Today I found out I was late on my credit card and there were late fee $39 and purchase interest fee $13 posted on my account already. $52 bucks is not big but definitely not small. It almost costs as much as my favorite game FIFA WC 2010. Given that I’ve spent such amount of bones on the game, I decided to take it back. I called the 888 number.
A guy with a machine voice picked up my call. I said “Hello??” twice to make sure it’s a human being on the other end. First I asked why I got those fees, pretending I was innocent. Then the “machine” guy explained it pretty well, well enough to make me doubt myself why I’m making this stupid call. I was kind of shy at that time, but finally, I asked,
- “Can you waive the interest fee? Or even the late fee?” (shyness…)
- “Since this is the first time you’re late, I can waive the fee. But I can only waive either one of two, which one would you like me to waive”? (actually, this is NOT the first time I’m late… But I know, people do things for good cause)
- “En… how about the late fee?” (cause it’s $39!!)
- “Ok, you’ll see $39 back on your next statement.”
- @#!~& (connection was bad, and my iPhone showed “Call Failed”)
To my surprise, it was easy to get my money back. But it was not clear that he said so. So I called back again. This time it was a nice and probably young guy. I felt I should go straight to the point, and I did that. The young guy gave me positive confirmation. Ok, good, mission completed. Wait, how about the $13 interest fee? Then I made bold to [斗胆] ask:
- “Can I also get the interest fee back?”
- (me again) “You know, I always pay my card on time, and this is actually the first time I see the interest fee.”
- “Ok, I’ll waive the fee.. blah blah”
To my surprise again, it was easy to get the interest fee back. I’m feeling good now, not because I get the money back, but also there is a Lesson Learned:
Next time you get charged for a fee on your credit card, do NOT email or feel bad, call them and ask for the money back.
Be brave.