HSBC Watch News Release Forum Index
Forum Name: - HRS Account
Topic Title: Pay online comes with a warning
Mon Oct 03, 2005 6:28 pm
As recommended on Retail Service's (Best Buy's) website, I have been making monthly payments on-line for merchandise purchased in January 2004 with the understanding that no interest would be charged if monthly payments were timely received.
For the past 17 months all monthly payments were timely made using its "On-Line" billing system.
A “deferred finance charge” in the amount of $620.01 and “finance charges” in the amount of $25.30 were posted to my account due to non-payment of the balance of the unpaid purchase price on July 19, 2005.
I have been told that the billing statement MAILED to my house includes a “WARNING” that the balance was to be paid in July. However, I have no reason to read the MAILED statements since Retail Services (Best Buy) persuaded me to transact all of my payments on-line for mutual convenience. The on-line statements include an ambiguously phrased “promo expiration date” which is buried among various other data in the Finance Charge Summary and which I reasonably assume referred to some incentive typical of those constantly issued by credit card companies and unrelated to my existing balance. A due date for the unpaid purchase price does not appear.
Significantly, the monthly on-line statements do not include the “WARNING” that Retail Services (Best Buy) posted in the mailed statements that clearly alerts its customer that a final payment is due.
Since Retail Services (Best Buy) acknowledges that this “WARNING” was necessary to properly advise its customers to avoid incurring the compounded finance charge of 20%, it is unfair to be required to pay this punitive finance charge caused by the lack of such warning in the on-line statements that I have been relying upon when making my monthly payments in an established course of conduct for nearly 18 months.
Retail Services (Best Buy)has completely ingnored this setof facts in its lame form responses and refuses to rectify what at best was negligence on its part in failing to provide adequate warning of when the final payment was due - or perhaps it was engaged in a deceptive business practice to charge this excessive finance fee by inducing its customers not to make the final payment on time.
I appreciate your consideration and request that under these circumstances that the finance charges be waived. As a show of good faith, I am making payment on-line in the amount of $808.47 to pay-off the remaining purchase price (excluding the finance charges) with the understanding from your representative, Laurie Craighton, that no further finance charges will be assessed while this disputed matter is being resolved.
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