Home Depot bait and switch?

[Turbobuick]

A week ago last Saturday, while at Home Depot, my wife was told by the cashier that if she signed up for their card she could save ~$80 on her current purchases. My wife said okay. The cashier then came back and said my wife was denied and would get a reason in the mail in 10 days. I couldn't wait to see the reason as we are both over 800 fico as of last years home re-fi. The only card she has on her own is TJMaxx/Home Goods and it has no balance. 

Fast forward to today. Guess what's in the mail? Yep, my wife's HD card with $8K limit. The store saved the $80 and the cashier was probably scored another credit card offer acceptance. All my wife got was the card without the incentive at the register which she said was the only reason she applied.

I called the credit card service center and was told there was a mistake and she had been approved immediately. The agent said, "I don't want to point fingers, but there was an error made at the point of sale."  I then called the store manager and explained the situation and gave him the cashiers name in case this wasn't the first time. He apologized and offered store credit which isn't the same as $80 in cash. Told him the purpose of my call was to correct these types of errors which could be construed as a bait and switch scheme.

This was at the La Mirada, California store. Was curious if anyone else has come across something similar at HD or elsewhere?

[DarkMoonLily]

Just so you know, the cashiers have no control over the application process. If the POS denied then the POS denied. That being said, congrats to your wife on the new card. It is certainly possible that the POS made an error but again the cashier had nothing to do with it. She was just doing her job. HD Cashiers are under ALOT of pressure to hit weekly credit goals.
And since the POS denied it wont count towards her newly opened accounts numbers. I've worked as a Cashier for HD for almost 3 years now.

[Creditaddict]

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@DarkMoonLily wrote:
Just so you know, the cashiers have no control over the application process. If the POS denied then the POS denied. That being said, congrats to your wife on the new card. It is certainly possible that the POS made an error but again the cashier had nothing to do with it. She was just doing her job. HD Cashiers are under ALOT of pressure to hit weekly credit goals.
And since the POS denied it wont count towards her newly opened accounts numbers. I've worked as a Cashier for HD for almost 3 years now.

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I agree that the cashier would get nothing out of not processing the purchase on the new card if it generated a card for her... However I (being you) would have put the sale on hold and stepped over to customer service desk and had a call with credit on the spot (HD is especially great at working with their credit number if you don't have it) and they probably could have fixed whatever happened instantly and you could have used the card.

2nd though even if she was declined, you could have asked the cashier to still honor the 10% for the purchase, and if she said she couldn't, again I would have asked for a manager who could have easily... they have several pages of bar codes that are kept right at each register and 1 of those barcodes is for the 5% for using HD card, 1 is 10% off for opening HD card or for Compeitor matching of the Lowes coupon, they just scan one of those coupons and then you can pay anyway you want if it's not  the 5% for using hd card coupon your asking for.

[core]

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@DarkMoonLily wrote:
And since the POS denied it wont count towards her newly opened accounts numbers.

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Can you explain that one?  Which "newly opened accounts numbers" are you referring to?  Surely not anything to do with the CRAs.  Some HD internal thing?

[DarkMoonLily]

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@Creditaddict wrote:

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@DarkMoonLily wrote:
Just so you know, the cashiers have no control over the application process. If the POS denied then the POS denied. That being said, congrats to your wife on the new card. It is certainly possible that the POS made an error but again the cashier had nothing to do with it. She was just doing her job. HD Cashiers are under ALOT of pressure to hit weekly credit goals.
And since the POS denied it wont count towards her newly opened accounts numbers. I've worked as a Cashier for HD for almost 3 years now.

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I agree that the cashier would get nothing out of not processing the purchase on the new card if it generated a card for her... However I (being you) would have put the sale on hold and stepped over to customer service desk and had a call with credit on the spot (HD is especially great at working with their credit number if you don't have it) and they probably could have fixed whatever happened instantly and you could have used the card.

2nd though even if she was declined, you could have asked the cashier to still honor the 10% for the purchase, and if she said she couldn't, again I would have asked for a manager who could have easily... they have several pages of bar codes that are kept right at each register and 1 of those barcodes is for the 5% for using HD card, 1 is 10% off for opening HD card or for Compeitor matching of the Lowes coupon, they just scan one of those coupons and then you can pay anyway you want if it's not  the 5% for using hd card coupon your asking for.

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This as well ^ 

[DarkMoonLily]

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@core wrote:

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@DarkMoonLily wrote:
And since the POS denied it wont count towards her newly opened accounts numbers.

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Can you explain that one?  Which "newly opened accounts numbers" are you referring to?  Surely not anything to do with the CRAs.  Some HD internal thing?

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Correct. Nothing to do with the CRA. It's a HD internal thing that keeps track of how many accounts a cashier has opened in the last week, month. etc. I brought it up because the OP mentioned that the cashier probably "scored" another credit card offer acceptance which in this case it wouldn't count because it was a POS denial.

[core]

Oh, gotcha.  That makes sense now.   Hey one more thing:  Can you tell me if HD employees actually get commission from these, or is it just a "quota or ELSE" type of thing?  I had one cashier really pressing me to app one time, and I offered him a deal:  I'd sign up for the card if he split his commission with me.  He claimed he got nothing out of it.

[Creditaddict]

When I worked at Neiman Marcus they gave us four dollars for a credit app, when I worked at Dillards they gave us zero dollars but many retail companies do monthly drawings maybe for lunch or some kind of other quota but it may not be a cash bonus it might just be to keep you employed!

[Rain77]

HD is usually pretty accommodating. I use to work at Service Desk. Its usually not an issue for them to refund the purchase, then rebuy with the card & 10%. Just bring the original receipt (hopefully things haven't changed much). As far as can remember we didn't get commission for opening cards. There may have been a pin or patch and store recognition.

Congrats on the card & nice limit! For awhile they weren't spitting out limits that high.

[daybreakgonesXe]

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@Rain77 wrote:
HD is usually pretty accommodating. I use to work at Service Desk. Its usually not an issue for them to refund the purchase, then rebuy with the card & 10%. Just bring the original receipt (hopefully things haven't changed much). As far as can remember we didn't get commission for opening cards. There may have been a pin or patch and store recognition.

Congrats on the card & nice limit! For awhile they weren't spitting out limits that high.

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+1. As a former retail associate, I know the "oh, I forgot I had a coupon!" and "well, maybe I WILL open up the card..." after the sale has been completed very well Although it does take a little time, it typically is no big deal to post void and/or return the original purchase, type back in the UPCs, and then apply the 10% to use on the HD card.