Unfiltered Story #137021

(A customer has called to complain that her checking account has been over-drafted by a recurring monthly electronic payment, the first, and is insisting that the bank fees be reimbursed. This customer was female, but it could be either gender making the call)

Me: I see that you purchased the contract online from our website and chose the electronic payment option.

Customer: Yes, but I didn’t authorize the payment!

Me: When you chose the payment option you were presented with the payment method, dates and amounts. By agreeing to the payment plan you did authorized the monthly payments.

Customer: I only authorized the first payment. I never agreed that you would take payments from my checking account! Now I’m over-drawn, the bank has charge me fees and you need to fix it! Why would you take money that I never agreed to!? I was going to pay you later. You had no right to take my money!

Me: Your checking account was debited because you provided that account number for the monthly recurring payments.

Customer: I told you that I didn’t authorize any payments!

Me: From the possible payment options you, yourself, specifically chose the auto pay plan, clearly showing withdrawal dates and amounts. You entered your account information in the fields that indicated that the account was for the payments, and you typed your name and date on a legal form that you agreed to the payments. Did you not understand at that time you were agreeing to have the payments withdrawn electronically?

Customer: I told you I never authorized anything! Why don’t you believe me!?

Me: At several points, up to the final sale, we provided you with the opportunity to choose a different payment option, After the purchase was complete we sent you a payment schedule and a copy of the signed form and sent a reminder to the email you’ve already verified a few days before the withdrawal date. Each of these documents clearly indicated the payments were to be submitted for payment to the account number you’d provided. This was not our error so I can’t authorize reimbursement of the bank fees.

Customer: Are you kidding me? You’re calling me a liar! I work at a call center, too, and you can’t talk to me that way! Cancel my services right now and send me my money back!

(I canceled the service and advised the customer of the refund amount for the unused portion of the contract, the entire time being berated for my awful service. I don’t know what she thought she was agreeing to as she completed all of the required steps to authorize the recurring payments, intentionally repetitive so the customer should be aware. Unfortunately, this same type of call happens all too often. And we don’t take an automated payment when the customer has chosen a billed option, that’s our fault, too!)