whar8

Yep. I have had problems with Foot Locker in New York City. I reported like crazy and natually my card issuer was of no help. I don't shop there anymore. City Sports opened a nice location and new store and it is soooo much more pleasant in there. Too bad seems there was no corporate wide follow-up. I know I did email their customer service seperatley and they seemed to know what to do.

I think HSBC is more stingy than most other issuers. This is on a relative basis.

Zip code is permitted as part of AVS (Address Verfication) for US only. I forget all the details but the MA merchant guide book has a nice and simple to understand section on it. Though I do find some use it for survey purposes and it is random and others it is a fraud prevention technique.

"My card issuer mysteriously has figured out how to process complaints." Love that! Who is your issuer and what are the magic words?

I got the Saks World Elite MasterCard letter too. December I think is the active date. I don't get it though this is a premium card -- the Amerprise World Elite Card interets is like 5 or 6% or something! I understand card issuers have to reprice but for supposedly thier best customers is a bit of turn off on this product again. Could they leave out thier WE card and just adjust on the Platinum Saks? Also the Retail Saks store chargee is always high -- but it does not cost them anywhere near 22% to fund balance carries. That rate is never increased or decreased (unless defualt of course). HSBC stinginess again! Anyways, it does not matter to me as I carry no balance.

Saks MA account is not automatic for me and no form on website. Soft I think every 6 months but is measly. A request for more required a manual review and I think a hard and still was measly not at all sufficient for someone who they target for this card.

Lol. I have security/fraud alerts on my credit reports and to increase my store CL I was asked for my DL number and other info by phone on the spot. To increase my MasterCard CL I was told it would be manual. They are supposed to call a number I provide on the credit report when placing the alert on it, but I never get one. It might be only for new credit apps not changes to existing credit lines. But I do think this give hiccups to the computer model.

try disputing the charge with your credit card provider and watch how fast that will change when they get a few chargebacks. I have to have a line item transaction in order to report a merchant violation to my issuer. Even then they do not 1. give an immediate credit during investigation and 2. rarely rule in my favor thus I suspect the merchant never gets a chargeback as I never got a credit. Is a statement credit a good proxy for a merchant chargeback and getting them to perk up. What issuer is this? Maybe they themselves need to be reported to VISA. In any case, call 1-800-VISA-911 and report them. I concur. HSBC - they are clueless

try disputing the charge with your credit card provider and watch how fast that will change when they get a few chargebacks. I have to have a line item transaction in order to report a merchant violation to my issuer. Even then they do not 1. give an immediate credit during investigation and 2. rarely rule in my favor thus I suspect the merchant never gets a chargeback as I never got a credit. Is a statement credit a good proxy for a merchant chargeback and getting them to perk up.

Fascinating! I will note Customer Service/Care for this card is abysmal. Is it a World Elite or a Platinum? World Elite offers no pre-set spending limit even though they have credit lines. Though you must pay in full the amount over the credit line when the statement comes due. It took two phone transfers to get someone there who knew about this feature. No over the limit fees either with this benefit and Mastercard World Elite. I just did a CLI with them too in conjunction with inquiring about this benefit. Do keep us updated!

That is so crazy. When I call my bank they insist they can do nothing and to call Visa or MasterCard. The thing is I never let the transaction go through at the merchant if I suspect a violation so I have no line item charge to dispute with my bank and thus likely thier response-- are they telling me they want me to follow the merchants rules of a $10 minimum for example, approve of that by signing my reciept and taking my merchandise and then dispute after the fact when I already out $10 or more with stuff I did not even want to buy and they have signed reciepts by me with my intention to follow through on my cardholder agreement!?!?!?! There has got to be a better system.

HSBC used to have mine at 40% of CL, then moved to 25% for no reason at all and all prior to this economic mess. I don't use it anyways, but like to know I have it there is case of an emergency. Can you even withdraw 10k from one ATM on one day? And all of the sudden my "fraud alert" calls due to temporary holds are spiked ti every 4-6 weeks. They blame the merchant. Yeah, right. I dont use any other card and no changes in credit at all.

I find all HSBC reps - email and phone - to be ignorant. I wonder how they even qualified and keep thier jobs. They do not provide high quality service -- even for thier best high end card customers. Seems like to me you had a pretty good argument and the rep did not have negotiation skills.

I don't like having to give my personal info to them during the report. Don't they mail you a letter afterwards? How do we remain anonymous when reporting a violation? This is why I like the MasterCard online form -- you can use abbrevated names and generic/spam email addresses.

I have had similar run around with Chase. They told me that merchant can require a minimum charge. I was even asked if I work for MasterCard becuase I was so adamant at the rule. Now I report violations via email to issuer (and card network) and it goes around and around and around in the Phillipines and sometime the answer is just too funny like they never get what I even asked or reported. (We updated your account with the information you provided. Your account reflects the same.) 1. Clear language barrier and 2. I never used the word update in my original message. Fascinating. I continue to find that the merchant or billing dispute department is the best thing to ask for first of those front line reps as they regulary laise with MA and V and the merchant's processor, but they have to go by the book and the first step is to have the transaction data or they cannot proceed. Shocking. I always see Deb Walden, Executive VP Customer Experience Chase Card Services, on all these messages to Chase cardholders. Might be worth sending the merchant violation addressed to her and not even detailing how incompent her call centers are. HSBC is the same way -- around and around and around finally telling me to call MasterCard. Citi seems to get it more so than Chase and HSBC -- though no assurances they even follow-up. All of them say to contact MA or V - but both tell us to contact our issuer -- someone is messed up in the communication. Keep us posted. It might be fun if we all ask Chase simple questions like: "May a merchant impose a surcharge when I present a valid Chase card for payment?" or "Can a store require a minimum purchase amount in order to allow me to use my Chase card to pay?" It might be hilarious what replies we get. Then we can reply -- FALSE, gotcha!