i had purchased an ipad using my best buy credit card with 18 months zero interest finance.
My ipad was later stolen from me, so i approached the salesman who had sold me the ipad, who also happens to be a good personal friend.
he yold me that under the terms of the credit card's account shield, in the event of theft, that the remaining balance of my account would be relinquished with proper proof of theft. The best buy credit card pamphlet also states the same.
after contacting the reps at account shield and turning all necessary paperwork (police report, etc.), the balance remaining on my account was forgiven.
I was sent a notification confirming that my account had been eligible for debt cancellation, and that my account had been adjusted to fit the terms according to account shield.
OR SO I THOUGHT....
a few months go by, and i start to receive calls from collectors, telling me i am past due on my account and that i must starting making payments i order to not be penalized and be reported to national credting agencies.
under the impression that my balance and account shield had been taken care of, i checked my online account for information on the blanace of my account, i discovered that when my account balance had been adjusted to reflect the processing of my account shield, instead of having the entirety of my balance relinquished to zero $ as stated in the best buy credit card terms and conditions, the processing of my account shield relinquished all but about 50-70$ of my balance.
It was unknown to me why only a portion of my balance was forgiven, because due to the impression that i got from reading the credit card's terms and conditions, in the event of any proven theft, the balance would be 100% forgiven with proper proof (which i had already provided)
this amount of 50-70$, during the few months after my account shield had been processed, it had acrued interest and late fees upto 200 something $.
after calling best buys customer service to inquire why my account balance was not fully relinquished, i was told that my account had been "handed over" to a 3rd party collecting agency (named FFAM for short), and any actions towards my account could only be handled by FFAM.
after speaking with FFAM, and explaining my situation, i was told that best buy was no longer the servicer of my account, and that FFAM was given no records or notes on my account prior to when it came into their control.
I was also told that in order to dispute my debt, i had to first pay off the remaining balance first (which by this time had balooned to around 450$) and to provide proof of theft (AGAIN THIS TIME TO A DIFFERENT COMPANY, FFAM) as well as provide proof that i had made all of my payments (up to account shiled being processed) on time because FFAM was not given that inforamtion by best buy at the time my account switched servicing hands.
I told FFAM that in order to get the on time payment information, i would have to access in from my online account, but that because they would no longer or could no longer service my account, i was unable to get on time payment information.(after atempting to log in to my online account, i was given a "we have no records that match the information youve provided.)
The person i spoke with at FFAM confirmed that best buy could no longer give me information on my account, and that any and all actions from there on in would have to be handled by FFAM.
Being faced with seemingly contradictory objectives:
(having to provide account information on an account that i could no longer access, and that the information necessary to dispute my debt was neither accessible to me online through HSBC or best buy, nor to the current servicer of my account (FFAM) because of the fact that they were only given records of my account from the date my account "switched hands")
i learned that my account had actually been "sold" and thus why any previous information pertaining to my account was not recognized by FFAM.
After further explanation with FFAM, i was again told that the only way to dispute my debt was to pay it off first, and then provide proof of theft and on time payment information (and yes we had already discussed why i could not easily obtain this information).
I told FFAM that i had copies of my credit report with proof of payments for each month, but was told that since it wasnt an officially qulaified document that i could not use it was proof of payment.
i then proceeded on a wild goose chase, calling everyone from best buy customer service, to HSBC customer service, to FFAM again to find any way possible to get my payment history prior to my acccount switching hands so that i could have my account disputed.
Best buy nor HSBC could help me find this, and all FFAM said was were sorry we dont have this information (obviously if they are requesting it)
stuch between a rock in a hard place i began to make payments to FFAM in order to get the ball rolling on paying off the balance, so that in the event of finding my payment history i could have that portion of the dispute taken care of.
several weeks had gone by and i was still not able to access or find this information anywhere, i eventually stopped maknig payments to FFAM because of my utter disgust with the entire situation.
whenever i call either best buy , HSBC or FFAM i still get the same exact answer as i did before, and i have to explain the entire situation to them everytime, and have to tell them the same exact thing, that i am unable to get my payment history via best buy or HSBC.
IT SEEMS THE ONLY OPTION I AM GIVEN IS TO PAY THE BALANCE OF MY ACCOUNT, WHICH BY THIS TIME IS AROUND 500$ AND THAT THE PAYMENT HISTORY I NEED TO DISPUTE MY DEBT IS SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE TO OBTAIN.
EVERYTIME I ATTEMPT TO GET MY PAYMENT HISTORY, I NEVER GET ANYWHERE AND AM RUNNIG AROUND IN CIRCLES...
I REFUSE TO PAY FOR SOMETHING I NO LONGER OWN, NOR SHOULD BE RESPONSIBILE FOR TAKING CARE OF A PROBLEM THAT I DID NOT CAUSE, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT HAD BEEN MADE EXTREMELY DIFFICULT IF NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO FIX.
I AM TEMPTED TO TAKE LEGAL ACTION IF I AM NOT ABLE TO LOCATE THE NECESSARY DOCUMENTS TO DISPUTE MY CLAIM, BECAUSE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING I WAS NEVER DSICLOSED A REASON AS TO WHY MY ACCOUNT WAS NOT FULLY RELINQUISHED IN THE FIRST PLACE NOR AM I ABLE TO LOCATE THE DOCUMENTS REQUIRED TO DISPUTE IT.
I WORK IN CUSTOMER SERVICE MYSELF, AND THIS IS BY FAR THE WORST ENCOUNTER IVE EVER HAD IN A CUSTOMER SERVICE SETTING.
THERE IS NO COMMUNICATION BETWEEN BEST BUY, HSBC, AND FFAM AND EACH PARTY HAS SO FAR REFUSED TO HELP ME OTHER THAN TELLING ME SOMETHING I ALREADY KNOW AND HAVE TOLD ME BEFORE.
WHY WAS MY ACCOUNT SHIELD ONLY PARTIALLY COVERED? WHY DONT ANY OF THE PARTIES INVOLVED COMMUNICATE WITH EACH OTHER? WHAT CAN I DO, OR WHERE CAN I FIND OUT HOW TO OBTAIN THE ENTIRETY OF MY PAYMENT HISTORY.
IF ANYONE READING THIS CAN GIVE ME MORE INFORMATION OR HELP, OR WHETHER YOU HAVE HAD THE SAME SITUATION AND HOW YOU WENT ABOUT SOLVING IT, ANY AND ALL HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.
Ryan-BBY
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