Check your Bloomingdales Statement CAREFULLY! archived
Jan 26, 2010 at 7:53am
I carefully aligned all those numbers in my attempt to copy my Account Summary above, but the spacing didn't stay. Sorry it's harder to read than intended!
As a programmer (I mean software engineer) I have to laugh cause I'd probably blame this on lack of testing rather than devious corporate practices.
Calculating interest when prior balance not equal to zero vs. prior balance greater than zero.
Calculating interest when prior balance not equal to zero vs. prior balance greater than zero.
Jan 26, 2010 at 9:18am Edited
Maybe, except it's not as if Bloomingdale's has recently started offering a credit card. They've managed to put out clear statements for many years.
The woman I spoke to said something about it being the law that they have to show the interest that WOULD be due IF the customer didn't pay the full balance due by the due date. That may well be true, however adding it to the "New Balance" amount as if it is currently due makes no sense!
Anyone with a Bloomingdale's statement will see exactly why it is easy to believe it is a devious change rather than some innocent "oops" in programming.
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I called Bloomies bc I assumed they had made another error in my billing (like the last two months) and that it needed correction. That is when my attention was directed to the paragraph with the explanation that if I wanted to avoid interest charges I could pay the amount actually owed rather than a balance that would be owed after 2/1/10.
Why a payment slip with a clearly stated due date of 2/1/10 would show a "new balance" amount that included interest that would only be due AFTER the stated due date, is a mystery at best and devious at worst.
The woman I spoke to said something about it being the law that they have to show the interest that WOULD be due IF the customer didn't pay the full balance due by the due date. That may well be true, however adding it to the "New Balance" amount as if it is currently due makes no sense!
Anyone with a Bloomingdale's statement will see exactly why it is easy to believe it is a devious change rather than some innocent "oops" in programming.
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I called Bloomies bc I assumed they had made another error in my billing (like the last two months) and that it needed correction. That is when my attention was directed to the paragraph with the explanation that if I wanted to avoid interest charges I could pay the amount actually owed rather than a balance that would be owed after 2/1/10.
Why a payment slip with a clearly stated due date of 2/1/10 would show a "new balance" amount that included interest that would only be due AFTER the stated due date, is a mystery at best and devious at worst.
I believe Macy*s did that too a for a while. I would report this to the appropriate state agency in writing and cc Bloomies in that letter. Whether intentional or not, it's a product of Bloomies doing too much per their poor interpretation of the "law" and therefore it's devious and will provide a windfall to them, at least in the form of credit appearing on many accounts.
A number of years ago, that's what American Express was doing.
They had a "new policy" where some charges were due immediately, and others could be paid over time.
But, the "over time" ones were hidden on another page, and not really evident on the payment stub.
I complained, and I must have been "one in a million" of other complainers, because they revamped the whole thing, and waived any late fees for missing the hidden charges.
Complain to them, and keep complaining, until they waive any late charges or interest. Your "I won't shop here again" threat is something they'll probably respond to.
They had a "new policy" where some charges were due immediately, and others could be paid over time.
But, the "over time" ones were hidden on another page, and not really evident on the payment stub.
I complained, and I must have been "one in a million" of other complainers, because they revamped the whole thing, and waived any late fees for missing the hidden charges.
Complain to them, and keep complaining, until they waive any late charges or interest. Your "I won't shop here again" threat is something they'll probably respond to.
I have had another sort of problem with Bloomingdale's. A couple of years ago they "upgraded" my Bloomingdale's charge to a Bloomingdale's Visa card with a 16-digit number. I still only use the card in Bloomingdale's, but I cut up the old card and included the new number on my payments. Paid a bill in full, and the next bill came showing the balance unpaid and a finance charge and $29.00 late fee. Turns out that even though the card has a Visa number on it, when I use it at Bloomingdale's the charge still goes to the old account number. (Because I paid on line, I didn't send in the return part of the bill, which it turned out had that old number on it.) I did get it straightened out, but who would have thought that one card would feed into two accounts with different numbers?
kathy, that sounds very close to what happened to me the past two months! They claimed I have "multiple" accounts with them.
Since having my purse stolen a couple years ago (and having to cancel zillions of stupid store cards, etc.) I no longer carry store cards, just amex. I ask them to look up my account when I need to use it to take advantage of a sale. So, I use my social security number for everything and I only get ONE statement and I pay using online bill pay AND the info matches my statement.
Whatever.
About complaining, believe me I did. I told the girl on the phone that I wouldn't be surprised if she was fielding a lot of unhappy calls similar to mine and she sounded tired when she said yes. I asked her to be sure to pass my comments along bc if it continued I would likely close my account and she said she thought they were taking care of it.
The purpose of my post was really to try to prevent anyone out there accidentally overpaying their monthly bill, even by a few bucks, bc Bloomingdales shouldn't earn any interest on money that does not belong to them. Do you think once people discover they overpaid a bit that they'll bother to ask for a check to be cut, or they'll let it sit there until they next go to bloomingdales. Meanwhile, multiply that by hundreds of customers and bloomies has a nice little slush fund earning interest for them! Just makes me mad.
Since having my purse stolen a couple years ago (and having to cancel zillions of stupid store cards, etc.) I no longer carry store cards, just amex. I ask them to look up my account when I need to use it to take advantage of a sale. So, I use my social security number for everything and I only get ONE statement and I pay using online bill pay AND the info matches my statement.
Whatever.
About complaining, believe me I did. I told the girl on the phone that I wouldn't be surprised if she was fielding a lot of unhappy calls similar to mine and she sounded tired when she said yes. I asked her to be sure to pass my comments along bc if it continued I would likely close my account and she said she thought they were taking care of it.
The purpose of my post was really to try to prevent anyone out there accidentally overpaying their monthly bill, even by a few bucks, bc Bloomingdales shouldn't earn any interest on money that does not belong to them. Do you think once people discover they overpaid a bit that they'll bother to ask for a check to be cut, or they'll let it sit there until they next go to bloomingdales. Meanwhile, multiply that by hundreds of customers and bloomies has a nice little slush fund earning interest for them! Just makes me mad.
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Well, THIS month I notice that they added a finance charge to my statement. It clearly shows that last month my balance was NEGATIVE (result of previous problems w/those borderline crooks!)
Here's my "Account Summary" as stated this cycle:
Balance of last statement -118.00
Payments 0.00
New transactions this month +842.88
INTEREST CHARGES +9.43
$ NEW BALANCE 734.31
Minimum due 2/1/10 $24.00
The above is all in BOLDED font.
Then, right below that in their font's version of pale italics so it fades into the background is the following:
FOR YOUR INFORMATION, ENCLOSED PLEASE FIND OUR CURRENT "PRIVACY POLICY" (ONLINE
CUSTOMERS, PLEASE REFERENCE "PRIVACY POLICY" PAGE.)
To avoid initial interest Charge: If you pay your New Purchase Balance of $724.88 by Feb. 1, 1020
your Initial Interest Charge of $9.43 on your Revolving Account will be refunded on your next
statement.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
IMO, they purposely HID the actual amount owed to them, which is $724.88, below a boring statement regarding a privacy
policy that noone bothers to read anymore, and WAY below the Account Summary which is where it belongs!
:angry:WHAT SCUM! (we need an angry, rifle-loading smiley, Dave! Or, at least a smiley slapping the smile off another smiley for being scum!)
The payment slip that tears off at the bottom, which I ignore these days bc I do online banking, but which I USED to tear off, save with the payment envelope and put aside in my bills to pay folder, says NOTHING about the actual amount owed! The payment due date is on that slip, the "New Balance" which includes the UNOWED interest is on that slip and the Minimum Paymente of $24 is on that slip.
I'm about ready to say to heck with Bloomingdale's sales and close my account! The interest they will steal on any collected but unowed "interest charges" from people who are in a hurry and aren't scrutinizing their bills will amount to a significant sum, I'm sure! I hate credit cards, and this is one more reason we will continue to only use Amex for all other charges!
Buyer BEWARE! (and warn your friends!)