"The Debit Card"

And the everyday changes continue...

To purchase a health drink supplement at  a discount for my mother and myself, I enrolled as a distributor in the company's "network marketing" sales distribution system.  This allows the purchase of four bottles of the product for $152 or $38 per bottle with shipping, instead of the retail price of $53 per bottle.  To be an "active" distributor, you are required to pay $25 per year ($2 per month).  In the "network marketing" way, if you sign up distributors below you, the company pays tabulated monthly commission.  In order to be paid this commission you are required to have at least four bottles per month "auto-shipped" and "auto-billed" to you, for the monthly investment of $154 with the factored annual fee.   A team of two enthusiastic individuals signed up below me, and they have a line of fourteen distributors below them.  The result of this minimum of $2,464 per month sales volume of my team, is a monthly commission of $12 to $15!  I certainly will not retire on this income, but the receipt of the check lowered my per bottle cost to S37.75!   

I paid my annual renewal $25,  and then I went to the mailbox and received a thick envelope.  Inside was a debit/credit card  from the supplement company.  I was about to throw it out, but instead I read the enclosed materials...From now on the monthly commission was to be "loaded" into this card that could be theoretically used for cash or merchandise.  My $13.75 commission for that month was now loaded in this card.  Further reading showed that the card had a $3 per month associated "maintenance" fee if not used.  I e-mailed the company to say that this did not make sense and that I didn't want this card....I wanted the check to be mailed, but this was no longer an option.  Instead, I could go online and switch my commission payment for the next, and consecutive months, to "automatic deposit" into my checking account by providing that institution's routing number.  I did this, and asked how to cancel the card so as to avoid the $3 per month fee plus interest on the "inactive" debit card.  In order cancel it after taking out my $13.75, I was told that I could go to Bank of America, and avoid a $5 "card activation" charge!

I drove to a local branch at lunch on a workday, and was told to first call the card 800-number to  "activate" it.  This took 10 minutes with the post press "1" for English, "prompts" phone answering "merry go round"!  Per the instructions, I then pressed another number to be given an available balance of $13.75.  When the bank tried to cash out the card for the $13.75, it was rejected.  The bank instructed me to call the card's "Customer (Dis)Service" Number.  For the next 20 minutes, I was on this now, eight-option "press around", with no prompt that took me to a person!  Not even the old standby of "pressing zero" multiple times worked!  I called back again and got a person by following the lost or stolen card path!  She got me to another person who said the card rejected the transaction because the balance had been reduced to $8.75 due to the activation charge! 

So I stood in the teller line (with the lunch crowd) to withdrawal the $8.75.  The manager approached and said that since the card had been rejected, bank policy would not allow it to be used as a debit card again!  

Infuriated, I called the 800 number again, and quickly went to lost or stolen cards!  I said that this whole experience was ridiculous, and that all I wanted to do now was get the cash out and cancel the card before I got more card charges,  to which she replied that I sounded unpleasant while she was trying to be polite, and that she would hang up!  Prior to that she informed that my only option now was to go to  a Walmart (another 15 minutes away) and use the checks that were mailed with the card to withdrawal the $8.75 without an additional transaction fee!

So during the next day's lunch I drove to Walmart with my checks, and went to the customer service desk.  They informed that they could not cash the check unless I had obtained a card issuing company authorization number and a balance confirmation.  I related that this was not a phone "press around option", and that I gave up!  The manager said to try to swipe the card and enter my card pin number...I did and success, the register showed $8.75, and I was given the cash!

From the car, I called the card company lost or stolen division again, and they routed me to a card cancellation agent.  She reported that after removing the $8.75 from the $8.75 balance, there was now $1.75 remaining in the account.   The card would not be able to be canceled for 120 days from the request!  Sooooo...I continued..."Four months at $3 per month unused service charges, plus overdraft interest because of the $12 trying to be taken from the now $1.75 balance...and four months of card over drafting would then be a report of "bad credit risk" to the three credit agencies, on a here-to-fore unblemished credit record...I'm ruined because the supplement company decided that they could save postage by not mailing commission checks...am I understanding this correctly????"..."Of course not, we the debit card company are here for you...we wouldn't think of doing that!!!"