Complaint Review: Circuit City - Tulsa Oklahoma

This is the message that I sent to Circuit City on its website:

MESSAGE: I purchased a TV set on promotion with no finance charge for 12 months. I did not realize that I had to make minimum payments. The payments were $20 minimum to avoid the finance charge. I made $40 per month payments so that it would be paid off at the end of the 12 months. Half way through the 12 month period I charged about $25 worth of merchandise on the credit card. I THOUGHT that I would have to pay the regular minimum charge and the total amount of the $25 purchase to avoid the finance charge. But, I was charged a finance charge on the $25 starting on the day of purchase (no grace period). I called the credit card company and was told that I cannot make any additional purchases on the credit card while I am paying off a promotional. To avoid further finance charges I paid the entire balance off (on time). Now I received a bill for an additional finance charge and they say that it accrues daily even if I make a payment. In other words, unless I make a guess as to how much the finance charge will be and pay the additional amount I will keep on paying a finance charge on a finance charge.

This is the first response that I received:

RESPONSE: (Oluwatobi) - 12/27/2004 09:10 AM

Thank you for contacting us regarding your Circuit City Credit Card account issued by Bankone, Delaware, N.A.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience you have experienced as a result of this issue. We appreciate your business and your continued patronage is important to our company. We hope to have the occasion to serve your future consumer electronics, home, office and entertainment needs.

Customer service is our number one priority. If we can be of further assistance, please contact our Customer Service Department at 1-800-477-6761, or visit our web site at www.circuitcitycredit.com. Our Customer Service hours of operation are Monday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., ET.

This was my answer to the first response:

ANSWER TO FIRST RESPONSE: Resolved? Give me a break! Please read my complaint and your "canned" response. Your canned response is not even close to answering my complaint. Can't you find another canned response closer to answering my complaint?

This was their response to my answer to their first response:

RESPONSE TO ANSWER TO RESPONSE: Your reply did not process correctly. Please REPLY to this message and enter the text between the specified lines. Your message has been included below.

You may update your question by replying to this message. Because your reply will be automatically processed, you MUST enter your reply in the space below. Text entered into any other part of this message will be discarded.

[===> Please enter your reply below this line <===]

[===> Please enter your reply above this line <===]

In case you haven't guessed it by now, the response would not let me enter any data between the lines. In fact, the cursor would not even display anywhere near the two lines. I wonder how they do that? Anyway, since it is impossible for me to respond in the manner they demand within the 72 hours, they will report me as one more satisfied customer.

Chuck

Tulsa, Oklahoma
U.S.A.