Financial Vindication: Washington Mutual

I called WaMu and requested a refund, for the second time. Credit cards are a pain to negotiate with when you owe a balance. The main reason, besides the fact that they OWN you, is that at you can't cancel till it's paid, so threatening to do so when you have a large balance is not taken seriously.

Threatening to cancel services is unfortunately the only way to get anything done sometimes. When I worked in CS, I felt really bad for the happy go lucky non-argumentative friendly people because they never got any special treatment... and in my opinion, they deserved it more than the angry screaming individuals.

This time I had my balance paid down to zero and said (basically) "You can credit the 10$ finance charge or you can canel my card".

Amy, who answered my call, reversed the charge instantly and without any hassle. I had the distinct feeling that if I'd gotten her the first time, instead of Shameka, I probably wouldn't have had to make this call. Even where companies have uniform procedure, there can be a wide difference in how each CSR handles problems.

Now I still have the card.