Fee Scam - Credit Card Holders Beware!

ComplaintsBanksAdvanta Bank

Complaint

0
ImagiNet Computers
Country: United States
DO not do any business with Advanta!  I have been a loyal credit card member for years and always paid my monthly balances in full each month.  I never carried a balance! NO INTEREST OR FEES – Ever!  In July 2007 I went to pay my bill on-line….. THEIR WEB SITE WAS DOWN!!!  The credit card was for my business and with a tight schedule I always paid via their web for the ease and convenience.  The bill was due that day, I could not make the payment, and did not have the time to call them or try later that day or maybe the next day. I wanted to make the payment now and could not because someone at Advanta botched a web update.  

The Advanta Story from their site: “At Advanta, our focus is on small businesses, and no one knows the needs of small business like we do. Started in 1951 with $30 in seed money in founder Jack Alter's spare bedroom, Advanta has grown into one of the nation's largest providers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) of business credit cards to small businesses, without forgetting what it is like to be a small or start-up business.”  OK, Yeah right!  Don’t bend over anytime soon because it’s 2007 and you will pay for that seed and growing out of your ass!

When I called (now after the due date) the customer service representative told me he was aware of the problem and told me I could make a payment today over the phone and I did in full as always.  I asked him (more than once) if I would be charged for the phone payment and a late fee and he assured me that our conversation would be documented and that I should not have a problem.  OK

Well, I received my next statement and I had a charge for $12.00 for a phone payment service fee and a $39.00 late fee.  I figured no problem, I would call Advanta and they would see the notes from my last call and credit me for their error.  WEB SITE DOWN!  I was told that they have credited me for a late fee in the past and they can not and will not waive the late fee but will remove the phone payment fee.  Yippee, I wanted to jump for joy but thought the seed I mentioned earlier might fall out and it would smell like the BULL [***] that Advanta has grown to be!   Bogus Fees and Charges for their web outage and forget me the small business customer “as their founder focused on?”.   Advanta would rather focus on charging you fees for their loss in interest and/or loose you as a customer.  The Advanta Story – SCAM YOU OUT OF YOUR MONEY!  Advanta Customer service?  NO, IT DOES NOT EXIST! No such department.

Comments

  • 0
    Dr. Griggs
    Right On! to the previous poster.

        I was a loyal customer for years and never missed a payment, either.   Then I bought some software that didn't work.   I returned it to the vendor, who refused it.   I refused to pay for it and cited three pages of the software's and vendor's failings to Advanta.   Their response was that I had to find other dissatisfied customers before they would credit my account.   That is impossible.   Do you think the vendor is going to give me a list of his dissatisfied customers?
        I paid the bill and learned to live with the software, which still sucks.   Advanta charged me interest and a late fee for not paying for the software until the next month.  I paid that, too.
        Months later I cancelled a monthly service 10 days before the end of the credit card cycle--plenty of time for the service to reverse its monthly charges.   An Advanta rep told me on the phone they had talked to the service and the service agreed to credit back my account the following month.   They subsequently refused to do that and Advanta refused to credit back my account, too, despite what Advanta told me.   I didn't pay that bill, figuring the service would come to their senses, but when they didn't, I was into another billing cycle with more interest and late fees.   Advanta refused to reverse either.   I paid the bill and closed the account, vowing never again to do business with Advanta.
        My conclusion is that they are vendor oriented, not consumer oriented.   They have arbitrary rules that do not fit reality.   They are inflexible.   I'm not.   I now have other credit cards.   I suggest anyone who reads this take this to heart.   You won't know just how bad these people are until you really need them.  In a word, Advanta is AWFUL.
  • 0
    FanCom
    I also trusted Advanta for my small business just to see them cheat me our of money.  I opened the account only to have a source of quick cash if I needed a short term loan.  When the time came that I did need cash, I called Advanta to see what my limit was.  The recording told me my balance was zero and I could charge up to $5k or write a credit check for $5k.  So I wrote a check for $5k and when the statement came it showed a penalty of $39 assessed because I went over my limit.  I called Advanta and the rep. explained that the service fee for writing the checks was applied which brought me over the $5k limit.  I told him that I purposely called to avoid doing anything wrong and I followed Advanta instructions exactly.  I asked how then I could possibly be penalized for doing what they instructed?  He agreed and refunded the penalty.  The following month I received my statement and it showed the refund, but then it was reassessed a couple of weeks later.  I called again because I had paid $1k (far more than the minimum) so it was impossible to have been penalized a second time.  But this time I found that the penalty that was waived by the first rep. was put back in place by his supervisor and they refused to refund the money.  This is fraud - plain and simple.  Consumer Fraud.  Advanta purposely tells its customers that they can charge to a specific amount, but then penalizes them when they do.  This is one bad, bad company!  I paid off this company in full and closed my account.  I also have complained to the Illinois Attorney General and I am devoting 10 hours per month blogging about how bad this company is.  I am a syndicated feature writer and I simply cannot sit by and watch predatory companies like this attack hard working Americans and get away with it.  Advanta epitomizes everything evil about big business and the banking business in America.
  • 0
    Mr. B
    Beware Advanta. I have to send them my payments by certified mail after I sent them a payment MORE a week before it was due. It posted the day after it was due (very strange). Calls to them were fruitless. The postal lady said it was very strange that it took so long to go to a P.O. Box in a major city (Philadelphia). She stated that if I sent payments by certified mail, the USPS could certify the date and time it was placed in the P.O. Box. I would rather pay the postal service the certified fee to make sure that those PIRATES at Advanta do not get another cent of BOGUS late fees.
  • 0
    no fool like an old fool
    I to had a credit card with Advanta for several years with no problem.  Then all of a sudden I missed a payment.  OH MY *%##* (need I say more)!!!  I have an excelent credit score and this is the first time this happened.  My rate then went from a 2.9% to 37.9% with a $460 late fee!!!!!!!  I also called with no mercy and then asked for my balance payoff and got rid of the crooks.  Then they send me another bill for an additional $177 interest.  I will never give them anymore money.  They are scamming good decent people because they know they will pay.  It's not people with poor credit that they are targeting.  BEWARE OF THEIR FRAUD!

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