Every moment dealing with this company has been a ridiculous nightmare. From start to not knowing when it will end.

(This part’s not so crazy, but still annoying)

In Sept 2010 I went into Future Shop #67 at Yonge and Dundas to look at lap tops. I was thinking about buying a MacBook because the lap top I had was failing me and FS was running a promo where if you bought a Mac you got a free printer with it. A sales person helped me out for a while and showed me the different MacBook’s, but I was just browsing at the time and I don’t think I had money or ID to buy it that day.

I came back the next day ready to buy, and the man that helped me the day before spotted me and offered his help again. I thought he was going to help me out right away, but then he made me wait while he finished up a sale with a couple. I thought it would only be a few minutes, so I was okay with it at first. I waited for at least a half hour for him. In the meantime I had 3 other salespeople ask me if I needed help. I told them I was waiting for someone to get me a MacBook, and I could even see a ladder set up against the wall where my lap top was stored, so all they had to do was climb up there. They all asked who was helping me, and I pointed him out, but even though he was still helping the other people and they were doing nothing, they wouldn’t get the computer for me. They were all clearly too scared of pissing him off by stealing his sale, so I just got to stand there and start at the ladder next to my computer. I at least was able to convince one of the guys to get the free printer ready for me. Finally when the first asshole was ready to sell me my item, he offered me the FS credit card. I went for it because I thought it would be easier to pay it over the year instead of all at once. Worst idea ever. I should mention that I never got an actual card to begin with – the credit card number just got printed on my receipt and statements. I also got some sort of balance protection for my card because the final cashier told me that it was only about a dollar per month. She was wrong – I started getting billed $28 a month for my balance protection, only to find out it’s a not a dollar per month, but a dollar per every X amount of dollars you owe on your card. Either this girl was stupid and not trained properly, or was trained perfectly well to lie to customers.

(This is when sh*t really starts to hit the fan…)

Anyway, so August 2011 rolls around and I realize it’s almost time to pay off my computer. I forgot that the only payments I made were on the balance protection and not the actual computer, so I was gung-ho about paying it off all at once.

I was a little bit worried about paying it online because I wasn’t sure if I set up the account properly, so I decided to pay in store thinking this was more secure. WRONG!

When I went in, because I didn’t have an actual FS card, I had to answer a bunch of security questions with the sales associate to get my balance. Even after answering questions with her, she didn’t have enough authority to check my balance, so she had to call the credit card office. I got on their store phone and answered security questions with 2 more people (for about 45 minutes because I could barely hear anything on their phone). I finally got my balance. The sales associate pointed me to another cash line since I was paying debit.

My balance was $1470. I tried to pay it off on my debit card all at once, but it wasn’t approved. I had all the money in there, but I realized my account had a limit on it of how much I could spend at once. I asked her to try just $1000 and I would pay the rest off another day. The transaction seemed to go through, but it wouldn’t print out a receipt that said it was approved. She said something about voiding the first transaction of the full amount, and that it wouldn’t let her print a new receipt – all she could give me was a debit receipt that said $1470 Not Approved. I thought this was really sketchy, but she said not to worry. She said if it went through, it will show up on my bank account. When I checked my debit account online, sure enough, it was there – Future shop #67, $1000, as well as on my statement later on. And eventually before my year was up, I paid the balance of $470 online (which I thought was a bit of a risk).

So here I was thinking that I’ve paid off my account in advance. Good for me. I had a lot on my plate coming up, I was moving and about to travel. What happens when I come back in November to pick up my mail from my old place? A statement from FS saying that they received my $470 BUT NOT MY $1000 and I now owe them that with INTEREST.

I called them on Nov 21 to explain that I’ve already paid this. I gave them the details about making the payment in store and I gave them the date that it was taken out of my account from my statement. The girl on the phone told me that they would launch an investigation and I can follow up in 7 to 10 business days.

One week later (on the 29th or 30th) I received a call from FS/Chase reminding me that I still owe them money. I explained to them that I have already called them and that they told me they would investigate my missing payment. He looked it up in his file and said, “oh yea, there is a note from Nov 23 saying that we’ve sent you a letter and you have to fill out a form in order for us to launch an investigation.” I asked  him about this letter, because the woman I spoke to the week before never mentioned it. He told me that I needed to fill it out and include a copy of my receipt from the store. I told him I don’t have anything because she never printed anything that said approved and I couldn’t find the other one that said “not approved”. So I asked if I should go to the store where I made my payment to help with the investigation – he told me I shouldn’t. From what he explained about the letter anyway, it sounded like it got sent out on Nov 23, so I immediately started checking my old address for the letter. Nothing.

This past weekend I’ve called my bank to inquire about the missing payment and they told me a copy of a bank statement should be enough proof for them. She was able to give me the exact date and time of the transaction and the location, and advised me to go to the store to get them to print me a duplicate receipt.

After talking to the bank, I went back to the store and the manager said too much time has passed to print a duplicate receipt, but that he would email their banking department and inquire about the payment, and expect to hear in a couple of business days.

After going to FS, I called their credit card line to ask about the letter again since I still haven’t gotten it. They told me it only got sent out on the 29th – which is exactly the day or around the day that I first heard about it, so I’ve been chasing my mail at my old address for nothing.

So now I’m left waiting on this mysterious letter to arrive and wait for the store to update me with whatever info they get from their banking department. I’m so fucking sick of trying to prove that I’ve already paid them what I owe. I’ve wasted so much time calling them, dealing with them in-store, and I’m spending money going back and forth to travel between their store and my old place checking my mail. I’m so scared that they are going to say it’s been too long and they can’t find my payment and this is going to fuck up my credit record. Even if they do resolve this, I am filing a complaint to the Better Business Bureau for their poor business practices and wasting my time.

NEVER SHOP AT THIS STORE!!! If you want an Apple product, go to Apple. Don’t be fooled by a free printer promo – it’s not worth it. Don’t go with their credit card, because they can’t accept your payments anyway. Just don’t buy anything at all, because apparently all of their cashiers are brainless idiots or are trained to scam you every way they can.

Posted by mel on Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 at 9:09 am.