Reader Haven accidentally underpaid a Bloomingdale’s credit card bill by $5, and so it was off to the collection agency…
Haven writes (to Bloomingdale’s):
May 27, 2008
Bloomingdale’s
Customer Service
P.O. Box 8215
Mason, OH 45040Dear Bloomingdale’s Customer Service Department,
I have been a Bloomingdale’s card holder for about two years. In my time as a cardholder, I have spent close to $2000.00 at your store. Recently, I paid a bill online and because I didn’t have the bill in front of me, paid what I thought was due that month. To my error I had underpaid the minimum amount by $5.00. Two days ago, I received a notice from Bloomingdale’s (the first and, apparently, last notice I was to receive) saying I would be sent to collections for failing to pay this $5.00 – I thought this was odd as I had used my Bloomingdale’s card in the store about a week and a half prior. If my account had been in bad standing I would assume Bloomingdale’s would put it on hold and not allow me to complete my purchase. At the very least I expected to receive timely notice of the pending sale of my account to a collection agency, so that I could have a chance to fix the problem. Although I did receive “notice” from Bloomingdale’s, it appears this served only to let me know that I could expect to deal with a collection agency, and have no chance to rectify the situation with Bloomingdale’s. Yesterday (on a Sunday over Memorial Day Weekend of all times!) I had the pleasure of getting four calls from your collection agency MCCS. How a customer who has spent a considerable amount in your store could be treated in this manner over a sum of $5.00 is appalling. I was not aware that I owed $5.00, and if Bloomingdale’s had taken the time to notify me of this small error I would have happily paid it.
To think that Bloomingdale’s is spending time notifying collections and using MCCS manpower for multiple hours over such a small amount of money is completely illogical. The cost to do this I’m sure is well over $5.00 and totally inefficient. To bully me by potentially negatively impacting my credit standing over something so small is a bad business practice and completely ridiculous. You have lost a customer who until now was a supporter of your store and I will be mentioning this to other customers of your Company’s bullying tactics.
Sincerely,
H.
Ugh. It’s completely unreasonable of Bloomingdale’s to send your account to collections without giving you proper notice and a chance to fix the error. And into the open arms of Nordstrom you go…
MCSS is actually the collection wing of Macy’s. Still, calling themselves MCSS rather than Bloomingdale’s makes them sound like a scary collection agency, so it’s understandable why there was that confusion, a confusion that Bloomie’s/MCSS capitalizes on to get people to pay up. We don’t know about you, but in all the times we’ve ever been behind on a bill, we would just get another bill. It would be months before we start getting calls from places with acronym names. Even if H is overacting, Bloomie’s response to the $5 under-payment seems overblown.
(Photo: nfarley )
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@The Count of Monte Fisto: That’s not the point. She’ll pay it, but she hates how she is getting treated because of a simple mistake, and THAT’S what the letter is about. And people are calling her a deadbeat, saying she “blew it off”, and worse?
Like you’ve never made a small error in your life, had someone blow it out of all proportion, and then being upset about how you were treated when a simple “hey, there’s a problem here”, QUIETLY AND CALMLY, would have solved it all.
Been there, done that. Not with financial stuff, but I’ve been there, and it’s apalling that people are STILL making it her fault.
@Ben Popken: Please please post another “stop blaming the consumer” post as it’s obvious the last one went in one collective ear and out the other.
@checkyopremisebitch: You assume wrong as you failed to read the story you are replying to.
“Yesterday (on a Sunday over Memorial Day Weekend of all times!) I had the pleasure of getting four calls from your collection agency MCCS.”
@Buran: The individual was incorrect in assuming MCCS was a collection agency.
Had you read through the comments, you would have seen that as well.
@jesmcb: The Macy’s online system is a nightmare, and their collections department is just as bad. I was overdue on a bill recently, and got a phone call, where the agent told me to pay online. The website appeared to accept the payment, but I got another call a few days later – the agent told me there was no activity on my account, and a few minutes later found that I had tried to pay, but couldn’t because my online account had been closed, and that I would have to go into a store to pay. I went to the store a few days later, and was told that they would not accept an in store payment, because I had closed my account (which I hadn’t). I finally had to pay over the phone with the collections department, and cancelled my card. I spent over a week trying to give them their money, and they just wouldn’t accept it – completely bizarre.
@chrisjames: Um, that’s what I was saying.
@optical_allusion: Actually any errors on that website are generally user error… It’s not rocket science.
@The Count of Monte Fisto: Huh? The OP wants to pay the $5, and is happy to do so. You’ve missed the point.
@Skellbasher: They are bill collectors harassing someone on a holiday weekend over $5, and you’re arguing nomenclature?
I had a problem with a storecard once. I decided to pay it off. I looked at the last bill I had, subtracted the payment I already sent and sent them a check for $164 and some change. Unfortunately, I neglected to account for a $12 purchase I made the week before. Even more unfortunately, the $164 payment was credited the day the month closed, being credited to the prior month. They hounded me night from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily for 2 weeks, even tho I told them I had mailed the check the day I received the new statement. Somehow it was “lost”. They even called me on Easter Sunday. They demanded I pay by phone. I explained that the balance had been mailed and that they would have to wait for the check. I was told that even tho it showed as clearing from my online bank account, they did not have it in their system and could not stop calling me till it showed up in their system or I agreed to pay it by phone. They treated me like a thief and a deadbeat, even tho I had just paid them almost the entire balance. “that was last month, you still owe for this month”. But it was paid I said, round and round. Finally I cancelled the card and have not dealt with them since.
I know that $5.00 will cause Bloomingdales to file for Chapter 11. It is just so cruel for people to make stupid mistakes and expect a company to show a little common sense. It’s just awful of people to expect a little consideration for being a good and loyal customer. It is just so hard for multi-billion dollar department stores to make ends meet these days. What could this woman have been thinking??? Damn, I bet the CEO is out on the street corner with a sign and tin can begging for change.
Now, that paragraph is no sillier than the bullshit that I read on this site from people that ALWAYS BLAME THE CUSTOMER! This is a site for consumers and those that have been wronged by companies. For all of you that blame the consumer…I pray that YOU never get shafted by a company.
@Skellbasher: My water and sewer bills (which I occasionally slip up on as they’re the only two bills I have that aren’t ebills and I do all my billing electronically) sometimes get overlooked. They do EXACTLY what the goose suggested — just carry over the missing amount to the next bill which I then just pay as part of that payment.
Obviously it can be, and is, done properly.
@Buran: Obviously you have no idea how credit cards work.
These are two different concepts. Reason being is because a CC company is extending you money for 30 days, in which you agree to pay in a timely manner.
@ohiomensch: You do realize that you’re never required to pay in full (excluding amex) correct? This means that you missed an entire statement before they started calling you…
Same with the customer in this story. She would have had to miss two statements to even be sent to a CA.
@Buran: Like you’ve never made a small error in your life, had someone blow it out of all proportion, and then being upset about how you were treated when a simple “hey, there’s a problem here”, QUIETLY AND CALMLY, would have solved it all.
Sure I have. I just didn’t write some long email about it hoping to get my story on a popular blog. All she had to do was pay the five bucks, and that would have solved it all, too.
@Tzepish: Show me where it says she tried to pay the five bucks and they refused it. Seems like she’s using their harassment as an excuse not to pay it.
@The Count of Monte Fisto: Are you serious? It’s $5.00.
$5.00.
I’m sure this customer is not only looking for an excuse to get out of spending $5.00, but is willing to write to a consumer blog about it, just to make the coverup more believable, and is willing to risk his/her credit score over it.
Oh wait, no I’m not, because that would be completely unreasonable.
A lot of you seem to be thinking that she was called in a “Excuse me, you’re late on a payment” fashion. How come no one seems to emphasize the fact that she was called FOUR TIMES ON ONE DAY? Even if it’s not a real collection agency, that seems like something a real collection agency would do.
And to the people who say that the letter WAS a first notice – She received the notice 2 days ago, and the calls came yesterday (Sunday). So you expect her to pay her bill on a Saturday afternoon, in less than 24 hours? Cut her some slack, seriously.
OK, I get she was notified. But Blockbuster has done this to me REPEATEDLY – with NO notice whatsoever. For $4.39. I finally went in in a tizzy and said, wtf? They said, oh, we don’t have a credit card on file for you, so we send it to collections.
um, shouldn’t that be your LAST action? Try calling me, for god’s sake…
I’ve had two experiences with Bloomingdale’s credit and the “collections” department (just another credit division, not a collection agency). One time was similar to the post; they called, I paid, story over.
The other time the bill went unpaid for a couple of months. It was during my divorce, and my ex had been ordered in court to pay that particular, but was being slow to pony up. That’s when the five-calls-a-day game started.
I explained the situation, but was told that I was still responsible for paying the debt (ok, fair enough sonce my name is on the account, too). They couldn’t reach me at one point because I was in hiding due to the circumstances of my separation from my then-husband (think restraining order), so they tried reaching me via HR at my job. I don’t so much have an issue with them calling HR, since they didn’t harass my coworkers and I was told that they were nice enough; however, I definitely have a problem with the credit rep implying he was an attorney.
The message was passed on to me that someone claiming to be an attorney had tried to reach me, and I returned the call immediately. The guy would only identify himself as Anthony from such-and-so law firm; now I’ve worked with quite a few lawyers (as coworkers in the same office, and received their services), and have not encountered any that only go by first name. When I asked directly, “Are you an attorney? Are you licensed to practice law in this state, or in another state where you are acting as an agent for Bloomingdale’s?” he wouldn’t answer me directly. He would only say he was Anthony from a law firm I’ve never heard of, and couldn’t even find definitive Google results on.
I don’t mind getting a call to collect a debt with my name on it. I do mind people misrepresenting themselves. Although I have to wonder how far behind the bill was in this posting, since in my experience the high-pressure tactics don’t start until the bill is quite late. Also, I’d be interested to know why she didn’t just pay the bill after the first call, or the next few calls, since it sounds like she was contacted quite a few times.
@Rando:
Yes, I know I missed the statement, that was not the issue. The issue was that they began calling me 10 times a day two days after I missed the payment. And also that mailing the payment was unacceptable to get them to stop calling. They would not stop calling even tho my bank showed the check as clearing because their collection system had not posted the payment, even tho they had received it days before.
After receiving a call early one Saturday morning from Target in an attempt to collect 11 cents (that’s $0.11), nothing surprises me anymore.
Added bonus: I didn’t even owe the 11 cents, it was a mistake on Target’s end.
Also, most companies will forgive a payment if the amount underpaid is 5.00 or less. No just send to collections.
It should be noted, these letters are typically generated by an automatic system. As already noted “collections” in this letter simply refers to the macys/bloomies collections department, meaning that an associate will be asked to follow up with the customer and make arrangements to pay off the remaining five dollars. In this case, if the cust really has spent a significant amount and has a good payment history, the associate will likely waive the fees associated with the late payment and arrange to bring the account to current status.