sam's club sucks

More specifically, Sam's Club credit.

i'm sad and i'm upset. no one can help me. no one will help me.

I tried paying off my sam's card online the day after christmas, and everything seemed fine. I happily transferred the file from the the red "current" section to the "paid off!" folder. I didn't even need to make a payment because i'd just put $200 towards the balance ten days prior.

I didn't get a confirmation email. No biggie. Maybe it was sent to my "Bulk" folder, and I accidentally deleted it.

Five days later get this email from samsclub.com:

Date: Fri, 30 Dec 2005 12:28:17 -0500 (EST)
From: Payments@Samsclubcredit.com
Subject: Return Payment Notice From SamsClubCredit.com

Dear Customer;

We were not able to process your electronic payment in the amount of $227.67. We have received a notification from your bank. Please re-submit your payment at the Sams Club Credit Card at http://www.Samsclub.com.

Thank you.

Please do not send a reply e-mail to this e-mail message. The mailbox from which this e-mail has been sent is not monitored for customer messages. If you have a question about this e-mail message, log on to your online credit card account click on the Pay Online link and see the list of Frequently Asked Questions.

~*~*~*

Oh, so it didn't go through. No wonder the charge hasn't posted in our bank account. I log on, to pay again. But this time there's a $25 returned check charge slapped onto my account. "Returned check"?! WTF? I didn't pay by check.

I call up Sam's Club again. I wish I'd gotten the operator's name and extension. I asked what the problem could have been. "The problem's with your bank," she says confidently, "because if the problem were with Sam's Club then we wouldn't have charged you."

And so, silly little idiot me trots off to the bank to speak with the manager. Only to reaffirm what I already knew about my bank account: there was more than enough money in the bank, and my card had never been charged.

I called again today and spoke with Toni at extension 1064, John the supervisor on duty at extension 7659 and finally Joe, the supervisor in Consumer Affairs, at extension 4066. Thirty-six minutes and 46 seconds of my life, wasted.

They all said they couldn't help me and that anyway my account has less-than-stellar history and they'd already taken off a $29 late charge earlier in the month. What sense does that make? In what world is a $25 returned check charge legitimate, when there was money in the bank and an attempt was never made to draft from my account?

They said it's not their fault that I "probably keyed it in wrong" or there was a problem with my bank, because their bank charges them for the attempt. Well gee, maybe you need a better bank, or better software for accepting online payments. How is that my problem? When a person is paying online and mistypes, the correct answer is "Please try again" without "...oh, and btw, here's a $25 fine. Good luck."

Joe told me that there was no one higher up that I could speak with, but that I could communicate in writing to:

Mr. Richard Brewer, President
P.O. Box 103045
Roswell, GA 30076

Who is Mr. Brewer? I thought C. Douglas McMillon was President and CEO of Sam's Club?

Now my account shows the original balance plus the returned check fee plus a $5 finance charge. I am sooooo frustrated and actually embarrassed with myself, to be fighting for just $25, now $30. Why does it have to be so hard?

In a way I suppose it's the principle of the thing. Why not fight for $30 hard-earned dollars? Considering a third of my paycheck goes to taxes, $30 in hand is actually $45 of time spent picking up after customers and changing priorities every two seconds to play catchup on the bosses' latest crisis.

In truth, Sam's Club has not been good to me. When I first started, I had two memberships which I couldn't reconcile because one was being paid through paycheck deductions. I couldn't get Payroll and Sam's Club to talk; each said it was the others' responsibility, and in the end all I could do was let one membership lapse and close it, while keeping the other.

And then there were problems updating my information. I kept my info at Sam's Club current, but apparently they don't (or didn't) talk to their credit arm, and so for a while I wasn't getting my statements and the info they used to identify me when I called or logged on was incorrect.

I just want to pay off the stupid effing thing. I want to pay off my balance, get the freaking membership deductions taken off my paycheck, take my $30 and sign up at Costco.

As much affinity as I have for Wal-Mart Stores, I'm sad to say that I have no love left for Sam's Club.