Hecht's -- unwanted charge and delay on credit card refund

Hecht's -- unwanted charge and delay on credit card refund

Hecht's Department Store (The May Department Store) 11160 Veirs Mill Road Wheaton, MD. 20902

On June 23, 2005, I selected several items for purchase at the Origins Cosmetic counter in Hecht's. When the saleswoman gave me a total of $105, I decided it was more than I could spend, so BEFORE I GAVE HER MY CREDIT CARD, I told her I did not want to purchase all the items.

She then rang up the items I did want, $37.80 worth, I signed the charge receipt listing that amount, and didn't think about it again -- until I received a notice from my bank dated June 27, stating that they had charged me a $30 fee for clearing a $100 check to my dentist. Now I had purposely written the $100 check on an account that I knew would have about $200 available on the date of deposit, so I immediately called my bank to find out what in the world could have happened.

This is what I learned: 1. Although I had vetoed the $105 purchase before even giving her my credit card, the Hecht's salewoman went ahead and charged my credit card $105 for products I specifically said I did not want. She then charged another $37.50 on my credit card for the products I did want. 2. The saleswoman did refund the $105 back to my card, presumably that same day (6/23/05*); however, $105 remained "on hold" for Hecht's until 6/27/05.

So, although I had an actual total of $192 in my checking account on the day the $100 check was deposited, because of Hecht's only $92 was available. My bank covered the check, but charged me a $30 fee. *I didn't know she made the charge in the first place, so I did not ask for a receipt for either the charge or for the refund and I have no way of knowing when the refund was actually done. I called Hecht's and spoke to to a Customer Service agent. When I explained the situation, the agent's first reaction was "That doesn't make any sense, the $105 should have been credited back to your account on the spot." -- really, that's EXACTLY what she said!

But a supervisor or someone must have poked her in the ribs, because she very quickly transferred me to someone who answered "Vice President" (I know, I should have been getting names, but I was so irate I wasn't thinking). I told my story again, and this time the response was "There's nothing at all we can do.

Store policy is that refunds take up to seven days." Not even "Sorry , there's nothing....," much less "Gee, we hope you'll continue to shop with Hecht's even though the combination of a misstep on the part of one of our staff members plus our unusually long hold policy** caused your bank to charge you a $30 fee." (**I've received credit card refunds and processed them at work; seven days is definitely an unusually long time) It's well known in the Washington, DC area that Hecht's customer service is lousy and that billing errors are their specialty, so I guess I was just courting danger using anything but cash at a Hecht's.... I won't make the same mistake again!

Rachel

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Comment On This

What are you doing spending $37 on cosmetics when you only have a couple hundred dollars in your checking account? Those kinds of decisions are the reason you don't have any cushion in your account and bounce checks.