How to make a Macy's customer distressed and uncomfortable.

[unzeugmatic]

Apparently Macy's now contracts out its credit management to one company, and it contracts out its check approval management to another, and both companies seem to have it as their goal to be sure Macy's not only doesn't sell any merchandise but upsets its customers as well so that they will be uncomfortable returning to the store. I had the most

Comments

[unzeugmatic]

This isn't really a consumer affairs issue, though -- there's nothing in particular I lost or need to recover or was cheated over. We did get it settled. My horror at having my check denied is in a different category -- the store is not obligated to accept my check, but to deny it for something this stupid is just bad business sense.

The issue I think is more the strange relationship between Macy's and the companies they hire here. A department store card used to be for that store -- outsourcing it as a general Visa card must have been an attempt to make money on it, but it makes it no longer a company card. A department store would not be closing down your account at that store quite so readily.

And the check approval crap -- that's just piss-poor service. Obviously the credit approval company thinks that its purpose is to prevent fraud, even at the cost of alienating customers who are not being fraudulent. A department store can't afford to alienate its non-fraudulent customers quite so cavalierly, though -- and might want to balance things slightly differently. But really, all we're talking about here is trying to figure out what the problem is, not trying to loosen the standards of check approval.

[chrishansenhome]

I suppose that you're right, but piss-poor customer service, even if the end result is satisfactory to the consumer, is a subject for concern for the company. Writing the CEO and telling him or her about your poor experience may impel him, especially if others have expressed the same sentiments, to review the arrangements for the company's credit cards and cheque approval. Writing the newspapers, especially with such an interesting story of frustration, may gain some negative publicity which will have the same effect on the company.

Hardly any store in the UK will take a cheque nowadays; by 2018 the banks intend to phase out cheques entirely.