Re: Credit Card Refunds/Returns & Statement Date Time Frame

bosk wrote:
>
> Howard wrote:
> > "bosk" <bosk10@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > > Using my Visa, I purchased a very expensive camera 2 days ago from
> > > Future Shop to try out (never intending to keep it) and compare to my
> >
> > You're the kind of idiot that makes 'restocking fees' such a problem for
> > honest people.
>
> And you're the kind of creep that makes posting to Usenet for help such
> a complete and utter 'joy'.

This is a newsgroup, not a therapy session. Unlike your mommy or your wife or
your employees, we can say what we think -- and that includes deriding those
who do something marginally shady (yeah, you can return stuff if it isn't what
you wanted, but that's a little different from buying something with the
intention of returning it) when we disapprove of it.

You want help, hire a shrink. Everybody with a brain knows that it takes
longer for a credit to be processed than a debit. Why? Because the company
gets to keep your money a bit longer, that's why. There's also a chance that
additional fees will be triggered, and that's good for the bank. If you live
that close to the line, expect to fall over the edge every once in a while.

> BTW, there were NO restocking fees. None
> mentioned up front when I asked about it before the purchase, and none
> incurred upon return. So, what are YOU talking about? And if you want
> to get onto a moral tangent about whether buying legitimately
> returnable merchandise on credit to try out is the right thing to do or
> not, then you need to start a new holier than thou topic. That's not
> what my post was about.

Doesn't matter. Usenet is a free-form sort of thing wherein digressions are
more standard than not.

> > > Fine. I returned the camera 2 days later, yesterday on Thurs evening
> > > ($700 w. memory card and tax extra). No problem with Future Shop, after
> > > returning the merchandise, the refund slip came right through when I
> > > gave her my Visa Card. Then, thinking the $700 was now off my card, I
> > > made a $10 gas purchase a few minutes later.
>
> > You should try reading your agreement with the bank. You know, that thick
> > boring pamphlet that you didn't read.
>
> Did read it. Doesn't mention anywhere in it about Visa's return/refund
> policy re: processing time, espc. since it apparently can't be nailed
> down. Don't know if this is a variable of the place where the purchases
> are made, or just Visa's own processing policy, or a combination of the
> two. Again, no clear statement. I was just unlucky enough this time,
> that my large return did not make it onto the monthly statement. It was
> never an issue before, so I'm learning the hard way that I shouldn't
> make any large purchases and/or returns near the printing date of the
> monthly statement, early in the month.

Excellent.

> BTW, I did ask the clerk at Future Shop who did the return, if the $700
> would come off my card immediately, and she said she thought it would
> because it's processed electronically.

She guessed wrong, didn't she? I pay my bills electronically, but the bank
tells me I should allow two business days for delivery anyway. I allow at
least 4 to be safe. You would apparently rely on the speed of light and
assume your payment/credit got there as soon as you hit OK. Which of us is
complaining about supposed injustice?

> Again, my lack of knowledge and
> experience made me believe she was correct, and so I made a further
> small purchase on the card at another location shortly after, thinking
> I was well below my limit then.

I KNOW what Rod Speed is going to say here, don't you?

> > > called up the Visa number, I got a snarky clerk who told me (news to
> > > me) that any refund off the credit card is not instaneously processed
> >
> > Your ignorance is neither their fault nor problem, it is yours.
>
> Yeah, thanks, I got that already, oh master of the tough love. I'm
> assuming you work for the returns department of a major electronics
> store, or in the accounting dept.

I'm neither, and I agree.

> No, my ignorance is not their problem
> (and obviously, their gain), but it IS their place to properly address
> the customer's questions when they call, asking for information. Kind
> of like my intial post here, but with a much less than satisfactory
> result re: your reply.

OK, so if the person had said "I haven't a clue," which is a proper and honest
answer, what then? The store can't possibly be aware of all bank/CC company
policies and procedures and it's kind of silly to expect that.

> > No, it is a case of you sitting down at the high stakes table without even
> > knowing what game is being played, let alone the rules.
>
> I already knew what the 'game' was, and at least some of the rules
> since I had sat at that 'table' before, but I guess I was lucky that
> time, because I had purchased my older camera this exact same way, at
> the same place: by trying a few out for a few days from Future Shop,
> and then returning them. (This is NOT something I do on a regular
> basis, as I said in my first post- I usually have very few to no
> returns per statement). I later bought one of the models (my older
> camera) I had tried out at Future Shop a few weeks later and after much
> other comparison shopping.

OK, so you've bought and returned merchandise from Future Shop twice and then
bought the same thing somewhere else -- presumably cheaper. That's
considerably sleazier than going into Best Buy to look at the demo model
before buying at buydig.com because you've cost Future Shop time and trouble
and perhaps broken merchandise for nothing.

> > What makes it worse is before entering the building, you were given a paper
> > explaining the game and the rules and didn't bother reading it.
>
> If you're referring to the initial, large Visa acceptance packet that
> came with the unsigned card, then yes I did read it when I recv'd it,
> and reread it, but unfortunately, there's no substitute for experience.

I've attempted to read those documents. NOBODY has read and understood the
whole thing, maybe not even the lawyers who wrote it. There's a reason they
use tiny print and thin paper.

> They can't envision every eventuality, and some of the framework is
> setup for people to fail and to have to pay extra money for various
> penalties. That much I already knew about credit cards- which is why I
> resisted getting one, until I needed one to sell on eBay.

Assume you will get screwed whenever possible. Try to avoid this. Don't
whine when you guess wrong.

> Re: the financial rules of credit cards, as I mentioned in my first
> post, yes, I'm a newbie, and therefore, yes, obviously ignorant of some
> of those rules as they apply in real time. But that doesn't mean you
> have to spew on someone when they're asking for input. That I held a
> card for close to a year, and paid my bills on time and never had any
> interest payments must mean that I'm not a complete idiot when it comes
> to using a card.
>
> However, I thank the other posters who gave me some ACTUAL useful
> information re: credit cards and their experiences dealing with
> refunds and credit statements, espc. the poster who concurred with what
> my relative told me, that I will not have to pay the full amount if the
> $700 return shows up before I pay at the end of the month. And yes, as
> another poster politely put it, I will look into Credit Cards for
> Dummies or some similar literature. I guess the reason I resisted doing
> more research was due to the fact that I don't make many big purchases
> on my card, and being a relatively new card owner, am still quite
> tentative. Obviously, if (and that's a big IF) I'm going to continue to
> use the card, now is the time to start learning the rules before I get
> even more in over my head- but I've heard much worse horror stories,
> and ones that go on for years and involve credit counselling and
> bankruptcy.

Again, excellent.

--
Cheers, Bev
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