Thursday, June 28, 2007

I Hate Advanta!


A few months ago I bothered checking what sort of cash payback I was receiving from my Advanta Business Credit Card and it was so pitiful (.05% of my expenditures), I went credit card shopping. At that point I decided to close my Advanta, but previously you had to wait until the last charges came through, so I dutifully waited. And then I blew it. Because I wasn't actively using the credit card anymore, I stuck the bill on a pile, thinking there was nothing on it. I had forgotten about AUTOMATIC payments, and incurred a $39 late charge. I closed the account that minute, and discovered you apparently can close a credit card any old time; there had been no need to wait. Then the kicker. I had $29 in my cashback account, which they would not send me, because they will only issue checks for over $50. Of course it's written in 6 point type in the agreements, and they just kept repeating that over and over again, when I suggested they could at least have the customer service decency to credit it towards my extorted late payment. But no, they "cannot" do this.
I think being a customer service rep for a company like this - which gives them no leeway to use their common customer service sense - must just be hell. At least I can vent some steam on my blog. They have to treat customers like this all day long. When I told my husband the story he said it's not really customer service, it's Customer Disservice. "Welcome to Advanta. May I diss you?"
Yuch. That's what I have to say! And, watch your rear on automatic payments!

20 comments:

Ryan said...

watch out, if you know you have an incentive you will find yourself using credit even when you have the cash also in your pocket.

Anonymous said...

Your husband is right, for sure! Every time I notice any disrespect to me as a customer, I leave this company forever! Luckily, there are a lot of credit card offers!

Mikey's Blog said...

ADVANTA is the DEVIL! Your experience is very common to those dealing with this wretched credit card company.

Let me share my experience with Advanta as well.

The Truth About Advanta --The Worst CC Company!

ADVANTA SUCKS! They are the worst Credit Card Company. Please do not be allured into their promotional offers. It all sounds so good but they can not back it up and their customer service is horrible.

Here is my story:
I opened an Advanta account at 0% APR for balance transfers for 15 months. I took out the maximum I could and was making the minimum payment each month. Well one particular month I logged onto the website like normal to pay my bill except for the website was down and would not let me pay. I tried logging on a few days later but the website was still down. I called Advanta trying to make a payment but they only work 8am-5pm and after 5pm all you get are worthless machines. The purpose of online banking is to take care of your account after business hours, right? (Online banking with Advanta is severely handicapped) Finally on a Saturday I was able to login and make my payment but my payment would not go through until the next business day and by that time the payment was one day late!

One day late meant that I was dropped from all their promotional offers, I was charged a late fee and an I was charged a finance charge. I called them on two different occasions to have them re-instate me in my promotional and to refund the fees. Both times they said they would make a claim and get back to me. They NEVER got back to me! I called a third time to find out the status of my request. By this time another payment period had passed and another finance charge was added to the bunch. I was told by one Enrique Meadows at 18007057255 Ext 7407 that my claims had been denied and that I was responsible for all charges. He said they tried to contact me on one occasion, but apparently they don't know how to leave a voice mail. He was very rude and forceful and he enjoyed his ounce of power while he paraded around calling himself an "Account Manager," when he really was pitiful excuse of a human working a dead-end minimum wage job to support his 3 illegitimate children.

The way it ended was that Advanta refused to re-instate me to my promotional offer even though it was their fault that I lost it. And Advanta would not refund my finance charges, even though they left me in limbo for two months while they decided to deny my claim but just not tell me about it. I decided rather than deal with minimum wage high school dropouts which Advanta hires as customer service representatives that I would cancel my accounts with them and that I would let the world know what a dishonest, disrespectful, arrogant, sorry excuse for a company Advanta really is.

Opra said...

I know a lot of people who are not satisfied with their credit card companies. Fortunately, nowadays there are a lot of banks and credit card companies that we may choose credit cards from any bank and company:)

Anonymous said...

Agreed. The Advanta business card sucks. They create finance charges in the most innovative ways, and their customer service people are rude and unhelpful. For example, after zeroing the card every month for 6 months, we made a large purchase the day the January bill went out. The purchase did not show up on the January bill, and in any case we paid the $ down during the billing cycle. In total, the large charge existed on the card for something less than one billing cycle. The first bill that showed the charge at all also showed a $50+ finance charge for the "average daily balance" over two entire months (both January and February). Customer service was no help--even the manager was rude--despite the fact that there had been no grace period on the charge. First card I've ever seen that feels justified in charging finance charges without a grace period, even when a grace period is advertised. I did figure out that my 7.99% card charged the equivalent of 36% interest over that month. Yeah. Leaving.

Anonymous said...

AVOID ADVANTA !!!
My rate just went to 35%.
No late payments and an excellent credit score.

Their reason? We periodically reevaluate our (fill in your own creative b.s. here).

I'm going to pay the balance off and NEVER do business with them again.

Anonymous said...

ADVANTA is a rip-off. BEWARE

Lowered my rate to rake me in and now it's more than doubled and they won't budge. Same dog and pony story. Please pass the word....no wonder our economy is the way it is...you can't ever get ahead .... they are always there waiting to screw you. But the customer service at Advanta has been my worst experience yet !!!

Anonymous said...

Agree, Advanta sucks!! They just jacked our interest rate to 24.99%! Their feeble excuses when my husband called? Payment history......hmmm, guess they don't like getting paid in full every month. How we handled the acct.......what does this mean?? Our payments were always early. They have canned speeches and have no clue how to use their brain and think for themselves. Our acct is paid in full and closed. BTW, if you get a change in terms jacking your interest rate, MAKE SURE you write them telling them you opt out and DO NOT use your card. This is all in the fine print!!! They can use our $18.00 "Rewards" to hire a couple more idiots with no brains.

Anonymous said...

Hi. I think your blog is very interesting. The thing is that I have been looking for a good bank and decided to check out the customers’ reports in the Net. I should say that comparatively not many complaints and negative feedbacks are filed against Advanta. I went to this great site www.pissedconsumer.com and also found very few of them.

Anonymous said...

We pay MORE than the minimum every month and NEVER late, yet they jacked us up to 34.99% interest too. We are very hardworking, responsible people and this is how they reward their ontime customers? I would actually be more willing to have our credit messed up for the first time in my life than I would be to pay them one more penny of my hard-earned money. They suck.

Anonymous said...

I thought I was the only one with problems with Advanta, they really do suck. No 24 hour customer service when I got my card stolen and then they won't help you in any way. Screw them! Get a real card like from American Express. Thanks for reading and beware of Advanta!

Anonymous said...

Advanta is among the worst I've ever seen - they make up reasons to put fees on your account. Get this, I had a 0% APR balance with them and was not using the card and they called and told me I had to pay the entire balance back. No reason given, just that it was within their rights to do so - wow!

Anonymous said...

Advanta is a corrupt organization run by a real loser named Dennis Alter. This guy is just another banking criminal who gets off on cheating people.

He will send you a card with a really high limit and really low rates. But don't use it because if you do he will jack you up to 35%. Even if you don't pay them late and they won't notify you either.

Stay away from Advanta. Dennis Alter is a lying thief and a bad man.

Anonymous said...

AVOID ADVANTA AT ALL COSTS!!!!
Everything that has been said here is true. Start at low Balance Transfer and even though payment history is impeccable, once Balance Transfer expires, expect 22% and higher interest charges. Even with good credit rating and history, no slack form this company. They are the Madoff of credit cards. I don't know how employees of this company sleep.

Anonymous said...

My rate went up to a WHOPPING 37.18% if you can believe that with a total credit limit of $15,000 and a $100 balance. This is ridiculous! Loan sharks charge less! LOL!

Anonymous said...

WOW! SOOOOO incredibly glad I found this blog. I was actively searching a link to sign up for a credit card with this company and came across this link....

I hope you are blessed for sharing your experiences with us here!

You saved me from a nightmare!!!

Anonymous said...

They are HORRIBLE. Do not use them.
I always pay my bill on-line. There is something wrong with their on-line system. I recently paid a bill 4 days before due and somehow the payment did not go through. I even looked at my browser history to ensure I wasn't losing my marbles. They not only charge you a late fee but interest. $145 in my case for a late fee. I emailed their customer service and let them know that I did pay on time, but they don't care and don't budge. They are not for small business their mantra is to ensure small business will go out of business if you use their card. Just stay away. Period. I'm with the person who wrote how anybody could work at such an organization. If they get any TARP funds, I will pull my hair out.

Anonymous said...

Advanta is terrible. Advanta is hands down, no-question-about-it, THE WORST COMPANY I HAVE EVER DEALT WITH, in any industry, in my lifetime.

They are liars, cheats, and completely dishonest from top to bottom.

If you choose to use this card they WILL STEAL YOUR MONEY, and hold your good credit over your head to do it.

DO NOT DO IT. Stay away from Advnata.

Anonymous said...

Has anyone gotten a check from Advanta with some pie-in-the-sky payback promises? Did you cash the check? What are the repurcussions of cashing it or not? I'm going to stop paying them altogether and am curious about the check and it's implications.

Anyone?

WSJ said...

I finally paid off my Advanta business credit card last week. A $400+ payment. Good riddance! Advanta tried to sneak at rate increase onto my account last year.

Some banks deserve to fail, like Advanta!