Complaint Review: Discover Card Credit Card Services

On February 8, 2006, Discover Card finally gave in and joined the rest of the civilized banking world. Last Saturday, Discover Card implemented the option of selecting the date one would like his checking account debited. Finally, they have embraced consumer choice and brought themselves out of the Stone Age. Discover now stands a competitive chance with sophisticated customers who did not live in a trailer park and who did not think paying at a Sears store was convenient ha! Enjoy your 2x4 cubicles Brett, Scott, Judy and all other Discover Card apologists and apparatchiks!

One option that the other Discover employees have failed to mention is pay by phone (pbp). While the internet does not allow one to designate the date of withdraw, calling Discover and speaking to either Card Member Services or even our collections department, you are able to set up a payment for whatever date you want. This process will take approx 2 min. All you say is "I am just calling to make a payment for $xx on xx/xx." The rep will ask for your checking account number, read a legal statement (just verifying all the info, date, amount, and checking account), then you are done. It may seem at first to be a hassle to call up and make the payment. But you are able to to do it at the same time you make any others. You have your check book out, why not take advantage of the ability to set a specific date for your payment. The numbers to contact are the one on the back of your card, or even 1-800-767-1846. The last will get you to the collections, and I am not infering anything of course, but we (collections) department set up payments for late and current accounts, and (imho) are much more flexible.

The truly ironic comment made by F - Silverdale of Washington was this: "they harass and are hostile to you here as well."

You refer to my mindset as delusional. You referred to Kate as a snake, and Scott as clueless. My question to you is why would it be ok to be rude and defaming towards us, but when we try to offer constructive criticism it is berating? You cannot have a double standards on name-calling.

For Ron from the alleged "Anytown:" if you spoke to anyone at any company the way you spoke to me on this website, I cannot imagine why you would not get anything but the best treatment. Sarcastic? Yes. Deserving? Most assuredly so.

I apologize if I, at the time, did not understand to what you were referring. That is certainly no reason to be as berating as you and your fellow consumer worry about me being. As you can see following your update, Scott pointed out that you paying early is not a float. It was a concious decision on your part to do so. Perhaps it was that you were upset you didn't read online it takes the money from your checking account within one day and are upset because of that. I don't know.

The time value of money has nothing to do with what you are talking about. You are simply upset that Discover does not have options available that some other companies do not. Other companies do not have options that Discover does.

You mentioned that paying at Sears is not conventient. What about those that do not have checking accounts? Or those that forget about making a payment until it is virtually too late? You can pay at Sears as late as the day after your due date and it would still be considered on-time. Also you get a receipt when you pay there, something you don't have elsewhere.

Please don't presume that I have dropped out of high school, or anything of the sort. I am actually a finance major, currently employed as a financial advisor.

Last but not least, when a company says they are considering changing it, you should understand the definition of considering. This does not mean they will be changing it. Do I think it would be beneficial to their customers to have that option? Absolutely.

I look forward to hearing from you, even if it is nothing but negative remarks on my intelligence.

i am an employee of a different major credit card company and would like to give my two cents.

i realize that some people have their own way of paying bills, only at certain times of the month, or whatever. but as with anything else, we have to either compromise, find another way to pay your bill, or as someone said, end your business dealings with that particular company. YOU chose to have a relationship with the company, now abide by the options they have available to you.
every company, big or small, every person, has their own way of doing things.

our bank doesnt do certain things that other banks do and i have to hear it on the phone all day long. well, we do take suggestions. we give you an address that you can write to, have you done that, ron? have you written to discover to make that suggestion? or have you just complained on here?

discover, as with any other company, cant read our cardmemebers minds. we need to hear suggestions. suggestions are opportunities for us all to grow and become better.

i am an employee of a different major credit card company and would like to give my two cents.

i realize that some people have their own way of paying bills, only at certain times of the month, or whatever. but as with anything else, we have to either compromise, find another way to pay your bill, or as someone said, end your business dealings with that particular company. YOU chose to have a relationship with the company, now abide by the options they have available to you.
every company, big or small, every person, has their own way of doing things.

our bank doesnt do certain things that other banks do and i have to hear it on the phone all day long. well, we do take suggestions. we give you an address that you can write to, have you done that, ron? have you written to discover to make that suggestion? or have you just complained on here?

discover, as with any other company, cant read our cardmemebers minds. we need to hear suggestions. suggestions are opportunities for us all to grow and become better.

i am an employee of a different major credit card company and would like to give my two cents.

i realize that some people have their own way of paying bills, only at certain times of the month, or whatever. but as with anything else, we have to either compromise, find another way to pay your bill, or as someone said, end your business dealings with that particular company. YOU chose to have a relationship with the company, now abide by the options they have available to you.
every company, big or small, every person, has their own way of doing things.

our bank doesnt do certain things that other banks do and i have to hear it on the phone all day long. well, we do take suggestions. we give you an address that you can write to, have you done that, ron? have you written to discover to make that suggestion? or have you just complained on here?

discover, as with any other company, cant read our cardmemebers minds. we need to hear suggestions. suggestions are opportunities for us all to grow and become better.

i am an employee of a different major credit card company and would like to give my two cents.

i realize that some people have their own way of paying bills, only at certain times of the month, or whatever. but as with anything else, we have to either compromise, find another way to pay your bill, or as someone said, end your business dealings with that particular company. YOU chose to have a relationship with the company, now abide by the options they have available to you.
every company, big or small, every person, has their own way of doing things.

our bank doesnt do certain things that other banks do and i have to hear it on the phone all day long. well, we do take suggestions. we give you an address that you can write to, have you done that, ron? have you written to discover to make that suggestion? or have you just complained on here?

discover, as with any other company, cant read our cardmemebers minds. we need to hear suggestions. suggestions are opportunities for us all to grow and become better.

" If I owed you money on October 1st but paid it on September 1st, you have the money a month before it was due - that's the float. Ever hear of "the time value of money" or did they teach that topic after you dropped out of high school? Consumer responsibility? "

Yeah, we've heard of time is money. So have you (obviously). So what's the big deal? You go to our website and make your payment, which clearly lays out for you what will happen next. The pre-confirmation screen tells you clearly that your payment will be taken from your account on X date. If you don't like that, you don't have to finish the payment process.

We don't offer "choose the draft date" at this time. Fine. What's the big deal? Are you just another demanding customer, who, ignoring all the other benefits Discover offers, decides to pitch a temper tantrum over one thing we don't offer rather than celebrating the many more things we do offer?

Someone in this thread said it best. You choose who you do business with. Someone else mentioned that Discover was considering making the change. So you have been heard. Just because you don't ultimately get what you want doesn't mean we didn't hear you, that we are unresponsive to customers, or any of the other vicious claims you have made.
All companies have to maintain a delicate balance between customer satisfaction and profitability. We've apparently decided that for now, letting you borrow our money interest free until you pay (which is a statement that applies only if you pay in full each month) is what is best for our bottom line at this time.
Sure, that sounds selfish to you. Apparently, you feel Discover is not a business but a charity. Go knock on United Way's door if that's what you seek.

Or, as was mentioned before, end the business relationship. It isn't that we don't value you as a customer, but there's only so much we can do. You can't please everyone all the time. Some people are too hard to please. Some won't be placated no matter how professional you are. Some just think the world revolves around them and what they want rather than looking at the bigger picture.

Apparently, some Discover employees and ex-employees who post here want you consumers, to know one thing: They DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU! They say basically, "if you don't like it, leave" (see Scott's post above). They are, of course, in it for the money don't you know, it's the consumer's money they're after. They have so many customers, they don't care if they lose a bunch this is evident in their sarcastic and berating manner in which they respond to you on the phone, and then when you come here to try and vent your displeasure (because you can NOT get any satisfaction on the phone!), they harass and are hostile to you here as well. Gee, I wonder where the response is from Kate in Phoenix, the Discover Card's official spokesperson SNAKE? She's usually Johnny-on-the-spot with her nasty feedback. Maybe she's on vacation, and Brett's taking her place he doesn't get your point either, but would rather make a comment that is not anywhere close to your point, again berating you. Typical of their mindset, don't you agree? It's call being delusional. Anyway, Scott is just clueless and blathering away to pump himself up. Helll-ooo??? Point, point, point????

One good comment Brett made (the only item of constructive value anyway) was regarding billpay' perhaps you could possibly look into your banks Bill Pay program availability? If yours doesn't offer it, perhaps find another that does, and for a small fee (some won't charge if you keep a certain balance or have a certain kind of account) you can setup your bills online to be paid on certain dates different dates for different bills, reoccurring or one-time payments. It actually is pretty slick. I learned about this while traveling, and it worked pretty well for me.

Ron, you are right about the float. And Discover isn't giving you anything in return, no matter what anyone says you, the consumer, PAY for the privilege of credit by making those wonderful interest payments on the money we borrow. And yes, it would make it a lot easier if Discover would get a clue and get customer-friendly and make the ability to assign a payment date, but I doubt very much if they will. They make too much money right now hoping you'll be too busy living your life and forget your payment so they can suck even more money off you. They are like vultures. And yes, of course we realize that we ask for their credit but then they lord it over us for as long as we continue to let them. But think for a minute where they'd be WITHOUT us? They only live because of us - we CAN live without them if we wanted to. I've been fortunate enough to be able to pay off all my bills and credit cards, but it's taken a lot of work, some strict budgeting, and a lot of times having to go without, but man, it is WORTH IT for every day I don't have to deal with these people that call themselves customer service. Boy, was that a misnomer! They should have called it customer abuse instead, at least for Discover Card!

I hope you can get them off your back soon, Ron. You'll be lots happier in the long run not having to deal with leeches like Discover.

Best of luck,

Ron... I read your e-mail regarding the scheduling of your payments and your perception that you are somehow giving Discover free use of your funds but this couldn't be further from the truth.

To make sure I'm understaning you correctly, let's say you charge $1000 on the first of the month and that with the grace period, that $1000 isn't due without interest until the 25th of the month. Further, you are saying that if you pay $1000 on the 5th of the month then Discover get's to use your $1000 for 20 days for free. Thats 20 days worth of $1000 float that Discover is earning interest on because the money isn't due until the 25th. Am I understanding you correctly?

If I am understanding you correctly, the flaw in this thinking is that you are repaying money that you have already borrowed. In other words, YOU actually received the free use of funds for 5 days without cost and on the 5th day when you repaid it, you reimbursed Discover for that charge. Although Discover gives you to the 25th to pay that charge without interest, it doesn't mean that you are somehow loaning Discover money. In fact, during the 5 days that you were using the $1000 before you paid it off, Discover had to finance those funds, pay interest on those funds, and handle the account maintenance and payment processing for both the charge and the payment.

In the end, you received the float, Discover did not.

I understand what you are saying about not being able to schedule payments. You would like to do your bills once monthly, schedule the payments when they are due, and not have them draw until the due date. I do this with many of my household bills as well. Some companies have that option, others do not. Discover is hardly the only firm that does not have this as an option. Discover has other payment options, however, which you can use. Since Discover doesn't offer the ability to schedule future payments, you complaint would be the same as mailing Discover a check with a note to hold it until the end of the month.

In the end, you choose who you do business with. If the ability to schedule payments in the future is more important to you than the other positives that being a Discover cardmember, simply choose to do business with someone else.

Discover's rebuttal is meaningless preaching and moronic logic from an employee/apparatchik who didn't even address the essential complaint. Maybe I can simplify the issue for Discover since the "rebuttal" was so obtuse and irrelevant to the issue. Issue: The overwhelming majority of credit cards let you select the date when payment will be debited from your checking account. Discover does not. That's bad for the consumer. Discover's employee also doesn't understand banking, floats, interest and a whole host of financing intricacies - probably explains why he/she works in a pathetic cubicle somewhere in Illinois. If I owed you money on October 1st but paid it on September 1st, you have the money a month before it was due - that's the float. Ever hear of "the time value of money" or did they teach that topic after you dropped out of high school? Consumer responsibility? Don't preach you idiot - we understand responsibility, that's why we're looking for banks that are willing to work with customers, not against them. Also, in the age of the internet, making a payment at a Sears store is not "convenient." We also understand how self-serving Discover's "no-date-option" set-up is. You don't seem to understand what most other consumers and banks do - customers like choice. Lastly, since you deigned to defend Discover's inane and avaricious policy, you should know that they have previously told consumers that they were aware of consumer dissatisfaction with the policy and were considering CHANGING IT! I would love to have seen a response that demonstrates that a Discover employee at least understood the issue.

It seems that what you're upset about is that you are not able to schedule a payment with DC on our website. You also seem to believe that if you pay your bill early, it is an interest free loan to the credit card company, a float in your words.

If you do not wish to pay your account early, it is simple: don't. There are many payment options available for your Discover Card account, many more than other companies. You can make a payment online, over the phone or at a Sears department store, all three of those as late as your due date. If you don't want to pay your bill until your due date, take advantage of one of those options.

You must also believe then that people who mail in their payments early are "loaning" money to the credit card company. You apparently do not realize how credit works, whether it be with DC or any other credit card company. You also complain that you don't want to have to keep track of your due date. This is your responsibility as a consumer, to keep track of your finances. Your credit report is a history of how responsible you have been; if you have problems with remembering your due date, do what I do and schedule with your bank via online billpay.

Counsumer Beware

A suggestion, if you can charge one dollar to your account every month. Maybe they will get the idea that there are un happy customers out there.

For us it is questionable how reputable they can be letting a fraudulet charge pass Even if you report it in three days of being charged. It is interesting how they investigate.

They are get to be simular to the scam opperation we got involved in.

American Express, Visa, Master card decided with their customer With with the same unscrupuless merchant.

But it appears Discover Card must think they should allow their customers to get rip off.

Consumers Take Warning