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- Newsgroups: misc.consumers
- Path: sparky!uunet!decwrl!world!carols
- From: carols@world.std.com (Carol Springs)
- Subject: Re: Purchase in home state (was Re: Citibank Horror Story)
- Message-ID: <Brx36K.ADp@world.std.com>
- Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
- References: <63387@hydra.gatech.EDU> <JDAVIDSO.92Jul16220520@alfred.teknowledge.com> <1992Jul20.170235.11351@cs.ucla.edu>
- Distribution: usa
- Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 23:42:19 GMT
- Lines: 46
-
- In article <1992Jul20.170235.11351@cs.ucla.edu> wales@CS.UCLA.EDU (Rich
- Wales) writes:
-
- >I have two VISA cards, and when I called their respective customer serv-
- >ice lines and asked about this, I got two conflicting interpretations.
-
- >The person I talked to at Citibank said a mail- or phone-order purchase
- >is considered to have been made at the location where the company is.
-
- >The person I talked to at Wells Fargo Bank (a major California bank)
- >said such a purchase is considered to have been made at the buyer's home
- >address.
-
- >Has anyone out there actually gone through this process when the company
- >in question was in another state?
-
- Sure. In my own case, my credit union VISA account was credited for the
- out-of-state mail-order charge. The company then tried to bill me directly
- for the merchandise I'd never received and no longer wanted, but I got that
- straightened out pretty quickly.
-
- However, this doesn't answer your underlying question. Did VISA do this
- because it was required to by law, or just out of the goodness of its
- li'l corporate heart? I can see how they might want to interpret the
- law liberally, or go beyond the letter of the law as a matter of policy,
- if doing so means better customer relations and fewer people nervous
- about doing mail order using the card.
-
- In any case, I can't emphasize enough that you should *write* to the credit
- card company when you have a problem and need credit, if you want to protect
- your rights and be assured of some sort of action. (The "action" might be a
- letter saying you haven't pursued the problem enough with the merchant on
- your own, but you should at least get a response.) Calling is fine, but
- follow up with a letter within 60 days of receiving the original bill.
- Enclose photocopies of any proof of your (fruitless) attempts to get
- satisfaction from the merchant. Refer to the charge by amount and reference
- number, and tell them why it should be credited.
-
- I think this thread started with someone's story of waiting for a certain
- form from a credit card company after his initial call, never getting the
- form, then later being told it was too late to pursue the matter further.
- Write, don't wait.
-
-
- --
- Carol Springs carols@world.std.com
-