Barclaycard: the audacity!

My credit card was bought out by Barclay's a month or so ago. I had to call them a few weeks ago because I returned a dress (go me!) to J Crew outlet, to which I didn't get soon enough to return it to the old card, and the credit wasn't showing up. In the same phone call, I asked the guy whether the automatic payment I had set up with the other card would go through; he said no but not to worry about it: there would be no payment due until December. Indeed, the amount due shown on my account was $0.0. So imagine my surprise when I logged in to find a late fee assessed.

I called. The Bangalorian I spoke to was all, "oh, you couldn't make your payment on time and so we assessed you a late fee" and a I was all, "bitch, I didn't make my payment on time because I never got a statement and none was available on the website, which showed no payment due." Except I didn't actually say "bitch." She kept on condescendingly explaining when the payment was due (i.e., Friday) and I kept explaining to her that I knew that now but that was not made clear to me before the actual payment was due, and that someone at Barclay's specifically told me that no payment was due before December. Finally, she said, "what would you like to for me to do regarding the late fee?" I said, "how about crediting it back, miss Mensa?" Just kidding. I said, "I would like you to credit it back." She said something along the lines of, "okay, but just this once, because you were confused because of the transition." I said, "I was confused, asshole?" Just kidding. I thanked her and let it go.

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Postscript: I apologize to the customer service people I was snippy at this weekend; you caught me on a moody weekend. By the time I have to make that call, I'm already annoyed about something, and, really, you were not listening. But that's no excuse; I shouldn't have taken a tone. If mom has taught me anything, it's that speaking more loudly and angrily is not going to make the other person take you more seriously or listen more attentively to what you're saying. I don't like to add one more crabby phone call to your day's worth (and I usually don't, regardless of the issue), so I'm sorry.