Orchard Bank - Household Credit - HSBC Charged late fees, unprofessional, rude, hung up on, ignore important information sent to them, refused to close account. RIPOFF Elmhurst Illinois
Our family moved a few months ago. When we received our bill the following month, it was late because of the move. We paid the late fee and notified the company on the payment stub of our address change. On the back of the payment stub is an area designated for address changes, as well as a box to mark indicating there is a change. I marked the box and put the new address on the back of the stub, as well as crossed out the address on the bill AND made a notation to the address change. This went on for three months!
Well, this month, I again received the bills because the address still had not been changed. We spoke to four different representatives with the company, each one as rude and uncooperative than the first.
The first one disconnected me because I was being unreasonable and highly upset. I was refusing to pay the amount they were requesting. I told her that I don't feel I should pay because they failed for three months to change the address on the account. I did not feel it was my responsibility to continue to pay for their mistake. She told me I was still responsible for the charges.
At that point, I decided to call back and close my account. I was in disbelief when I was told I couldn't until I paid the fees!!
My husband finally spoke with some reps and agreed to paying half the charges - which I thought was just plain wrong. Then they told him it would cost $12.50 or thereabout to process!!!!! Round and round he went with her. Finally they hung up after my husband told her they would need to eat the fee.
The reps put the blame solely on us because we did not call sooner to take care of it. When we told them about the mailings and its notifications, they said it was an electronic automated system and we should not have mailed the change in.
I was forced to pay $30.87 to close my account and were blamed for the whole thing. I did, however, file a complaint with the BBB and told about 55 people since this happened on 4/8/05. I encourage all of you to do the same. Don't give up - keep spreading the word about them and we, as consumers, can bring them down. They need us more than we need them.
Sherri
Stowe, Pennsylvania
U.S.A.