Why Chase Bank USA Sucks
A few months ago I was doing a bit of pasalubong (gifts for friends/family when you go visiting them) shopping on Amazon when the site offered a cross-promotion deal with Chase Bank USA of a $30 credit if I signed up for a Chase Amazon business credit card.
What the hell, I'm a sucker for free money and since I never carry a balance anyway, I sign up for the card.
Some time later I get a bill for the items I purchased, the offered $30 credit, and a $79 charge for Amazon Prime membership. Weak. Still no big deal..I call chase to tell them I dispute the charge and ask them to take it off.* Chase's customer service transfers me to their "dispute" center..and the call promptly goes to dialtone.
Rinse and repeat 4 times.
Finally I call back and immediately ask for not only the charge to be reversed, but the card to be cancelled as well. Incompetence and poor customer service I can do without. The customer service agent agrees to reverse the charge and puts me in touch with what I assume is a retention specialist who begs me to give Chase another chance and apologizes profuseful for the call drops. Somewhat mollified by the agreement to get the charges removed, I forgo card cancellation and consider the issue closed.
Until a month later where Chase sends me a new statement for a balance of $79 brought forward, $15 in "late fee" charges and $1.81 in Finance charges. The finance charges is a nice touch..charging me interest on a charge I didn't authorize.
So fine..I call back up Chase and immediately enter the Twilight Zone. No one has any record of my calls and any agreement to remove the charges. So I ask for a transcript of the previously recorded call conversation...they say they don't provide that and have no access to it. [Why bother recording the calls then?]
I'm told "its impossible that to remove the charge nor can I dispute them"..I'm also threatened with a subpoena for making false statements in regards to charges (the very one that I can't dispute).
A few escalations later, I'm still getting nowhere. Chase refuses to acknowledge that I ever called in to discuss the bill, refuses to reverse the charges and refuses to accept my dispute of the charge over the phone.
To make a long story short, a conference call with Amazon was setup (with me involved) and they (Amazon) agreed to credit back the account -- exactly what I had asked Chase to do from the very beginning.
At this point of course I'm beyond pissed at the poor customer service I've received and decide that I not only want to cancel this particular credit card, but every chase bank credit card I/my family has. I ask to speak to someone who can get that done..and surprise...dialtone. Now I'll admit that there is no way that they Chase would retain me as a customer, but I think its symbolic of their poor customer service that they drop my call before I can cancel my cards.
I estimate that lifetime Chase has forgone approximately 200-300k worth of net profit from myself and my family. This of course doesn't include all the friends whom over the next 40 years or so I will steer far away from ever doing business with this corporation.
I've noted that corrupt banks never really die, they just get merged into larger banks. That said, the least I can do is contribute towards the outsourcing of every customer agent that Chase uses once the corporation inevitably goes through a "restructuring" due to their poor service.
What the hell, I'm a sucker for free money and since I never carry a balance anyway, I sign up for the card.
Some time later I get a bill for the items I purchased, the offered $30 credit, and a $79 charge for Amazon Prime membership. Weak. Still no big deal..I call chase to tell them I dispute the charge and ask them to take it off.* Chase's customer service transfers me to their "dispute" center..and the call promptly goes to dialtone.
Rinse and repeat 4 times.
Finally I call back and immediately ask for not only the charge to be reversed, but the card to be cancelled as well. Incompetence and poor customer service I can do without. The customer service agent agrees to reverse the charge and puts me in touch with what I assume is a retention specialist who begs me to give Chase another chance and apologizes profuseful for the call drops. Somewhat mollified by the agreement to get the charges removed, I forgo card cancellation and consider the issue closed.
Until a month later where Chase sends me a new statement for a balance of $79 brought forward, $15 in "late fee" charges and $1.81 in Finance charges. The finance charges is a nice touch..charging me interest on a charge I didn't authorize.
So fine..I call back up Chase and immediately enter the Twilight Zone. No one has any record of my calls and any agreement to remove the charges. So I ask for a transcript of the previously recorded call conversation...they say they don't provide that and have no access to it. [Why bother recording the calls then?]
I'm told "its impossible that to remove the charge nor can I dispute them"..I'm also threatened with a subpoena for making false statements in regards to charges (the very one that I can't dispute).
A few escalations later, I'm still getting nowhere. Chase refuses to acknowledge that I ever called in to discuss the bill, refuses to reverse the charges and refuses to accept my dispute of the charge over the phone.
To make a long story short, a conference call with Amazon was setup (with me involved) and they (Amazon) agreed to credit back the account -- exactly what I had asked Chase to do from the very beginning.
At this point of course I'm beyond pissed at the poor customer service I've received and decide that I not only want to cancel this particular credit card, but every chase bank credit card I/my family has. I ask to speak to someone who can get that done..and surprise...dialtone. Now I'll admit that there is no way that they Chase would retain me as a customer, but I think its symbolic of their poor customer service that they drop my call before I can cancel my cards.
I estimate that lifetime Chase has forgone approximately 200-300k worth of net profit from myself and my family. This of course doesn't include all the friends whom over the next 40 years or so I will steer far away from ever doing business with this corporation.
I've noted that corrupt banks never really die, they just get merged into larger banks. That said, the least I can do is contribute towards the outsourcing of every customer agent that Chase uses once the corporation inevitably goes through a "restructuring" due to their poor service.
posted by Wetkarma | 11:59 PM
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3 Comments
