Complaint Review: Texas Best Meat Company & Chase Visa (Chase Manhattan Bank):

The following letters and comments represent a chronological documentation of events in which I disputed the charge for some highly misrepresented, low quality meat I purchased from the "Texas Best Meat Company" using my Chase Visa (part of Chase Manhattan Bank) credit card. Since Chase Visa's responses were not in electronic format and could not easily be included, I have indicated what there responses were with a short paragraph following each of my letters.

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The following is my original transaction dispute letter to Chase Visa, in which I provided the detailed transaction information they requested.

Sunday, September 03, 2000

PURCHASE DISPUTE DOCUMENT

CUSTOMER INFORMATION:

Card Holder Account Number: xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx

Card Holder: Rhett Micheletti

Card Holder Address: xxxxx xxxxxxxx
Houston, TX 77089

Card Holder Phone Numbers: Home Phone: (xxx) xxx-xxxx
Work Phone: (xxx) xxx-xxxx

MERCHANT INFORMATION:

Merchant Name: Texas Best Meat Company

Merchant Address: Houston, TX (No other information provided)

Merchant Phone Number: Listed as (281) 469-7250, but when called a recorded message indicates it has been changed to (713) 466-7701.

Salesman's Name: Steve (No last name given)

PURCHASE TRANSACTION INFORMATION:

Items Purchased: 6 Pack Case Special containing a variety of vacuum sealed beef cuts.

Purchase Amount: $236.50

Date of Purchase: 8/2/2000

Credit Card Posting Date: 8/3/2000

Transaction Background: A number of months ago, a traveling salesperson, by the name of "Steve", came to my house and offered for sale what appeared to be a great deal on a variety of USDA Choice Black Angus beef steaks that he was selling from a large freezer in the bed of his truck. At first I was skeptical, but after looking at what appeared to be high quality, individually vacuum sealed portions, I became interested. However, I did not have the money at the time and so asked him to come back a couple of months later.

Transaction Description: On August 2nd, 2000, Steve showed back up and offered me the same deal, but once again I did not have the money. To provide an incentive and make the sale, Steve offered me the same deal with a $100.00 discount, which I quickly accepted and charged to my Chase Visa card, believing the price to be too good to pass up. A couple of days later, I cooked some of the tender fillet kabobs, and was surprised to find that, although the meat tasted okay, it was not very tender. A few days later, I cooked a couple of the bacon wrapped fillets, and was very disappointed to discover that they not only had poor flavor, but they were extremely tough, which should never be the case for beef tenderloin, and especially not if it is USDA Choice Black Angus. This immediately raised my suspicions about the quality claims made by Steve and the Texas Best Meat Company brochure he gave me. At that point, I called the Texas Best Meat Company to complain and ask for an exchange, as was guaranteed on the brochure, but got no answer and so I left a message to that effect.

In the days that followed, expecting that the quality guarantee would be honored, I went ahead and cooked two packages (8 patties) of the chopped beef steaks, and was again very disappointed by the result. During cooking, the chopped beef steaks produced an unusually large amount of grease, clearly contradicting the company's marketing brochure, which claimed that its meat had 30% to 40% less fat and bone than regular meat. Having a hungry family at the time, I drained the grease and made hamburgers with the patties. Upon eating them, my family and I discovered that almost every bite contained small pieces of bone that literally hurt our teeth when bitten down on.

As a result, we simply had to throw the cooked hamburgers in the trash for fear of breaking a tooth. Very upset, I immediately called Texas Best Meat Company and again got the company's answering machine. I then left a message describing the extremely poor quality of the meat, across multiple cuts of the product, and indicated that I had serious doubts about the company's claim of USDA Choice Black Angus and therefore believed I was entitled to a full refund. Since then, I have called the Texas Best Meat Company at least four additional times, each time having to leave a message because no one ever answers, and each time requesting that I be given a refund. In an attempt to be amicable about my request for a refund, I offered that the refund could be less any portions of the product that my family and I had already "consumed". As of the writing of this letter, I have not received a single call back. Not surprisingly, I am no longer feeling very amicable, and now I want a full refund.

My Assessment Of Steve And The Texas Best Meat Company: Ultimately, I believe it all boils down to this: The Texas Best Meat Company is a scam. It is probably owned and operated solely by Steve (if that's his real name). The meat he sells is of extremely inferior quality, and is obviously being falsely labeled as "Black Angus", which any beef lover knows is the highest quality beef variety money can buy. Additionally, the beef Steve is selling has most likely never been inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture, which, if true, most likely constitutes a criminal offense for being labeled as USDA Choice.

My Goal: At this point I wish to receive a full refund for the worthless product, and to be able to get the remainder of the product out of my small freezer, as it is taking up almost all available space and is preventing me and my family from being able to purchase store bought frozen food.

My Advice To Chase: Chase (and all other credit card companies) could provide a much higher level of customer service and satisfaction, while saving all parties a lot of wasted time, money, and frustration, if they would simply change their transaction dispute philosophy and policy from being reactive to being proactive. In other words Chase should require that its merchants be reachable by customers after a sale and that the merchants should make a genuine effort to resolve a customer's complaint and/or disputed charge, or else expect to be immediately dropped from Chase's active merchants list.
Imagine the time and money Chase, and it's customers could save!

Please help me resolve this as soon as possible.

Thank you,

Rhett Micheletti

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In Chase Visa's first response, they claimed that because the Texas Best Meat Company brochure indicated a "No Refunds" policy, there was nothing they could do, and would therefore not reverse the charges.

My rebuttal follows.

Sunday, October 01, 2000

To the director of the Transaction Disputes Department:

Sometime in early September I sent a transaction dispute letter to Chase (copy enclosed). In it, I explained that I had purchased $236 worth of meat which had been advertised as top quality, USDA Choice Black Angus Beef, but after trying a number of the selections I found that the meat was of such poor quality that some of it was literally inedible. After trying unsuccessfully for numerous days to contact the merchant for a refund or exchange, it became clear that I had been taken by a scam, and so then promptly attempted to dispute the charge through Chase's purchase protection program. Along with the dispute letter, I sent a copy of the merchant's sales brochure, which listed prices, a customer satisfaction guarantee, and a return policy.

Not long after, I received a reply from Babs Dorn, explaining that Chase could not assist me in this matter because, Regrettably, the merchant has no return policy, which was stated in your documentation. Very much to the contrary of Ms. Dorn's statement, the merchant's brochure very clearly does include a return policy, which reads as follows:

We guarantee our product 100% for tenderness, flavor, and against freezer burns. If you are unsatisfied for any reason, we will promptly replace or exchange the product. No refunds.

Apparently, when Ms. Dorn read the No refunds clause, she came to the conclusion that there was nothing else Chase should do. Granted, the merchant has a No refunds policy, but that policy is part of a legal purchase contract in which I agreed to pay for, and the merchant agreed to deliver, top quality meat. In fulfilling my purchase contract obligation, I paid the merchant $236 for the specific product he advertised and agreed to sell, but then the merchant delivered a different product of greatly inferior quality, thereby failing to meet his contractual obligation. As a result, the merchant has a legal obligation to either make good on that purchase contract, or refund the purchase price, and based on Chase's purchase protection program, I think it is very clear that Chase now has an obligation to enforce the merchant's purchase contract obligation to either deliver the agreed upon product or refund my purchase price, and failing the merchant's cooperation, Chase should simply credit my account.

If I have mistaken Chase's purchase protection program as one of merit, then I must simply state that since Chase obviously has the ability to exercise some leverage for the good of its customers (not to mention its own reputation), I think it stands to reason that Chase should simply do the right thing and act as the consumer's champion, by crediting the purchase price back to my account, and then recouping its money from the unscrupulous merchant, who would have little choice but to pay up, or risk losing credit card transaction privileges with one of the nation's largest banks.

Whether or not you agree with my argument, I'm a person of principle. I haven't bought gas from Exxon since they so prematurely and greedily washed their bloody corporate hands of the oil they spilled in Prince William Sound, Alaska, so many years ago. I will never buy gas from Exxon again, and I will also never stop telling people about their shameful behavior.

So the bottom line is really this: If Chase insists on letting criminals use its credit card services to steal from its customer, then I will begin to view Chase the way it deserves to be, as just another greedy corporate Exxon, and the next, and last correspondence Chase can expect to receive from me will be in the form of a letter demanding the closure of my account, removal from Chase's marketing list, and balance transfer checks from one of Chase's competitors for my full account balance. In addition, a copy of all documentation regarding this matter will be sent to the full list of Chase's executive offices, starting with the Director of Operations.

I wonder how Chase's executive directors will take the news that an $18,000 account, in excellent standing, earning $70 a month in interest, was forever lost over a very legitimate $236 transaction dispute.

Rhett Micheletti
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In Chase Visa's second response, they again reaffirmed their position of not reversing the charges. As a result, I immediately sent in a large payment of approximately $2,000 (so I could transfer the balance to another card that had a lower credit limit), transferred the remaining balance to one of Chase Visa's competitors, closed my Chase Visa account, and had myself removed from their marketing lists. I then wrote my last rebuttal and mailed it to all seventy (70) members of Chase Manhattan Bank's corporate officers. And yes, the postage wasn't cheap (about $50.00), but by this time it was no longer about the money.

My final rebuttal follows.

Tuesday, December 26, 2000

(manager's name):

This is not a dispute letter, so please do not forward it to your Transaction Disputes Department - I am not seeking any credit to my account. I am writing this only in the hope that you, as a member of Chase management, will be influenced by it to enact new protective policies on behalf of your company's cardholders.

I was the victim of a scam in which I purchased a very poor quality product that was marketed as being very high quality. The vendor guaranteed replacement or exchange if dissatisfied, but would never return any communications in this regard. After realizing I had been taken, I felt entitled to a full refund of the purchase price and attempted to get Chase's Customer Service Department to assist me, but was repeatedly disappointed by their hands off interpretations of Chase's transaction dispute policies. Even if the merchant's no refunds policy prevented Chase from helping me get my money back, at the very least it would seem that Chase could have persuaded the merchant to live up to the stated guarantee of replacement or exchange, but not even that was ever attempted on my behalf.

The purchase amount was a trivial $236, and honestly I couldn't care less about the money. If money was my real concern, you can be sure I would not have spent around $50.00 in postage to mail copies of this correspondence to seventy three members of Chase's management. It is simply the principle of the matter that's so important to me, and I believe it should be to Chase management as well. My contention is simply that Chase has the power (and arguably the self interest) to intervene on behalf of its customers when they are taken advantage of by unscrupulous retailers who use Chase credit card transactions to carry out their scams. As members of the very customer base upon which Chase obviously depends, I'm sure any Chase customer would agree that Chase should do nothing less for us, not to mention for its shareholders. It is simply good business. Ultimately, Chase has the power to effect a very positive change in this selfish, scam infested world, but instead is acting as a passive co-conspirator and a silent partner in crime, more loyal to dirty money, than to good people. I must say, Chase gives new meaning to the saying, The right relationship is everything. What a shame.

After being taken by the scam, and then having to deal with Chase's ever so patronizing and pompous Customer Service Department clerks, who could never consistently get my name, my gender, or the name of the scam artist's company correct, I decided that if this was the way Chase rewards it's A+ credit risk cardholders, then it deserves to be left with only the bad ones. As a result, I have since transferred my $16,0000 plus debt elsewhere, closed my Chase Visa account, and have had myself removed from all of Chase's marketing lists. For the sake of principle, rest assured that my name will never again appear on Chase's active cardholder list.

There are very few people who care about much more than themselves anymore; it seems that either selfishness or exhaustion are always the victors. I simply refuse to accept either demise for myself, and therefore have written this letter with the single purpose and hope of influencing you to protect your other customers who may also have the misfortune of meeting a scam artist who accepts Chase credit cards.

Rhett Micheletti

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As a result of my final rebuttal, I received a check in the mail for the full purchase amount. However, along with the check was a snide letter in which I was once again reminded that because of the "No Refunds" policy they did not have to refund the money, and that they only did so to demonstrate their high level of concern for their customers.

Ugh!!! Please give me a @$#%^%* break!!! I might have been born at night, but I wasn't born last night! After reading that I almost had to run to the toilet to relieve my disgusted lunch!! Luckily I managed to avoid that, and promptly marched off to the bank with my check - and a smile!!

By the way, an attorney later informed me that under the "Federal Regulation Z of the Truth in Lending Act", consumers have the right to have a charge removed from their credit card account if the purchased product or service was misrepresented. If I had known that at the time, I would have included a reference to "Regulation Z" in my first transaction dispute letter and, instead of asking for a refund, I would have demanded one.

Rhett Micheletti