Standing Up to the Man or Why you should diligently check your credit card statements
So this is kind of embarrassing. Today I noticed a $9 charge on my credit card statement billed to ENT*ENTERTAINMENTREWRDS and, since I hadn’t used my credit card at all recently, wondered what it might have been. So I googled it. Apparently at some point I bought something from Ticketmaster and accidentally checked or forgot to uncheck a box that signed me up for some Entertainment Rewards service that is supposed to send me coupons and get me discounts to things. Apparently this was done 18 months ago. I never noticed the charges on my bill.
In my defense, I have a lot of little monthly charges. Netflix, Github code hosting, an invoice web app, various MMO games… it just slipped my attention. $9 for rewarding entertainment? Yeah, that sounds like something I’d buy. It wasn’t until I backed off using this particular card that it really stood out on my statement.
So I found the number on ripoffreport.com and gave them a call. They explained their whole deal and I politely listened to their spiel before delicately stating that I know what they do, I know how it works, I never used their scammy little service, I feel ripped off, and I want every list dime of mine back. She was nice and understanding and offered to refund me the past month and cancel my account. I explained that I understand that she’s just doing her job, but if I don’t get my money back I’m going to have to get a lawyer to get it back for me. So she elevated me to some Customer Advocate center and told me someone would call me back within the next two days.
Not even an hour later, though, I got a phone call from the aforementioned Customer Advocate center and they, again, offer to refund the last month and cancel my account. So I bluffed. I told him I could give him the number of my lawyer and he could discuss the terms in full with him. I have no lawyer. I’ve never had a lawyer. But apparently I was convincing enough and the dude gave me a full refund right on the spot. All 18 months. Totally unexpected and awesome.
Suffice to say, I feel like I just won $162. Granted, it was my $162 in the first place, but it’s hard not to think of blowing it on stupid bullshit. Hell, I earned it. I told those suits what for! Anyway, the long short of it is that it’s amazing what you can accomplish with simple persistence and empty legal threats.
Comments
hahaha! Treat yourself and Gosia to a really good restaurant this week.
Dude…I’m amazed at that. Mostly because I’d waffle and be like, “Okay…..I guess it was my stupid mistake….I’ll take the fall.” Having the balls and gusto to stand up for myself is definitely not a strong suit of mine and I wish I were better at it. You should buy some elixers and rare bottles of wine to celebrate your ballsiness.
Good for you. I’ve learned it pays to be an a**hole and bluff like that. Especially since legally speaking it’s not their fault that you didn’t check your statements closely for 18 months so they could have pushed back.
Years ago I worked the customer service line for a private line credit company (they were the company that would extend cards/financing for retail stores). People were always not reading the fine print, not checking statements etc. and calling in to cry about it. If they were nice I took it off. If they were like you were about it I’d pretty much say “No” in some intentionally nauseating and patronizing manner and let them hang up on me. Typically if I elevated it to my manager they’d back me up so that was good.
I was very nice! I never yelled or blamed the person I was talking to. I just demanded my money back, let them know I felt ripped off, and bluffed about how far I’d be willing to go to get it back.
Heidi said:You should buy some elixers
I dunno, my HP and MP are pretty full and I don’t think there are any boss fights coming up soon /jokesfornerds
Fantastic job!
Super good job! After years of working in customer service, I am with Kevin in having little sympathy for folks who don’t read contracts or fine print, but I also agree that if the person is friendly/polite/not a complete dick, I loved helping them/giving them money back. Go eat some local food that I can’t have down here and enjoy it!
everybody should be like this. AHEM, sammy.