered in that was themselves. While the credit card companies love to go on and on in their ads about how they're looking out for you with all this fraud protection, the only people they're looking out for is themselves. The limit of of your liability is $50 and the chance that you'd even have to pay that is effectively 0: they put that card in the mail via FedEx and had no signature confirmation or activation event.

You need to get over this concept of being friends with your credit card company and view them the same way they view you: as someone to jettison the moment the relationship stops being to your advantage. You're continuing to protect their name here despite gross incompetence and, apparently, intending to keep doing business with people who penalize you (even if it's just by being complete fuckups) for calling them with a question.

Why? You've stated it's not a reward card. What exactly are you getting from this relationship aside from aggravation?
posted by phearlez at 7:33 AM on February 21, 2008

I work for an organisation that adjudicates on disputes of this kind. I deal with this sort of thing day in, day out, so my answer is with the benefit of that experience.

You've been inconvenienced, but have suffered no financial loss. The bank made an error - there was probably a miscommunication somewhere along the line at the bank, or the wrong command entered on the computer - but the fact remains that your new card wasn't stolen or misused.

If your complaint landed on my desk, I'd probably ask the bank to pay you £50, and apologise for causing you inconvenience. As you're in the US, and the dollar goes further, I'd make it $50 and an apology.
posted by essexjan at 9:45 AM on February 21, 2008

Why is it a huge project to change cards because you have all your banking through them? You don't have to use the credit card offered by your bank.
posted by chickaboo at 10:11 AM on February 21, 2008

I'd write a letter and say something that translated to, "Yo! This happened, looks really bad to me and could leave you clowns holding the bag for a whole mess of fraudulent charges at some point in the future. Maybe you should look into how you handle these sorts of things and fix them somehow.

They might not do anything for you but it may save someone else from having their card stolen off their front step.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 1:51 PM on February 21, 2008