I am calling a customer who maxed out their credit card within the first month of having it but hasn’t made a single payment back in the last four months.

Customer: “Hello?”

Me: “Hello, is this [Customer]?”

Customer: “Yeah… what do you want?”

Me: “This is [Credit Card Company] calling about your account with us. It’s currently overdue for a payment, and—”

Customer: *Click*

No surprises there. I call back to give the customer the benefit of the doubt that it was an accidental disconnect. When I call back, I get an older-sounding man on the phone.

Customer’s Dad: “This is [Customer]’s father, and I will not have you scammers harassing my daughter! Lose this number now, or I am calling the police!”

Me: “Sir, I can assure you that I am not a scammer. I am calling from [Credit Card Company] about your daughter’s account. I can’t discuss any matters with you about this as an unauthorized user, but again, I can assure you that this isn’t a scam.”

There is a moment of silence, and then I can hear the father speaking to his daughter.

Customer’s Dad: “Did you get a credit card with [Bank]?”

Customer: “Yeah, but they said it was interest-free! I shouldn’t have to pay that back!”

Customer’s Dad: “That’s not what…”

There is the sound of a massive sigh from the father, and I can almost see him face-palming as he processes this information.

Customer’s Dad: “You still have to pay the money back. Interest-free just means there’s a period where they won’t charge interest while you pay it back.”

Customer: “Nuh-uh, Sharon told me it means you don’t have to pay it back.”

Customer’s Dad: “Sharon doesn’t have two brain cells to throw together.”

The customer’s dad returns his attention to me and asks if I can tell him information about the situation if his daughter authorizes him over the phone. I say I can, and he gets her to do so.

I then explain how the credit card was maxed out within ten days of activation and now needs to start being repaid.

Customer’s Dad: “How was she authorized for a credit card in the first place?! She doesn’t even have a job!”

Me: “She marked herself as employed when she made the application, and our records indicate that she received monthly payments for the last three months that matched her stated salary.”

Customer’s Dad: “Were those salary payments from [Company]?”

Me: “They were.”

Customer’s Dad: “She was fired from that job for not showing up. She hasn’t worked for months.”

Me: “That is unfortunate, and we can discuss an extension of her payment plan if that is the case, but I’m afraid we do need to settle on a confirmed plan today to stop her account from moving into debt collection.”

He turns his attention back to his daughter.

Customer’s Dad: “[Customer], you need to start paying this card back. How much can you start paying back today?”

Customer: “I have like… $3 in my account.”

Customer’s Dad: “I’m not loaning you any money.”

Customer: “But Daaaad! Make them go away! They’re giving me anxiety!”

Customer’s Dad: “You went ahead and signed up for a credit card under your own name, maxed it out, and ignored it? I can’t make them go away! I can’t make them do a d*** thing! You need to go out and get a job and pay it back.”

Customer: “But that’s not faaaaair!”

Customer’s Dad: “You’re eighteen; you’re an adult now. Welcome to the real world.”

He handed the phone back to his daughter, who started crying as I tried to go through the legal specifics with her. In the end, we came up with a plan to call her again next week so she could aim to have a source of income, and then we would discuss a new payment plan. 

The credit card was only for about $1,000, so not a huge sum, but enough to hopefully teach her some financial responsibility in the future!

Related: 
This Is Why We’re In A Recession, Part 116
This Is Why We’re In A Recession, Part 115
This Is Why We’re In A Recession, Part… *Quiet Sobbing*
This Is Why We’re In A Recession, Part 114
This Is Why We’re In A Recession, Part 113

I work as a customer service representative under a prepaid debit card service. I got a call from a customer.

Customer: “I’m trying to pay the rent for my apartment, and my card keeps declining! Why?”

I brought up his account and looked at his transaction history. I saw that the cause of the decline was insufficient funds. Basically, he was $60 off from his $1,450 apartment transaction on his current balance at the time.

It turned out that a few hours before he could pay his rent, there was a previous charge from [Cable Company]. It was an auto payment that debited about $60 from his account, giving him a low balance. I told him the reason.

Customer: “What are you going to do about it, then? Refund me?”

Me: “I’m sorry, I can’t refund you. The charge was from [Cable Company].”

It wasn’t my fault [Cable Company] had screwed him over.

He got pissed at me for not helping, although I told him there was nothing I could do in that situation, and after two foul language warnings, he hung up.

I mean, what did he want me to do? Tell [Cable Company] to refund him? That’s why I pay my bills manually — so I don’t get screwed over like that.

My dad took my brother-in-law and me to the Air Races in Reno, Nevada a couple of years ago. When we checked into the motel, my dad’s credit card was rejected. Mine — issued through the same company — went through without a problem. Neither of us had told the company we were going to be traveling, although we both did within the next half hour.

The way I figured it was that for the past few years when my parents went on vacation, they used their fifth-wheel trailer; they didn’t stay in motels or hotels. When my wife and I went on vacation, we did stay in motels and hotels. So, for my dad, staying in a motel 400 miles from home was suspicious behavior. For me, it was perfectly normal.

I was working with a major credit card company over an eight-month period where I was making them a series of marketing materials. Early in the process, I had a conversation with my direct contact that went something like this.

Me: “In order for me to follow your brand, I will need a copy of your brand book. Can you send it to me?”

Client: “We don’t have a brand book, but here are some of our colors, and you can look at our website for more inspiration.”

The entire time working with them was a complete migraine. They would have a certain visual concept at the start of each project and then change their opinion multiple times throughout. It got to the point where I stopped following what I thought was appropriate for their brand and just tried to make the multiple voices happy.

Sure enough, on the last project I made for them, several revisions in, I got this email.

Client: “The last revision you sent us was off our brand. Please refer to the brand book I have attached.”

The brand book was dated before I had started working with them. 

They are no longer my client.

I work at the customer service desk at a well-known home improvement store chain. A middle-aged lady and her also middle-aged husband come storming up to the desk (which is, sadly, quite common). I saddle up, take a breath, and brace myself.

Ninety-five percent of what we do at the customer service desk is process returns, so it’s typical for people to have armfuls and/or cartfuls of items they’re returning when they approach the desk. It’s also typical for customers who have the store credit card to not bring their receipt when returning items and just have us run their card to process the return.

The angry couple has a cart with a few items in it, and the husband angrily chucks their store credit card onto the desk in front of me and just stands there silently glaring at me. I assume from the format that this is a standard return.

It’s also sadly common how many people behave this way when returning items: not saying anything, but expecting us lowly workers to read their minds and process their returns with as little verbal interaction as possible.

Me: “Is this a return?”

Husband: “Yes!”

Me: “Okay, let me just—”

Husband: *Interrupting me* “Your card is trash!”

Me: “Pardon?”

Husband: “Your card! It’s worthless! It has a zero balance!”

Now I’m confused. Then, the wife jumps in and starts bellowing at me, leaning over the desk toward me, and stabbing at the card still lying on the desk with her finger.

Wife: “We paid this off. And now we can’t use it!”

Me: “Um, I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand.”

Wife: “It won’t let us use this worthless store credit card to buy things because we paid it off!”

I glance at their cart of items, still confused.

Me: “I’m sorry. Are you trying to return these items?”

Husband: “No!” *Looking at me like I’m stupid* “We’re buying these! And the card won’t let us!”

Me: “Okay, I apologize. I thought you said this was a return. So, your store credit card won’t process at the checkout. Is that what you’re saying?”

Both: “Yes!“

Wife: “We had a balance on the card from last time, and instead of making payments like they want you to do, we just paid it off. And now it won’t work!”

Me: “I apologize for that. It does sound very frustrating. There should be a number on the back—”

Wife: *Cutting me off* “You would think we would get rewarded for paying off the entire balance, but noooooooo. They want people to just make the little payments as they go, and then they charge interest! It’s a scam! Your store credit card is a scam!“

I take a breath and try to stay calm in the face of this lady being up in my face about something I have zero control over.

Me: “Okay, as I was saying, there should be a number on the back of your card here—” *flips over the card to show her* “—where you can call the customer service line for the card to see what the issue is. Unfortunately, here at the store, we have no way to look up the information or to solve the issue.”

Wife: *Grumbling* “This is so stupid. Why don’t we get rewarded for paying off our card balance? Charging people interest to make payments is such a scam. We never should have gotten this card. You and your stupid card are a big scam!“

Thankfully, she picks up their credit card and huffily sits down on the bench with her husband to call the number on the back of the card. They’re there for about thirty minutes, and I can’t hear any of the conversation, but I’m expecting her to hop up and yell at me some more when they’re finished. Instead, when they’re through, they stand up and wheel their cart around the corner toward the checkout area, not even so much as looking at me, let alone offering any follow-up information.

My coworker comes over, having been near the desk during the initial conversation with the couple.

Coworker: “So… she was mad that you get charged interest when you buy stuff with a credit card?”

Me: *Shrugging* “Welcome to credit cards, lady!”