Worst customer service ever? It’s Victoria's Secret’s credit card.
I bought $32 worth of product in December, and the payment due date is Feb 1st. Unfortunately, I thought I had already paid, so I missed the due date by 2 days. I only realized it on Feb 3rd and immediately paid the amount, but since it’s past 5 p.m., the payment was posted on Feb 4th.
Since I knew I was late, I called the customer representative and asked to waive the late fee. This is the first time I have missed a payment after being a cardholder for around 7 years.
The person on the call with me agreed to waive it for me.
I requested a new card on the same phone call since I couldn’t find the physical card. The new card has already arrived.
Now, this is where it’s my fault. I trusted that customer representative and believed everything was cleared, so I didn’t check the account afterward. Because it isn’t a bank account that needs to be checked monthly like Chase, it’s a Victoria's Secret credit card on the Victoria's Secret app that I only needed when purchasing their product.
My initial balance on Feb 3rd was $32, and I made the payment; the late fee isn’t posted nor pending, nor shown anywhere (I googled, so I know the fee is $30), AND I called the customer service representative, and was told it WILL be waived.
Now it’s April, and I received a phone call from people who claimed they were from Victoria's Secret and that I owed them over $100. My initial reaction was that this was a scam call, and I told them I had already taken care of the payment back in February and that they shouldn’t waste their time scamming people like this.
Then you know what? A few days later, I checked my account for the first time since the last payment. I am now hit with over $100 of late fees and interest, and all I did was buy $32 worth of products.
Also, a $15 late fee refund was posted on April 7. I have no idea who did this; it might be the one I thought was a scammer.
So I called customer service again, talked with three different people, requested the fee to be clear, explained everything, and was transferred twice. The first transfer was cut off, and they hung up on me; the second transferred to a supervisor, and that supervisor was the third person I talked to. I was told that they could only waive the $15 late fee and nothing else, so I explained things again and expressed my frustration; then, that supervisor said they could request to review the phone call back on Feb 3rd and see what they could do. I asked them to review it and was told I would receive a callback.
During these phone calls, I also learned that they can only waive $15, and I will still have to pay $15 even if the initial late fee is waived. This information wasn’t even given to me when I first called, asking for the fee to be waived! This is honestly so ridiculous and frustrating.
Fast-forward: They called back after a week, but I wasn’t available and extremely busy at the time, so I called back a day later. Nothing was resolved, and I was transferred to customer care. Nothing is cleared. I still have to pay the whole $100 things. They can’t do anything. $15 is the most they can waive, which happened on April 7th.
What the hell is the point of reviewing the phone call if they don’t do anything about it? It’s my fault for not rechecking the account and TRUSTING their customer service representative to provide correct information and clear things up properly.
It’s such an expensive mistake.
It’s Victoria’s Secret and Comenity Bank. For such a large company, only being able to clear $15 is so so so ridiculous.
The whole experience is ridiculous and so upsetting.
Sorry for my rant; now I want to ask what I should do now. I just paid to avoid further late fee to accumulate.
How will this whole thing affect my credit score? What is the best course of action I should do next? I'm mostly worried about my credit score now since I have no choice but to pay anyway. (OMG, I'm still so upset 😭).