Customer: “I want to dispute a charge on my bill. My mom didn’t tell me she was going to charge the card, and she normally does.”

Me: “So, it’s fraud?”

Customer: “Oh, no, not that, but I wanna dispute the charge?”

Me: “Dispute it because it’s not correct?”

Customer: “No, ‘cause my mom didn’t ask me before she charged it.”

I didn’t feel like explaining to him that his card and what’s done with it are his responsibility, so I transferred him to disputes so they could break the bad news.

I work in collections for a credit card company. A customer has called in who has not paid their credit card bill in some time.

Customer: “But I’m in the restaurant now and they won’t accept my card.”

Me: “And that will continue to happen until you pay the minimum payment.”

Customer: “How much is that?”

Me: “£28.”

Customer: “I haven’t got £28! That’s why I’m using the credit card, dummy!”

Related:
Will Not Give Them Credit For Trying, Part 3
Will Not Give Them Credit For Trying, Part 2
Will Not Give Them Credit For Trying

A customer in his forties calls in wondering why he can’t use his credit card. I explain to him that it’s because he’s gone over his limit.

Customer: “That’s ridiculous. I was over $50,000 a few months ago, and it’s only at $20,000 now!”

I explain how the limit can be adjusted by the head of the account.

Customer: “Well, I’m the president of the company, and I was at $50,000. This makes no sense.”

Me: “I show you as a cardholder on the account but not as the head of the account.”

Customer: “You’re not answering my question. Why was I able to spend $50,000 last month?”

Me: “The account owner can reallocate funds to certain cards. You may have had $50,000 last month, but I show you at $20,000 now and over that limit.

Customer: “Okay, let me put my mom on.”

His mom was understanding, allowed me to change her son’s limit on his card, and even added him as someone who could do this himself in the future. Why he wasted five minutes arguing about things done in the past is beyond me. It’s like he didn’t want me to know his mom was the account holder. I didn’t need to know how they were related.

I work for a credit card provider, and I was still getting used to their policies when this happened. I had just gone through security questions with a customer.

Customer: “Can you discuss everything with my wife, please? She knows more than I do.”

I just agreed. Why not? We’re allowed to speak to anyone the customer wants us to after the customer has passed security. I wish for this call that the rule didn’t exist.

Customer’s Wife: “What are all these charges on our card?! £4 here, £7.50 there, £5 everywhere?! We will not be paying them as we did not make them!”

“Oooh,” I thought. “I’ll pass it through to fraud.” I decided to filter all these charges to give to the team. Lo and behold! They were all charges for taking money out of an ATM/cash machine. Since May 2022. (This was January of 2023.) I laughed.

See, when you have a credit card, the number one thing that you should NEVER do is withdraw something from a machine. There WILL be charges. ALWAYS. Now I knew Fraud would definitely NOT take the call, so I had to handle it.

Me: “Ma’am, these charges you mention are legitimate fees as I can see that you are taking money out of a machine. The first one was in May 2022. The exact date and time was on May 5, 2022, at 14:37. The second one was on July 5, 2022, at 17:53. The third one was—”

Customer’s Wife: “Well I did not agree to these charges so I don’t have to pay anything!”

I hit my head onto the desk so hard I think people who were working from home heard the bang.

Me: “But ma’am, your husband has the credit card. Which means he must have signed our terms and conditions. I am able to send over the—”

Customer’s Wife: “NO! We will not be paying. Then we’ll see what you’re going to do!” *Click*

Well… They are DEFINITELY going to pay for the charges. I mean, who uses a credit card to take out money from a machine? All credit cards will charge you for doing so.

Customers. They’re a weird bunch sometimes.

Honestly, I don’t know why I keep staying in call-centre-like jobs. One month in, and I’m already regretting it. But I need money to survive, so I have to make do.

As I’m asking another security question:

Caller: “Nope! I have given you my name, and that’s all you need. I’m not going to discuss anything further on a recorded line with you.”

Me: “Okay, sir. How can I help?”

Caller: “I have spotted my wife’s credit file having a credit card with your company. She has never had a credit card with your company. I would like to report fraud.”

I have a wealth of experience in investigating fraud through employment at various institutions. This is where, in my head, I just say, “Wait a minute, you doofus. You’ve just admitted to a financial crime; accessing other people’s credit files (without permission) is a crime. On a recorded line. Oh, boy. What a move!”

Me: “Okay, sir. Sorry to hear that. Before I can get you to the Fraud department, I’ll need to just ask a few more security—”

Caller: “I SAID NO! I’m not the customer in question; my wife is! So, get me through now!”

And so, I transferred him to an already busy line and wrote up the call. When he gets through to the fraud department, they will crucify him. No credit card company or agency is going to want to willingly keep a customer like him.

When he rang through, he first interacted with one of those stupid robot voices and, therefore, he came through with ALL of his information. They, the fraud team will reduce his access to credit and ban him as a customer. This is a credit company that helps people with poor/bad credit. It’s a fine example of why customers should sometimes remain silent. I hope his wife finds out and sues him.