We’ve always noticed the way the sales person looks so depressed and angry every time we say we don’t need an Express or Victoria’s Secret credit card. Reader Jesica says its because when she worked there, the managers would threaten to fire anyone who didn’t meet their quota of new credit card accounts. Jesica writes:

As an ex sales person, I will tell you that we did not work on commission, nor did we get any sort of bonus for opening these cards. What we did get was threats of being fired for not opening a certain number of cards per shift. Because of this I saw many sales people who feared for their jobs basically trick non-english speaking customers into opening these cards. I am not sure that this is illegal, but it is certainly immoral in my eyes.

Yikes! We hate being bullied by clerks to open store credit accounts! Hate it! Read Jesica’s entire email inside.

Jesica writes:

I would first like to start out by thanking you for all of the wonderful information that you make available to the public. As a result of all of the ex-employee confessions about unethical business practices I am grateful that I now know not to give these places (such as Best Buy, B of A, etc.)my business, or to at least be cautious upon doing so. I would also like to give you a little tidbit about the Limited Brands, owner of The Limited, Express, Victoria’s Secret, & Bath & Body Works.

Though this is not a horrifying story (as many of your other features are), I think that people deserve to be cautious of these things. I worked for The Limited for a few months (fell upon some hard times, needed a job… ANY job), and the one thing that bothered me was the pressure that is put on the sales people by management to open the store credit cards. As an ex sales person, I will tell you that we did not work on commission, nor did we get any sort of bonus for opening these cards. What we did get was threats of being fired for not opening a certain number of cards per shift. Because of this I saw many sales people who feared for their jobs basically trick non-english speaking customers into opening these cards. I am not sure that this is illegal, but it is certainly immoral in my eyes.

Let me also go on to say that I once opened one of these cards (to meet a quota), and very much regretted doing so! I put a charge of about $25 on this card (hey you can’t afford much when you make minimum wage!), paid this off completely, and to my knowledge closed the account. About 8 months later I had moved, taken a much better job, and forgotten all about it. Then I started to get harassing phone calls from the creditor stating that I owed over $100 in late charges. I will not detail the chaos and upset that ensued, but it involved many hours of phone calls with moron CSRs, being juggled from department to department, and them trying to make it as hard as possible for me to close the card even after I paid off the “alleged” balance.

I can only imagine what these people have gone through who were bullied or tricked into opening these cards. This is why I would like to encourage people not to patronize these establishments, or at the very least SAY NO when hassled with “saving 10%” by opening a store card. That ten percent you saved will miraculously turn into a big fat bill and harassing phone calls after you “close the account.”

Thank you for letting me vent!

Sincerely,

Jesica

—MEGHANN MARCO
(Photo:spinachedip)

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