Some ten+ years ago, I closed my Macy's credit card account because I never got a billing statement for a $50 balance by email or by paper snail mail. It apparently slipped my mind while waiting for it and eventually I forgot all about it. Mind you, my credit rating has been between 830 and 875 for the past 25 years.
Anyway, after forgetting about the balance at Macy's I received a call from a credit company stating Macy's had turn this account over to them.
I immediately paid the money I owed and called Macy's. They were rude and reminded me that all unpaid balances were my responsibility. It didn't matter that I had never received a statement. I understood, but my point was that I was a customer in good standing for over 30 years and the least they could have done was send a duplicate statement or reach out to me to see if there was any problem. It was at that time I canceled my card. Furthermore I did most of my shopping after that at Chico's, Coldwater Creek, J. Jill, Ann Taylor etc. until I put weight on that made shopping those stores prohibitive.
This Christmas I could not resist the bargains offered at Macy's with an additional 20% off the already 40 to 60% discount if I opened an account with them, which I did on Nov 25.
I was told I would see the card in two weeks or less and the extra savings of 20% would be reflected on my first statement.
It is now Dec 27. I never got my card and I have yet to receive a statement.
I have received emails offering different deals but I have not been able to take advantage because I don't have a card number.
I called Macy's EIGHT times in the past two weeks, never reaching an agent after being told wait times were greater than ten minutes. On three of those eight times I waited more than 20 minutes before giving up. I was able to find out my balance by automated services, but could not pay by phone or online without my credit card number, which was why I was calling in the first place.
Yesterday I called twice. The second time I got through to an agent I could barely understand, who canceled the new card number because she informed me it had been mailed more that two weeks ago. I told her I wanted to cancel my card. She said I could not do it now that she issued a new card. I would have to wait, pay the balance on the old card and the call back to cancel my account. I said I would write and she told me that was not an acceptable way to cancel the account, I had to do it by phone. (My, Times have changed.)
I hung up and drove 11 miles to Macy's in Newington, NH to pay my bill. The customer service woman, could not find a balance because only the new number was in the system, not the lost card number. Then she printed a slip that was supposed to show the new number for me and out came a slip with my balance but NO card numbers at all. I wrote a check for the balance, but she said I could not apply it to the old unknown number and Macy's would have to try and figure out where to find what I owed on what account and apply it. I looked at her, tore up my check and said, I'll wait for the statement that shows my old number then pay it. I was not going to hand over the money hoping that Macy's was competent enough to figure out where the money should be applied. I will also wait for my new card.
Needless to say, not much has changed. I will one day pay my balance and cancel this account. An additional 20% off for opening the account is yet to be realized and definitely not worth all this aggravation. LIVE & LEARN! read more
