Asking For Lower APR Gets Juniper iTunes Rewards VISA Card Closed Against Man's Will

Thomas writes:

If you don’t use your Juniper iTunes Rewards VISA (issued by Barclay’s) for an entire year, they close the card and report to the credit agencies that you requested to close it. I’ve learned that when I called to inquire about a lower rate on 2/26, the agent canceled my account.

I called the main 800 back and was told that I had indeed requested the account be closed when a lower APR was not available. I firmly but politely insisted that I did not request to close my credit card. The CSR then told me that if I used “that kind of language” she would have to disconnect me. I then asked her what we could do to fix the situation. She placed me on hold and I was disconnected.

I called back and after explaining the situation to the 2nd CSR, she became very curt and informed me that the notes on my account said that “words had been exchanged.” —-? I apologized and asked if I could reactive my account without a hit on my credit. I was placed on hold and disconnected.

After calling back a third time, I was told that my account was active and the CSR had no record of it being deactivated.

I faxed a complaint to BBB of Delaware, the state agency that regulates banks in Delaware, and a couple fax numbers I found on Google.

Who knows what’s really going on, or what the status of your credit card is? Oh wait, the credit bureaus do, and the screenshot you sent in show that your card has been closed. Maybe their feelings are hurt because you haven’t used the credit card in so long and now they’re trying to get back at you. Actually, perusing the internets, it looks like you’re not the only one to experience bad customer service from them. This person tried to change the payment date on the card, and instead the rep closed the card on them, and others characterize their customer service reps attitudes as “rude” and “arrogant.” And even if you figure these complaints are just from hard-to-please customers, you definitely want to stay away from any card that does double-cycle billing.

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