May 24, 2012
Privacy issues!!
When in the USA last month Colin and I shopped at JC Penney where the clerk at checkout talked us into getting one of their credit cards and getting a 15% discount on our purchases. We did not want a US credit card as it is too difficult to make payments. According to her things have changed and you can simply go online and pay off your balance with your Visa Card which is how I wanted to pay in the first place but okay we’d go for it and save the 15%. Well so far it has cost us 80% grief.
There is no way we can pay the JC Penney bill with our Visa card unless we go into one of their stores in the US in person! Well that is not going to happen any time soon. I refuse to go to the bank or post office and spend more money than I saved to mail in the payment using a money order. On principle I will only pay that bill with my Visa card and I have cancelled our account with JC Penney. Now they are hounding us to make the payment. We are quite willing to pay but on our terms, the terms we were talked into opening the account with in the first place by a misinformed JC Penney employee.
It seems that JC Penney has no one to deal with or to discuss this issue with as they have a financial institution who handles this end of business and they will only talk money, not what the employee said. Now we are getting calls, close to daily, wanting to speak with Colin. Colin’s name is on the credit card as I did not have my ID with me that day nor know my SIN by memory as he does so the credit card was issued in his name. So when this financial institution calls they will only speak to Colin because of Canada’s Privacy Act. They won’t even tell me the name of their company!! Finally yesterday Colin happened to be home when ‘they’ called. Great, now we could get this resolved. It got worse.
The lady would not talk to Colin if I was on the other phone line listening in and helping answer the questions. She said she was not allowed to even have me listen to the conversation as it was illegal. Now that is really going too far! First off I do all the banking and all the legal stuff, that’s my job in our family. So we are at a stalemate as Colin does not know the answers to the questions and I am not allowed to supply them.
We have had other issues in the past because of the Privacy Act but usually Colin just takes the phone for a moment and tells them to talk to me as he had no idea what’s going on and then I continue on and deal with the situation. So who knows how this will all end up? Very frustrating and not worth the 15% savings!!
Meanwhile yesterday we got to see the steel foundation for the new home!
For those following the cement pour, it is finally happening right now!!!
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The credit card sure sounds like a night mare, good luck with resolving the issues.
Gad your cement is being poured and the house is in the process.
We had the same problem with a Kohl,s card that I just used on our way home, can’t pay thru internet or visa, charged us $25. late fee, we had to mail in the payment in full and will not use it again!!! Loved your Birthday dessert !!
I’m afraid the person on the phone has very little understanding of what she refers to as the “Canada Privacy Act”. All provincial law supersedes Federal law when it comes to family matters, and in the province of Ontario, I can speak for my wife and she can speak for me. (Family Law Act, 1990) Where the Act comes into play is where we need to be informed of what information that has been collected on us. Anyone collected that information is obligated to provide it to us when requested to do so.
I think I smell a bunch of “fresh air”.
Thanks for the lesson though. *never apply for a store credit card* Also, and more importantly, *never apply for a store credit card in a foreign country*.
Good Luck.
Sounds like frustrating times in the Jewall household. Just remember, it will all pass
That’s why I decided not to go back to Macy’s after my surgery. I hate that we have to hound the customers to open a credit card. We even got written up if we didn’t meet our quota. We opened many cards for Canadians-I wonder how they make their payments.
Big business strikes again!
When I worked for a credit card company, I had to talk to the person who’s name was on the card. If that person wanted me to deal with another person (son, daughter, spouse etc) I had to ask the person who’s name is on the card for permission to speak with the other person, once I had that permission they were able to pass the phone over to that other person. Kevin and I have also done this with my credit card and have never had a problem. Also if they say that it is “illegal” to listen on the phone and help Colin to answer, what about them taping your conversation where other people at their end can listen to the conversation!
Hope you are able to work things out.