Barnes & Noble is criminal

Well after spending several years meticulously rebuilding my credit after college, it all was flushed down the drain today by Barnes & Noble bookstore.

To wit: About a year ago, I signed up for the $25 discount card from Barnes & Noble. Seems like a good idea, right?

Well, little do you realize it, but the fine print of the membership agreement includes the fact that it automatically renews every year, "unless you tell us not to renew," the c#*#$ from there I just talked to explained to me.

What apparently happened was this - the credit card I put the membership on at the time has since been paid off and cut to pieces. Haven't given it a single thought in over a year. Didn't even realize I still possessed it. But apparently last month they sent me a bill for $25. Figuring it was another piece of junk mail, I apparently trashed it without even opening it.

This month, for whatever reason, I open it. I see a past due amount and a current amount due. I call. "It's a charge from Barnes & Noble. Sir, we did send you a bill." That's all he could say, every time. "We sent you a bill last month." "But now this goes against my credit, for $25 measly dollars I didn't even know were charged to me?" "Sir, we sent you a bill."

The Barnes & Noble bitch kept explaining that it was "in your membership agreement." I calmly explained to her that we would not be shopping at Barnes & Noble any longer. She said, "Thank you for calling Barnes & Noble today, sir," right off of the script.

Fuck corporations. I am never shopping at a B&N, Target, Starbucks, Wal-Mart, Meier, etc., etc., etc. again in my fucking life. Piss on all of them.

Anyway - does anyone know any recourse? Or is my credit now fucked, my family now fucked as far as buying a house, getting a credit card, buying a car, etc., etc. for years to come because of a cocksucking corporate bookstore that doesn't think it's enough to destroy neighborhoods - now they aim to destroy American citizen's credit one fucking customer at a time?

 

Over-react much? Twenty-five dollars from a bookstore is not going to prevent you from buying a house or car. Just pay the thing and get it over with.

 

It's a credit black mark, though.

 

This is pretty typical. That's why I never sign up for that kind of stuff.

Thing is, you can get Barnes & Noble back. Just go in and read $25 worth of books or magazines, then put them back on the shelves, smile and walk away.

 

Not really a black mark, more like a smudge.

Have you tried contacting the credit card company and explaining what happened? Sometimes they'll remove a negative report in a situation like that.

 

After taking a giant, stinky shit in the bathroom.

 

Nice.

 

I guess the bottom line is that I go into the voting booth and vote one way, then live my life another way - pouring money into these places that are destroying neighborhoods, small towns, etc., and the middle class in general because it's convenient for me. Then they stick something like this in the fine print of their "membership agreement" because they know people A. Won't bother to notice or B. Won't bother to make the time to cancel.

It makes me physically ill.

 

First off: Open all your mail, even this shit that looks worthless, just in case of shit like this.

Secondly: There is a process you can go through to contest this. Call back the number, ask to speak to a supervisor, explain the situation, and say that you'll a.) pay the amount under your signed membership agreement, b.) in doing so, you'd like the late payment memo removed from your credit record, and with a CC of B&N having done so sent to you by mail, and that c.) you'd like for your membership to be terminated at the end of the next cycle.

You can get all three accomplished.

 

Yes. And, no, they wouldn't.

 

You need to go through the company that filed the report. In this case, B&N.

 

Boo-fuckin-hoo. Your whole life isn't ruined over 25 bucks. And let this be a lesson...read the fine print in anything. Know what the hell you're getting into.

And if you're going to boycott every business you said you were, your only recourse in buying goods and services might be some organic grocery.

Grow the hell up.