We found out some interesting things. The first thing we discovered was that they increased my husband's credit limit without telling him. Some would say, "Hey, that's a good thing, right?" Wrong. They ALSO increased his interest rate when they jumped up his credit limit...ALSO without notifying him. (And we've kept every piece of correspondence we ever got from them.) Now he owes more than $500 over his credit limit just due to the 22% interest rate when he originally only had a 12% interest rate.
Well, after talking to three different supervisors, my husband FINALLY got a different address to the one they originally gave us (which we sent a letter certified mail-return receipt requested to about three weeks ago...and we know they got it because we have the signed receipt) and we spent the money last Monday to send the letter certified mail-RRR. We got the receipt on Thursday.
Tuesday they started calling us at 8 AM AGAIN, wanting to talk to my husband. I told them that I now had proof that they were doing something illegal and that they were no longer allowed to call us. They told us they weren't obliged to honor the national DNC list. I told them it wasn't the DNC list I was referring to, but the letter we sent certified with a RRR on it. We had physical proof that someone had signed for it and that they now needed to abide by the fact that we no longer wished to receive phone calls. The CSR on the phone was incredibly rude and I hung up on her. Half an hour later, ANOTHER CSR called. I told this idiot the same thing. I got the same snotty attitude. I hung up again. Calls proceeded to continue, but I stopped answering them. I have them showing up on my caller ID ELEVEN TIMES between 8 AM and 2 PM.
Finally, my husband got home around 4:30 PM. The phone rang AGAIN and it was, guess who, TRIBUTE! My husband got on the phone and told them we have the receipt that says the letter was signed for. We actually have both receipts and that means they have it in writing TWICE that all further attempts to collect this debt are to be done in writing. They got snotty with him. He hung up on them and proceeded to call the AG. The AG said to drop off copies of all correspondence and they'd look into it.
Here's a copy of the letter my husband sent to Tribute originally...I think it's fairly simple, straightforward, and very clear.
Dear Sir/Madam,
As of this date, I no longer wish to receive phone calls from any of your representatives. All further contact with me must be made in writing. I also request that you send me copies of every document you claim that I either signed or agreed to so I may compare them with my own records. If you do not comply with this in the legally prescribed length of time, I will be contacting my state's Attorney General's office.
*insert hubby's name here*
Now onto another instance of bad service I experienced just a couple days ago at Safeway.
I don't know what it is about this particular bagger. I'm a blonde, so I don't usually cast aspersions on hair color but, well, she lives down to the stereotypes of being blonde. She's a horrible bagger. She doesn't pay attention to anything I say. I've made numerous complaints against her, and I'm not the only one. And yet she continues to be employed there as a bagger. I just don't understand it.
Her latest antics pissed me off bad enough I actually snapped at her and then demanded a more intelligent bagger. I went in on Saturday with a very limited amount of money to get a few very needed veggies and some bread and eggs. First, she put two very large cans of diced tomatoes in with my bread, squashing it. Then she took the 8 lb. roast I'd found and TOSSED it in on top of the eggs. Mind you, this wasn't a gentle push. She threw it in the bag. Before I left, I checked the bags. My bread was squashed, four eggs in that carton were cracked, and the fresh tomatoes I'd gotten were smashed up by my cans of pineapple.
I snapped. I told her off for her ridiculously awful packing skills. She rolled her eyes at me and said, "Whatever" before wandering off to the next checkstand to help the checker there. I have to give the woman who was being helped credit, though. She went ballistic and told the checker that the stupid bagger wasn't allowed to touch her groceries.
I politely - and yes, I was very polite to the checker as I do know they don't always have any choice in who bags for them - asked for the manager. The first person to come out was the front end manager...this girl's grandfather. I declined his help - still very polite, but he always blows anyone off who complains about her - and asked for whichever store manager was in today.
The assistant manager came out, and I knew I was in luck. I know him fairly well by now, as he's been the one to help me out on a number of occasions with special orders and other stuff. He asks me what was wrong and I told him. He flagged down the bagger and made her go back and get me all new stuff - well, all new of the stuff she damaged. Then HE bagged it properly, even putting my two cartons of eggs in one sack and my bread in another, as I often ask to have done (I have small children, so I LOVE getting the plastic bags...they make great dirty diaper receptacles). Then he told the bagger that was how she was supposed to bag orders. She rolled her eyes at HIM and said that I'd screwed up my own groceries and I was just trying to get her fired. He told her to go home for the rest of the day. I think he's going to suspend her until she gets her head out of her ass. I hope so. She's pissed off a lot of people.
The cashier and the store manager actually thanked me later for not screaming at them about this. Apparently there have been some prime examples of people who belong in
customers_suck lately who've been bitching about this girl.On the good side, I got a $50 gift card for Safeway out of this. Which is good, considering how expensive groceries are these days. Just goes to show that sometimes being calm, cool, collected, and polite will get you farther than being a bitch. On the other hand, being a pain in the ass *points to her first story* sometimes gets you what you want too.