topic Citi > Synchrony in Credit Cards

Citi > Synchrony

Cleaningitup2016 — Mon, 24 May 2021 20:42:39 GMT

Got a Lowe's card, supposed to have 6 months no interest on $299 and up.

Due to the way sales tax is calculated, the portable AC unit I purchased was $298.74, a mere 26 cents away.

Got 20% off my first purchase too.

Lowe's is a good hour from me, but this was the only one nearby with good reviews and adequate size.

Call Synchrony Bank (their issuer) and even after speaking with a manager, was told I would need to drive an hour+ there and an hour+ back, and have something else added to make my purchase over $299. You can't...just..code it...for the promo..? Nope...

Drive clear there...only to get told the 20% off CAN NOT be used again.

Get home, ticked, and call back, and pretty much get told where to stick it.

All that time (3.5 hours including driving and phone tag) wasted because their multi-billion dollar company would rather lose a customer over 26 cents.

On my Home Depot card, I was supposed to get $25 off my first $25 purchase. Come to find out that coupon is if you apply in-store (didn't know this at the time), called customer service, very nice lady said she would go ahead and submit to have my account credited $25.

Unbelievable night and day difference in how I was treated. Also anytime you call the number on the back of your Lowe's card, you get told in a somewhat passive-agressive automated message that pretty much says "you know, you can do this all online ya know?" No sh- that's why I'm calling...

Re: Citi > Synchrony

GrandBay — Mon, 24 May 2021 20:52:07 GMT

so if you were to return the item and repurchase the 20% off would be voided? sorry you had such a terrible experience. like you I would have driven there only to immediately regret it and wonder why I didn't call the store first.

brightside: you are much cooler now w/the portable unit!

Re: Citi > Synchrony

W261w261 — Mon, 24 May 2021 20:59:23 GMT

Was the 20% off a coupon that arrived with the card?

Re: Citi > Synchrony

Loquat — Mon, 24 May 2021 21:02:57 GMT

OP,

I don't see the issue here. The terms of the special financing are clearly spelled out. There's no ambiguity . You hit the spend threshold or you don't. You can't be shy even a cent and then cry foul because no one was willing to bend the rules. From what you describe, they didn't "wrong" you or hold up their end of the deal. If you were planning to take advantage of the special financing this is something you should have been aware of.

The same thing would happen if you took advantage of the special financing and were only one day past the promo expiration. Do you think you'd be able to call in and ask them to roll that interest back because you were only 1 day? I'll take a guess and say they probably wouldn't.

I think you have every right to be upset...I just think it's directed at the wrong folks. Citi threw you a bone...kudos to them...but that was an exception, not the rule.

Re: Citi > Synchrony

Anonymous — Mon, 24 May 2021 21:44:10 GMT

@Loquat wrote:
OP,

I don't see the issue here. The terms of the special financing are clearly spelled out. There's no ambiguity . You hit the spend threshold or you don't. You can't be shy even a cent and then cry foul because no one was willing to bend the rules. From what you describe, they didn't "wrong" you or hold up their end of the deal. If you were planning to take advantage of the special financing this is something you should have been aware of.

The same thing would happen if you took advantage of the special financing and were only one day past the promo expiration. Do you think you'd be able to call in and ask them to roll that interest back because you were only 1 day? I'll take a guess and say they probably wouldn't.

I think you have every right to be upset...I just think it's directed at the wrong folks. Citi threw you a bone...kudos to them...but that was an exception, not the rule.

This. You apparently clearly knew the spend threshold for the special financing. Why didn't you just meet it at the time of purchase. Get a screwdriver, some Windex, a light bulb, the small ticket add-on possibilities are endless.

Sorry, but they owe you nothing. This was on you. There has to be a hard stop somewhere, and it's $299. If $298.74 is close enough, does the next person that feels entitled to a break get the special financing at $298. Then, is $297.50 close enough.....

Re: Citi > Synchrony

designated_knitter — Mon, 24 May 2021 22:05:25 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Loquat wrote:
OP,

I don't see the issue here. The terms of the special financing are clearly spelled out. There's no ambiguity . You hit the spend threshold or you don't. You can't be shy even a cent and then cry foul because no one was willing to bend the rules. From what you describe, they didn't "wrong" you or hold up their end of the deal. If you were planning to take advantage of the special financing this is something you should have been aware of.

The same thing would happen if you took advantage of the special financing and were only one day past the promo expiration. Do you think you'd be able to call in and ask them to roll that interest back because you were only 1 day? I'll take a guess and say they probably wouldn't.

I think you have every right to be upset...I just think it's directed at the wrong folks. Citi threw you a bone...kudos to them...but that was an exception, not the rule.
This. You apparently clearly knew the spend threshold for the special financing. Why didn't you just meet it at the time of purchase. Get a screwdriver, some Windex, a light bulb, the small ticket add-on possibilities are endless.

Sorry, but they owe you nothing. This was on you. There has to be a hard stop somewhere, and it's $299. If $298.74 is close enough, does the next person that feels entitled to a break get the special financing at $298. Then, is $297.50 close enough.....

Heck, when I go to Lowe's or Home Despot (as I like to call them), try to get me out of there without a bunch of impulse purchases! I always used to wonder why my ex would spend so much time at the hardware store... until I had my own house and discovered power tools and hand tools! Now, I'm like a kid in a candy store there... (but I digress).

Each lender has their pluses and minuses. Lowe's cards can grow to very high limits with no hard pull. Citi-backed retail cards require a HP for a CLI. Synchrony may shut down all your cards. Citi loves to balance chase in bad times.

Its just a matter of what you care about more and whether the pluses outweigh the minuses.

Re: Citi > Synchrony

AverageJoesCredit — Mon, 24 May 2021 22:47:00 GMT

$298 is not $299 . Obviously Op knows this . Everyone likes to blame Sync for everything but in this case they did nothing wrong. I agree when making a purchase, make sure to factor in what ever discount is gotten and that total come out to the promo price. Less confusion afterwards. Hard lesson to learn , but hardest ones always easiest to remember

Re: Citi > Synchrony

Remedios — Mon, 24 May 2021 23:15:10 GMT

@Cleaningitup2016 wrote:
Got a Lowe's card, supposed to have 6 months no interest on $299 and up.
Due to the way sales tax is calculated, the portable AC unit I purchased was $298.74, a mere 26 cents away.
Got 20% off my first purchase too.
Lowe's is a good hour from me, but this was the only one nearby with good reviews and adequate size.

Call Synchrony Bank (their issuer) and even after speaking with a manager, was told I would need to drive an hour+ there and an hour+ back, and have something else added to make my purchase over $299. You can't...just..code it...for the promo..? Nope...
Drive clear there...only to get told the 20% off CAN NOT be used again.
Get home, ticked, and call back, and pretty much get told where to stick it.
All that time (3.5 hours including driving and phone tag) wasted because their multi-billion dollar company would rather lose a customer over 26 cents.

On my Home Depot card, I was supposed to get $25 off my first $25 purchase. Come to find out that coupon is if you apply in-store (didn't know this at the time), called customer service, very nice lady said she would go ahead and submit to have my account credited $25.

Unbelievable night and day difference in how I was treated. Also anytime you call the number on the back of your Lowe's card, you get told in a somewhat passive-agressive automated message that pretty much says "you know, you can do this all online ya know?" No sh- that's why I'm calling...

It looks like you're prone to "I didn't know, someone fix it for me"

Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't. It's really not about losing a customer over a few cents, it's about providing a customer with options once conditions are met, such as your $299.00 purchase that didn't happen.

They would honor their end of the bargain had you made the bargain in a first place.

But, given your signature, none of this is supposed to be a big deal.

PIF and file away.

Re: Citi > Synchrony

W261w261 — Mon, 24 May 2021 23:35:37 GMT

My bank in CT has an informal policy that they don't close promptly at 7pm, but will stay open another 10 minutes. I had a conversation with the manager once, who said about once a week, a customer complains loudly about how they got there at 7:11 and were denied access.

Re: Citi > Synchrony

Hotcoals91 — Tue, 25 May 2021 00:42:28 GMT

Yinz know what's funny is I work at lowes and I'm pretty sure you have to choose between the discount and the no interest period

Re: Citi > Synchrony

AverageJoesCredit — Tue, 25 May 2021 01:46:56 GMT

@Hotcoals91 wrote:
Yinz know what's funny is I work at lowes and I'm pretty sure you have to choose between the discount and the no interest period

Sort of like Amazon lol. Got to choose between the 5% or promo

Re: Citi > Synchrony

Cleaningitup2016 — Tue, 25 May 2021 04:43:16 GMT

@Remedios wrote:

They would honor their end of the bargain had you made the bargain in a first place.
But, given your signature, none of this is supposed to be a big deal.
PIF and file away.

You know, I'm not even 30 and customer service has gone downhill completely since I was a kid, and probably even more so if you talk to people like my grandparents who are in their 90's.

The first mistake with the entirety of phone based customer service is making a speech based prompt system, that misfires at the slightest amount of background noise, and no more "press 1 for this, press 2 for that".

Then if you even try to press 0, the system pretends it didn't understand that, or with some companies, will actually hang up on you.

So you have to keep pressing zero, which is up to 9 times with some companies, to get an actual human on the phone.

The whole psychology of it, is designed to frustrate you so you don't get connected with a live person at all, and hang up and ignore the issue. When you put it that way, the entire setup is designed to be some ridiculous gauntlet so they don't have to actually have as many people to help you.

The entire reason for my call is to talk to..someone. Then I get told, half the time, in a very passive aggressive manner by Misses roboto, something to the effect of "you can always view your account balance and make a payment on our website". Well no duh, I think anyone who has not been in a coma or living in a bunker in North Korea for the past 15+ years knows you can access this information online. This issue evades all of your text and fancy little gif's on my computer screen, I am placing a call because I need actual help from an actual person.

The second biggest mistake is farming out their call centers to other countries. Mod cut - not here, familiarize yourself with TOS.

The other issue with outsourced customer service is that there seems to be worse tenure than here in the US, because hardly anyone can provide an answer that goes beyond the scope of the phone system without needing to consult a flow-chart or ask their supervisor, which supervises over 100 people and takes a good 15 minutes to bring on the line.

Now, if I were the CEO of Synchrony, I would make sure a customer is treated fairly. This is 26 cents we are talking about. If a customer called in over spending only $275, then yes that is a bit of a different story. The problem is that these companies have become so large, that they don't want to help you, because they have millions of other people to extract money from. People tend to forget that financial institutions, specifically in regards to credit, have been sued more than probably any other type of company in the US, and numerous legislation has been passed as a result, such as the Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, the list goes on and on. Of all the legislation passed in regards to banks AT ALL, the majority has been due to credit.

So yes, I guess it was a bit naive of me to expect actual service from probably one of the most unscrupulous organizations in the entire country, short of maybe the Mafia.

Come to think of it, the only time I've ever cussed on the phone out of sheer frustration is when talking to credit card companies. My wife still has a stain on her credit from State Farm Bank because we were 3 months late, and it was more "ideal" to send it to collections rather than reduce the payments temporarily until we got caught up. Can you imagine lending your friend $150, and when he offers to give you $50 over 3 months, you just take him to court rather than have a delay?

Utility and other companies were so much more willing to work with us than banks. I don't see utility companies on a list of the most famous court cases involving corporations, I don't see piles of legislation passed with utility companies.

I wonder why this is? Oh, right, it's because they don't charge interest if you are late, few charge a late fee, and because they aren't run by people completely lacking morals and not viewing other humans as walking sacks of money.

Re: Citi > Synchrony

designated_knitter — Tue, 25 May 2021 03:16:53 GMT

@Cleaningitup2016 wrote:
@Remedios wrote:

They would honor their end of the bargain had you made the bargain in a first place.
But, given your signature, none of this is supposed to be a big deal.
PIF and file away.

So yes, I guess it was a bit naive of me to expect actual service from probably one of the most unscrupulous organizations in the entire country, short of maybe the Mafia.

wow! I guess I'll just say that if that was the worst way you've ever been treated on the phone, we need to trade lives.

Also, you better hope you never need to call the IRS, other government agencies, or cable company.

You definitely are leading a charmed life if you're this blown out over 26 cents. Next time, buy a soda and that will put you over the top.

Just curious, though... which lender is worse? Cap1 for having the temerity to make you fax proof of a dispute? Or Synchrony for not giving the special financing for a purchase that didn't qualify?

Re: Citi > Synchrony

W261w261 — Tue, 25 May 2021 03:18:53 GMT

OP, if Rage Against the Machine makes you feel better, then that can be a good thing, emotionally. Perhaps getting involved in some sort of political activity with an eye towards changing the system, if that is your wont, could make the world a better, more human place. God knows we need that. If you were 85, and remembered a world of kindly bankers and 2nd chances for small screw-ups, there is plenty of sympathy.

At age 30, less sympathy because your age group is expected to be able to cope with the computers that are running things. Actually, at age 30, your age group *is* starting to run things. There is a darker interpretive side of course, which focuses on entitlement issues and shakes its head at the "Karens" rocking along out there.

Beyond philosophy, in the financial world you'll serve yourself better by understanding the system and learning to be productive within it. That system says $298.99 is not $299.00 Just my .02

Re: Citi > Synchrony

Anonymous — Tue, 25 May 2021 04:45:16 GMT

@Cleaningitup2016 wrote:
@Remedios wrote:

They would honor their end of the bargain had you made the bargain in a first place.
But, given your signature, none of this is supposed to be a big deal.
PIF and file away.

You know, I'm not even 30 and customer service has gone downhill completely since I was a kid, and probably even more so if you talk to people like my grandparents who are in their 90's.

The first mistake with the entirety of phone based customer service is making a speech based prompt system, that misfires at the slightest amount of background noise, and no more "press 1 for this, press 2 for that".
Then if you even try to press 0, the system pretends it didn't understand that, or with some companies, will actually hang up on you.
So you have to keep pressing zero, which is up to 9 times with some companies, to get an actual human on the phone.

The whole psychology of it, is designed to frustrate you so you don't get connected with a live person at all, and hang up and ignore the issue. When you put it that way, the entire setup is designed to be some ridiculous gauntlet so they don't have to actually have as many people to help you.

The entire reason for my call is to talk to..someone. Then I get told, half the time, in a very passive aggressive manner by Misses roboto, something to the effect of "you can always view your account balance and make a payment on our website". Well no duh, I think anyone who has not been in a coma or living in a bunker in North Korea for the past 15+ years knows you can access this information online. This issue evades all of your text and fancy little gif's on my computer screen, I am placing a call because I need actual help from an actual person.

The second biggest mistake is farming out their call centers to other countries. Mod cut - not here, familiarize yourself with TOS.

The other issue with outsourced customer service is that there seems to be worse tenure than here in the US, because hardly anyone can provide an answer that goes beyond the scope of the phone system without needing to consult a flow-chart or ask their supervisor, which supervises over 100 people and takes a good 15 minutes to bring on the line.

Now, if I were the CEO of Synchrony, I would make sure a customer is treated fairly. This is 26 cents we are talking about. If a customer called in over spending only $275, then yes that is a bit of a different story. The problem is that these companies have become so large, that they don't want to help you, because they have millions of other people to extract money from. People tend to forget that financial institutions, specifically in regards to credit, have been sued more than probably any other type of company in the US, and numerous legislation has been passed as a result, such as the Truth in Lending Act, the Fair Credit Billing Act, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, the list goes on and on. Of all the legislation passed in regards to banks AT ALL, the majority has been due to credit.

So yes, I guess it was a bit naive of me to expect actual service from probably one of the most unscrupulous organizations in the entire country, short of maybe the Mafia.

Come to think of it, the only time I've ever cussed on the phone out of sheer frustration is when talking to credit card companies. My wife still has a stain on her credit from State Farm Bank because we were 3 months late, and it was more "ideal" to send it to collections rather than reduce the payments temporarily until we got caught up. Can you imagine lending your friend $150, and when he offers to give you $50 over 3 months, you just take him to court rather than have a delay?

Utility and other companies were so much more willing to work with us than banks. I don't see utility companies on a list of the most famous court cases involving corporations, I don't see piles of legislation passed with utility companies.

I wonder why this is? Oh, right, it's because they don't charge interest if you are late, few charge a late fee, and because they aren't run by people completely lacking morals and not viewing other humans as walking sacks of money.

Quite a rant there! On a few points, utility companies are now highly regulated, partly because they are generally their services are much more essential than a credit card. And partly because of bad behavior in the past has motivated states to pass these protections. Which is not to say you won't find lots of complaints about utilities. These companies are not more human oriented, just more regulated.

I think for most of us here, being 90 days late does indeed merit "a stain on your credit". They want their money as you agreed. The friend analogy is a little strained, if you borrowed enough from a friend and didn't pay on time, the friend may or may not take legal action, but might well tell other people about it, which is the function of the late on the credit report.

I am always suspicious of "service was wonderful X years ago" Apart from the case this wasn't true for large segments of the population, now I can do so many things myself that were impossible in those times, with the help of this thing called the Web. Having phone trees is, IMO, a small price to pay

Re: Citi > Synchrony

Remedios — Tue, 25 May 2021 04:03:13 GMT

My turn to rant

This thread has run it's course more times than a cat on enhanced catnip.

The end