The American Consumer, Part III - Company Credit/Debit Card Refunding

OK America...I was going to write a little blog on something else, but I decided that, not only was it waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay over my head controversally, it was a really horrid little subject, and it's really nothing that I care to voice my opinion on at this particular time, thank you!  Heck, thanks to the fact that it caused the loss of 9 followers, I can probably confidently say that I may just never write about that subject, as well as anything like it...EVER...again!!  So tell ya what, we're just gonna chalk that one up to the ages and forget the whole thing....whaddya say?  So no, we're not going to do the something else, the something else instead, is coming over here from another blog that I've been trying clean out of late.  Heck, just to make up for the stupidity of today's from scratch blog (which, after hours of tuning and re-tuning it, just decided it was best off in the garbage can), I may just clean out the rest of that folder today, mainly so I can get my plate the rest of the way emptied and start fresh with all new American Deadly Sins that are tons lighter on the controversal scale.  :D

Oh, and, if by chance, you managed to eek in a few minutes with the stupid post of the day?  That wasn't really me that wrote it.  It was my evil twin....Carl.  Not to be confused, of course, with my other evil twin, Chuck.  Doesn't matter, you'll never be able to prove that it was even there anyway.  That is, of course, unless you printed it while I wasn't paying attention...then I'd be kinda screwed, wouldn't I?  But really, moving right along...

So the lucky subject of the day is on something slightly paltry...you know, one of those Peter Griffin deals, you remember..."You know what really grinds my gears?".  It's about purchasing things...whether on the internet, in a store, paying say, a parking ticket at the state offices...that sort of thing.  Anyway, so you pay for something, using your debit card...and then let's just say there's another bill you forgot to pay, so you say, "You know, I think we'll just cancel that sale.  I'll take the money back."  When you purchased or paid for whatever that something is, that money is GONE!!  It's not there for you to spend any longer.  No different than if you had the money and handed it to the clerk instead.  The difference, however, is that, if in that split second that you change your mind, you decide to not purchase the item, they give you your money right there where you stand.  But, however, if you use your debit card...and decide against it, it takes as much as 3 business days for that money to be available to you again!!  WHY????

This problem tends to rank right on up there with you, the customer, having to keep a ledger at a bank.  I myself, have had a bank account since 1979, yet I just recently....well, maybe not so recently, more like 4 years ago, got rid of it, then swore on my life (as well as the lives of everyone employed by this major pain in the rear corporation) that I would NOT, from this day own another banking account for as long as my heart pumped blood to my brain and kept it from making stupid mistakes (I sure wish it would have been on the fritz today...maybe it would have stopped me long ago from posting that dumb post from earlier). My point to all that drivel was, that keeping a ledger for your checking account, should, by all feasible rights, be an outdated and pain in the tushy that should have been shucked eons ago.  Come on, that's been what?  35 years ago?  You'd think we woulda come up with a way to change that stuff by now.  I mean really, why should I have to stop what I'm doing, upon doing business with someone, have to pull out my antique and dusty ol' ledger/calculator, and add, subtract, multiply and divide for?  Oh, I forgot all about the best part, trying to come up with  a pen that works!  That's my favorite.  The figures should math themselves and beam the total to my brain by now!!  No, I hate to tell you bank mongers, but for those of you that weren't quite sure, the ledger?  Still alive.  Still kickin'.  In business for over 35 years and still going strong.

Now where was I?  Oh yeah, so when you make a deposit, you have to do it before 2 o'clock in the afternoon, or it goes on the next days business.  And if you withdraw anything from anywhere but your bank, or make a purchase someplace, it can take as long as it takes the merchant to run it through, which could be days.  If you screw up your math on your ledger even a little, or forget to put a figure in it, or forget to carry the one...you could be in a world of hurt.  I know all about this one, because the last bank account I had, with WELLS FARGO...(and for those of you that didn't hear that, I'll repeat it, a little louder...WELLLLLLS FAAAAARGO!!!!), that very thing happened.  Want to know just how many times they ran one payment through in three days?  14.  At $38.00 a crack.  That's (32, down with the 2, carry the three, 4 times 3 is 12 plus the 3, that's 17, next line, add a zero, one times 8 is 8, and one times 3 is 3, that's 380 plus 172, total is zero plus two is two, 7 plus 8 is 15, so bring down the five, carry the one, 3 plus 1 plus 1 is five, total OF:  552...I'm sorry, did I figure that out outloud??...how embarrassing!)  $552...in overdraft fees for one withdrawal of $20 I made that put my account 5 dollars in the red. So I go down to my bank, and I talk to a banker I don't know...my regular one had gone to lunch...and after getting barely anywhere with her sympathy (or rather, non-sympathy), I asked for a supervisor.  She said that since I had been such a great customer for several years, that she could help me out by taking off two overdraft fees.  Yes, you heard me.  TWO.  And the kicker?  within the hour, they had added them both back on again, and added two additional as well.  I called them back up, asked for the supervisor and told her just where she could get her $628.00, cause it wouldn't be paid by this horse.  They're still trying to get that money outta me.  Unbelievable.

So, back to the debit card dealy.  Granted, there is the fact that, if someone you didn't authorize to do so is using your card to buy something...then return it so they can get money out of your account without needing the pin number (this is easy to do...you just tell the clerk you'd like to run the card as credit...and why is that???  Doesn't this essentially make it worth it for someone to just steal or find your card, then use it instead of calling you up to return it??  There, then, is something ELSE that grinds my gears...)  OK, so that won't happen.  This makes sense.  But why, if the money's there...and the bank sees this, authorizes it, then, through the miracle of computers and the internet, flags it so it won't be spent in any other fashion, can't that same flag be immediately reversed??  If you were to buy it with money (which is, in a sense, what you're doing with a debit card anyway), they would immediately just hand it back...so why is it that the same computer, which immediately flagged that money as "Non-spendable", when the sale is cancelled, and no money has transferred, can't it just "Undo" that same flag, and make the money re-available to you again?

This doesn't just happen there either.  This happens with everything now.  Let's say I go in to my home county's licence plate distribution office, and pay for my plates, WITH CASH (or with a debit card, it really doesn't matter), then my brother Joe, who's been jumping up and down with excitement for 3 days, decides he wants to buy my newly acquired vehicle, and offers me $1000 more than what I paid.  I hastily tell the clerk I'm dealing with..."My brother decided he'd like to have the car I just bought...can I get a refund on these plates I just paid for 5 seconds ago?"  They can't.  Worse yet, if you just paid IN CASH, and they ran it through the computer?  You have to 1)  Cancel the sale, then 2) you have to wait a minimum of, get this, 30 days to get a check from them for the money you paid in.  Oh, but when you bought those plates, the money was gone out of your account in 2.23 seconds if you used a card...or you just gave them cash 5 seconds ago!!  And you can't just open the drawer and give it right back to me?  Oh yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

Online purchases fare no better.  I purchased something from a major respectable firm in Canada (that I still use, by the way.  Just because they have a problem refunding my money to me doesn't mean they don't still have a great product) with a Visa Gift Card.  I didn't realize it at the time of purchase, but I purchased the product twice on the same card.  When I was done with the amount on the card, I tossed the card.  I had no intentions on refilling it, so why keep the damn thing?  Anyway, it was soon after that that I realized my error.  I called them to get my money refunded.  I even gave them the receipt (I sent it to them via email).  When they looked it up, their exact words were "Yes sir, you purchased the program twice, I can see that right here, and you have indeed provided everything we need from you...for the most part".  Then they proceeded to inform me that this, instead, was a Visa issue, and that I would a.) need to call them, with the full card number, b.) send them a copy of the receipt, as well as copies of my ID, etc., and c.) wait God knows how many days, to get the money back...on the card that I purchased it on.  This card, remember, is now in the garbage, with no possible hope of recovery.  Visa, then, has to reissue me the gift card so that I can have my $200 back, on yet another Visa Gift card that I'll never keep or use after I re-spend it.  You know what I did?  I shrugged it off and let it go.  Who wants to go through all that grief to get their money back?  And why is it that they had to refund it back to that card?  When I bought it, the bank earmarked the money for the company, then transferred the funds to the company's bank account, making that cash available to that company to spend.  Why then, can't the company refund me the money?  Why does it have to go back through the card that I purchased it on, especially at this point, several weeks after the purchase?  It doesn't.  The reason it's done this way, is because this is how their corporate offices have mandated, for whatever reason, that any refunds of sales made by debit or credit card be handled...so essentially, it's on the company you purchased the product from.  In layman's terms, "We want to be a big pain in your ass, and we figure if we make it hard for you to get the money back for the item(s) that you purchased from us, then you'll either a.) say it's too much trouble to do all this, so I might as well just keep it, or b.) say it's too much trouble to do all of this, so screw the money.  Sounds like a big "win-win" for the company selling you their product.

Either this sort of behavior is the law, company policy, bank policy, it's hard to say, but however it's covered, it's RIDICULOUS.  If you pay for it with a debit card, you're essentially paying with cash...so give the cash back.  Whether it's you, or a thief, you're responsible for it either way, right?  If your buddy George, because he's lost all sense and reason, takes your debit card off of the kitchen table and goes out and buys a 50" big screen he's wanted for a long time, then disappears off of the face of the earth, the money comes out of your account to pay the store for the the item and you're responsible for it, regardless.  Oh sure, if you can prove there was no negligence at all on your part...which it would be tough to do in this case, you could claim the card was stolen and used without your permission, then the bank might cover it via their insurance...but this is generally rare.  If George paid for the TV with green money that he stole out of your cookie jar, the same would apply.  You're just plain out of luck.  But I think I'd be truly hostile, if George stole my card...bought the TV, I catch him doing this...return the TV to the store it was purchased at...then was told I would have to wait three business days for the amount to be available again, making me late paying my rent.  Then, because I'm late paying my rent, I then incur a late fee to my landlord.  I believe I'd have to make a special trip back into the same store, pick out something comparable to the price of the late fee, then take it outside of the store and dash it onto the sidewalk.

Whether this way of doing business today is covered by law, policy...whatever...once again, Americans, in the way they're trained, just roll over and take it.  Long gone are the days of service with a smile, refunds always given (circumstances be damned, receipt or no), and quick, easy solutions to every problem or issue that may arise because of said product.  Part of this, of course, lies with us:  this is because of our initial training to be good boys and girls and roll over for government, let them pass whatever law we either don't understand or are duped into thinking is a good thing without reading the small print, whatever the case, producing economic issues in the process, which in turn dish out the makings of a poor economy, and inspire our newly hatched generation of thieves and con artists to steal things, walk right up to the courtesy counter, item in hand, demanding a cash refund.  The company loses money to theft, then produces, to make things tough for these thieves (as well as everyone else, legit or not), to get money out of the company selling these items, so easily.  Do you now understand how the lines of responsibility are drawn now?  If not, give me a buzz and I'll draw you a diagram.

Now that we've pretty much destroyed that subject....(ahhhh)...I'd like to take just a moment to say that I looked in my following circles today, and noticed that the U.S. Navy is now one of my blog followers.  I'd like to, then, thank the U.S. Navy for joining my circle and following my blog.  Bonus!  Free Advertising!  This is definitely something I can proudly brag about!  (Please see the fine print immediately following this post, please.)

NOTE:  Help!!  I didn't want to say this in the previous paragraph, because I was really nervous about why the U.S. Navy of all people, would be in my list of followers so early in the life of my blog, which I only started just 2 weeks ago.  Oh sure, if I was carrying Google AdSense or something, I could see why I would be noticed, but I have none of that.   If by chance this blog should cease it's regularity of appearance, please inform my wife that I have been abducted, interrogated, and am more than likely being tortured to find out just what my political standing in this country really is and what my intentions are, and that I am probably being blackmailed to cease and desist all opinion immediately, or I will be labeled an extreme right-winger with intentions on causing a revolution against the current establishment, and it's likely that I'll be put to death for treason.  Or, more likely, those days of doing all that acid when I was younger have probably come back to haunt me and I"m having severe paranoid dillusions...I haven;'t decided yet.  Only time will tell.

Well that's it on that subject kids.  Now you make sure and come right back now, because I'll be following this post directly up with yet another wunnerful installment.  Toodles!