Just reading this article, it sounds like Target Redcard will become Target Circle Card. Is this for both the credit card and the debit card? What about the Target Redcard Mastercard that some are invited to upgrade to? Will TD Bank continue to manage the new Circle Card? It sounds like the 5% off (with no 1% extra back in Target Circle Rewards) and extended returns will remain intact? Would free two-day shipping come with all orders? Or would there still be a $35 minimum for orders to qualify for free shipping? I'm assuming there continue to be no annual fee?

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/03/05/target-launches-paid-membership-target-circle-360.html

I feel like for those people who want a simple setup and prefer cashback over points, Target Circle Card is a fantastic card to have (it even has a debit card version). It basically gives you 5% discount on anything you buy from Target (except for Target Giftcards).

For me, the biggest use-case is getting 5% discount on non-Target gift cards. I often see people here who use certain credit cards just for entertainment credit when you can easily get 5% discount on giftcards of major streaming platforms like Netflix, Hulu from Target using Target Circle Card. You can pretty much find giftcards for lot of major spend categories like Uber, Lyft, Airlines, Movie theatres, Apple, Prepaid cards (like AT&T), Home Depot etc. You do not even need to go to store for getting discount. You can get that discount even for e-gift cards. You also have some offers once in a while where you get like $30 credit after spending $200 or $300 and non-Target gift cards qualify for those purchases. So you can easily get the credit by spending that money on some gift cards.

If you don't want to open a new credit card, then you can even get a debit card version of this card which offers same perks & gives 5% discount.

So, just to preface this, I don't post often but from my experiences with Target Circle Card and their guest services I felt compelled to post this. This subreddit is what helped me decide on the card. I will say, I have no issues with the card itself in terms of the rewards being good. But, not only is the payment portal terrible, I have had one of the worst customer service experiences of my life. And to keep everyone interested to an extent, they basically took my money and told me to kick rocks for 3 weeks.

I am going to do this in chronological order to better tell the story. I am using all of the time stamps I have gotten through my experiences. Also, to mention, it probably doesn't matter to Target but, I've paid off the balance in full every month I have had the card.

February 26th:

Got an email saying that there will be scheduled downtime from March 11-18th, in this time period is when I pay off my statement balance. In this email it recommended scheduling any payments during this period for before. So, same day, I moved my payment up 4 days to make sure I will have paid on time. (I have the confirmation email as well). I assume everything is fine and forget about it.

March 10th:

Balance paid in full with the advance scheduled payment.

March 17th:

Statement balance taken from my debit account a second time.

March 18th: (Tuesday)

Called Target CARD SERVICES the next day, talked to a representative and she was unable to do more, I was transferred to a supervisor. The supervisor told me that all they could do was send a check with that amount to me in 7-10 business days. I told them that this was unacceptable and that this could affect my ability to pay all my bills come end of the month. (For context the statement balance was almost $500 dollars) She was helpful and ensured me that I could be sent this check in overnight mail. Honestly, this was fine with me. I wasn't looking to get anything out of Target, if my money is back within a week I am fine.

March 21st: (Friday)

Called again on the Friday in the afternoon for another 45 minutes because now it has been 3 full business days after my call and I have not received anything. This lady was substantially worse than the first. Every time I would ask a question she would give me a short answer and then go quiet. I kept having to ask that's it? This is the point where I had the worst experience. She told me that the other person lied to me and that I can't get overnight checks and that the only thing that they can do for me is the 7 to 10 business day mail. This very much upset me because why am I being promised things that aren't possible. This is now making me nervous because I don't know if I am going to be able to pay my bills. I tell her this is unacceptable and that there should be something she can do. She apparently was a supervisor, so I asked to speak to someone else. She told me she couldn't transfer me, that she couldn't do anything for me and that if there was nothing else she will have to disconnect the line. (I have this on recording) I didn't want to call back because the hold times were considerable, I did look after I got off the phone it was 45 minutes. I will say, near the end I was definitely not kind, but I was being very honest. I directly said that essentially she was telling me to f**k off professionally. And I ended it with "You were completely useless, have a nice day". I would feel worse if she wasn't terrible to speak with and not able to do anything.

After this I honestly was just done, I assumed I would be waiting 10 full business days for the check. And I was so deflated that I said F it, I am going to just cancel this card after this BS and I won't be using it anymore.

April 1st:
It is now the 11th business day and I still don't have the check in the mail. I called Target for now the third time. (It was almost an hour and a half on the phone) I started by calling someone in online customer service, I know this isn't the right number but I wanted to speak with someone in the guest experience team, not someone on the target card services team as I felt that they wouldn't be able to transfer me. After I unloaded the whole story he got his supervisor to transfer me. Spoke to one person at card services and they then put me on hold to get their supervisor. I talk to their supervisor, they get the information and put me on hold. Then SOMEONE DIFFERENT picks up the phone, also a supervisor. I explain it all again, they are appalled at what happened. I from this lady find out that the check HAD NEVER BEEN SUBMITTED. So, according to what they told me, the check was never going to get to me. I do want to say that everyone I spoke with today did a good job, no one was rude like my second call and they did what they could. After this I asked if I could have help cancelling my card. I am transferred again, now talking to the 6th person and I believe 4th supervisor on duty of the day. She then asks my why I want to cancel my card and I of course tell her the whole story. This supervisor does what no one else has offered to do and she reports the first two calls to her boss. She also confirms that the check was 100% submitted. Her boss is going to call me in 24-48 hours, discover why the check wasn't sent and review the second call. Throughout all of this though, there is nothing that can be done beyond what happened. There is no compensation or anything except apologies.

As I am writing this after that long time on the phone, I still do not have the money in my account or the check and will be submitted this to the cfpb. I will add updates after I call the supervisor but it is beyond crazy to me that basically the best everyone was able to do for me was offer their apologies.

TDLR: Target double charged my checkings account for a credit card payment and 2 and a half weeks later still hasn't paid me back and the customer service basically said sorry and to kick rocks.