Friday, May 18, 2007

Tears for Sears

I just got off the phone yelling at some poor woman who works for Sears. I don't usually do that, but today I received a statement from Sears telling me that the credit I had on account of overpaying a while back is now being raked back to the tune of $25.00 for what they term a "credit balance admin fee". Say what?

When I explained that such a fee was unknown to me when I signed up for a Sears card, the lady on the other end of the line insisted that it was contained in a little booklet which I would have received once I got my card. I still have that little booklet (I bet most people throw them out and she was counting on that) and was able to go through it, page by page, showing that there was nothing in it about a credit balance admin fee. Then phone-lady says the information was contained in a "flying page" that came with the booklet. I assured her that nothing I received from Sears had wings, and the only insert I got was about the use of my personal information.

Her reaction when I asked to speak to her supervisor was to raise her voice to the point where I had to ask her to please not shout at me. I was already holding the phone a foot from my ear. However, it seems that raising the voice must be significant to reaching a deal, because when I raised my voice back, she said she was putting me on hold and would be back in a jiffy. While I hummed and waited and hummed, I looked at the sheaf of papers in my Sears file folder and noticed that I had been through this exact same discussion with Sears a few years ago on a previous account that I held with them. I didn't win that time, it appears and I cancelled my account without getting my $25 back. Hmm. Should I tell her about that time? Naw. Funny how a thing like that would slip my mind. I must be getting older faster than I feared.

When she returned, her voice had returned to mellow tones and she informed me that they would credit the $25 back to my account but that I would have to use the credit (all of $26.41) withint 12 months or the Credit Balance Admin Fee would reappear.

I assured her I would use it. (Maybe even tonight.) I also suggested that she tell her superiors that it would be a good idea to put a notice on people's bills that they are running out of time to use a credit, and that $25 of it will go poof in the next month's bill. Seems like a neighbourly thing to do.

What I didn't tell her was that the minute I use up the credit, I'm cancelling this account. You know what they say, Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on you again. Fool me three times? Not going to happen.