Complaint Review: Comenity Bank - columbus ohio

I had a bad experience with this bank from the moment I applied. None of that is related directly to this complaint, but because of that series of terrible customer service experiences I only made one purchase on the new card, then paid it off in full, with no intention of ever using the card again. This is where the actual complaint and bogus charges come in... 

I received an email in early July that clearly went out to all cardholders saying they knew they'd been having site access issues, and they were therefore extending the due date for everyone since a lot of people had been having trouble logging in to make their payments. I was sure I'd already paid it off in full, but I figured better safe than sorry, so I took a peek and what do you know--I had a balance of $7.77.

So, part of the bad experience that made me never intend to use the card again was that Torrid themselves are also pretty awful, and they take forever to ship. So honestly, I just assumeed that $7.77 charge was a straggler pair of panties, since they shipped things in multiple packages over weeks.

I figured I'd gotten lucky with that site glitch, and had avoided a late fee since I didn't know I had a balance. So I paid it, and knew now I was definitely done with them. For sure.

A month or so later, I decided it was silly to keep the card at all, and I'd just close it out. I went to the website and pulled up my account. I had ANOTHER $7.77 charge, marked LATE FEE. Meaning that last $7.77 was the same--a late fee charged on a zero balance. There was also a $1 minimum finance charge on the late fee on the zero balance. I was understandably livid.

I was outside customer service hours, so I had to wait. I called when they were open, again logging into the account first. By then, the late fee had been reversed; I assumed that meant others had called and complained and they'd realized they charged it on everyone in error. That finance charge was still there, though, leaving me with a 97 cent balance. 

I told the rep, who was clearly following a script and had very strict wording she had to use for all of her responses (lots of repeat "I'm sorry you had that inconvenience" and "Thank you for that information"), that I wanted to close the card immediately. I also pointed out that the 97 cent balance showing wasn't valid, nor was the late fee I'd paid the month prior.

I didn't press the issue of that balance very hard, though--I knew it would probably be pointless, and I figured it was worth the price to learn the lesson of NEVER dealing with this bank again. She said she'd close the card, and didn't say a word about the balance. I had to ask. I asked what about the 97 cents, and she acted like it was the most random thing in the world that I'd want to pay off a card I was closing.

So she took my debit card number, which I was nervous about giving her. She then said it was going to charge me one dollar. I assumed the system was rounding up because of the minimum charge thing.

I pointed out, again, that the 97 cents was already an invalid amount, and that now she was wanting to charge me another 3 cents on general principle just to round up? She said "yes," as though it was the most reasonable thing in the world. I said fine, whatever, I just want done with this.

She ran the charge and then said "oh, it's only charging you 97 cents," and sounded baffled as to why. I rolled my eyes. Then she read her big, long disclaimer about the charge, and read it back as 97 DOLLARS. I stopped her, she fixed that, and started over reading it again.

That was probably just because I'm sure she's never dealt with an amount less than a dollar before and just spoke out of habit, but I do have to wonder if they'd have charged me 97 dollars if I hadn't caught that.

But she charged me the 97 cents, then told me the card was closed. That was Friday. On Wednesday, I got an email saying my statement was ready, and that my current balance was... you guessed it... $8.77, due 9/3.

So I called back, and this time I demanded they reverse ALL the bogus late fees and refund me. The rep said gee, can't do that. I demanded a manager. I never got to actually speak to that manager, but the rep eventually came back and said the manager had removed the late fee. Note, nothing about refunding the previous ones. She said I could check the site in 7-10 business days to confirm.

So now, I'm waiting to see if they really removed the balance, and if they've actually closed the card. I can't keep fighting them every month, but I can't just ignore them and let them report me to credit bureaus for not paying. Absolutely unbelievable business practices.