Household HSBC Watch

Fri Feb 11, 2005 10:24 pm      

I am once again extremely upset with Retail Services. On previous occasions, I have sent my payments by Certified Mail with a Return Receipt (not a free service from the U.S. Postal service) because an inordinate amount of time passed between mailing my check and Retail Services (or, previously, Household Retail Services "HRS"...my understanding that these are the same company) posting my payment to my account, and swore that I would never do business with them again...although I never "intentionally" did any business with them to begin with...only through financing purchases did I end up a Retail Services customer.

Unfortunately, we purchased a motorcycle from Yamaha, and guess who they financed us through? You got it...Retail Services...who repeated the same payment anomolies as before and charged me a late fee.

So, when I saw last month (12/28/04) that I could pay online, I thought that might be the best way to handle the situation. The statement says:

"Access your account information 24 hours a day at www.yamaha-motor.com. Select "Financing" on the menu across the top and click on "My Yamaha Card Account". It's that easy!"

On 1/21/05, with my payment being due on 1/22/05, I got online to make a payment. I found that I first had to create an account, which I did. After getting logged into the account, I then discovered that I had to "Schedule" a payment...which would be credited on...1/25/05. "It's that easy!" Remember? Even so, there must surely be a record of my attempting to pay my bill ONE DAY Prior to the due date that will indicate that I didn't intend to pay my bill after it was due. There is NO notice on the statement that you cannot pay on the due date, as with other accounts.

On my 1/28/05 statement, I found that I was charged a $35 late fee. When I called Retail Services on 2/9/05 (the day after receving my monthly statement) to request the late fee be reversed due to the circumstances, Angela was most helpful, but would have been able to reverse only half of the late charge...$17.50 "because of the previous late payment" and Retail Services has "no grace period" for late payments. Knowing that there had been plenty of time for my previous mailed payment to have been delivered and posted to my account, I had also contested that late fee, so I asked to speak with a supervisor. Angela transferred me to...

The Robot

..."Chris", "Floor Supervisor" who interrupted me constantly and continually rattled off their online policy and how their system works, and how full disclosure was available on their website as though he was reading it, saying that there was "plenty of warning online" that my payment would be "scheduled" for 1/25/05", that if was my fault the payment was late because I was "late scheduling" my payment therefore the "late charge was justified", who said there was no upper management person with whom I could speak because he was the highest authority there, then admitted that it was "not going to happen" that I would be allowed to speak with anyone else because there was no one else there "at this time" (12:30 pm EST). His constant prattling and interruptions, failure to provide even the most simple "Customer Service" of actually listening to me resulted in me literally shaking before disconnecting the call.

The online payment information printed on the monthly statement is misleading and results in financial cost not immediately disclosed. Using the online "Financing" payment option then results in damage to your credit rating due to misleading statements published on the monthly statement. If the payment cannot receive same day credit, it should be stated on the statement so that you know before it is too late when to make your online payment. "Chris" said it was not necessary because the information was posted online and the paper statement was "for people who pay by mail". If this is true, why mention to "people who pay by mail" that there is an online payment method?

For the record, "Chris" was "not able to disclose" his last name or the name of his supervisor or any other higher management/higher authority employee, so there was intentional "dead-ending" to customer support which makes complaints to the Better Business Bureau (which Chris mentioned), the Federal Trade Commission, and the States Attorney General's a customer's next step.