CITIFINANCIAL - appliance pruchase in full 21 days before 'same as cash' due date - still charged fees

# 44 for May 22, 2002

Complaints.com received the following consumer message on May 21, 2002:

From: Email User

RE: CITIFINANCIAL - appliance pruchase in full 21 days before 'same as cash' due date - still charged fees

ON November 18, I purchased a dishwasher from a local store, O'Malley's Appliance. They offered me a 90 Days Same as Cash plan through Cityfinancial Retail Services. On the form I signed, it statesd "If you pay the cash sales price of the purchase by the expiration date of the Same As Cash period of 90 days, as indicated on your monthly statement, no Finance Charges will be due on the purchase. I made full payment to Cityfinancial in January (21 days before the due date).

Cityfinancial started sending me bills in January charging me with "late fees". I immediately went back to O'Malley's Appliance Store and asked them to clear up the matter. I called Cityfinancial to clear up the problem. They told me to contact the O'Malley's Appliance Store. O'Malley's tell me that they can't do anything about it to call Cityfinancial. All in all, I've called Cityfinancial 5 times, written them 2 times,and called the appliance store 3 times.

Every month the late due bills keep arriving. Today, another threatening letter came from Cityfinancial. They now say I owe them $108.18 in late fees. They say they have closed my account and my failure to pay the late fees continues to adversely affect my credit standing. All this for a bill I paid in full three weeks before it was due! This entire experience seems crazy.

I will NEVER deal with either Cityfinancial or O'Malley's Appliance again. I feel abused by a firm that is suppose to be reputable.