This pisses me off.
For years, Mrs. G and I have had an LL Bean credit card. We've used it primarily for purchases, shockingly, at LL Bean, where it gets us free shipping and monogramming. Which, mind you, is exactly how it was advertised to us. "Free Shipping!" "Free Monogramming". Now, we don't get an awful lot of stuff from Bean, but enough that getting the credit card would be useful. No annual fee, so there wasn't any cost to us to have it and use it a few times a year.
Recently we got a notice telling us that the parent company was severing ties with Bean, and would be issuing us a new credit card. At the same time, we get a notice from LL Bean telling us that the partnership was ending and that we could apply for a new credit card from LL Bean.
Uh, no fucking way. I don't particularly feel like leaving a wake of unused credit cards hanging in the breeze every time you want to jack up the interest rate by jettisoning loyal customers. And then asking them to re-apply. No. Doesn't work that way.
Needless to say, we'll be cutting up the new card and cancelling the account. We've got a "primary" card that we use for everyday expenses; we have a secondary card for online purchases; and we have a Discover Card for Sam's Club (although I hear recently they've been accepting regular Visa/Mastercard, so that one may fall by the wayside as well...).
I dunno. It just pissed me off that they thought they could double the number of cards we got to save a few bucks on shipping. You wonder how many people they get with this kinda crap; how many unused and unchecked credit card accounts are just ripe for the fleecing as people open more and more accounts on whims.
Three cards works for me. The number of the counting shall be three. Two is wrong, unless thou proceedeth unto three. Four is also wrong. Five is right out...
That is all.
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5 comments:
Three is two too many for me. I get by on one. And in the event that I need to make a purchase online from a retailer I have no experience with, Bank of America/Visa has a neat tool that gives you what amounts to a virtual credit card number that can be limited by the customer so as to be only used for the period of time that the transaction occurs and for only as much as the cost of what you're buying, so if that retailer's security is poor or if they're a fraud they can't run up charges on your real credit card.
We had a LL Bean card when it was issued by MBNA. Same deal, free shipping, free monogramming, credit towards purchases. Not to mention the LL Bean lifetime warranty. We're not yuppies, but the quality and customer service at Bean make purchasing from them a good deal.
Then they went to Bank of America, which sucked. LL Bean was still OK, but BoA sucks the farts out of dead seagulls.
A representative from BoA called my wife the other day to tell her the exciting news. Whereupon she told him we're going to cancel that new card as soon as we can get a new Bean card.
You might really want to think about doing the same.
regolith,
We'd be down to two if not for Sam's taking Discover. As it stands, we use the card maybe once a year as it is, so it's real easy to keep tabs on it.
I like having two separate cards for real life/online - the "real life" (ha! As if I have a life!) card gets so much use that a couple fradulent charges (assuming not too much) might not get caught (especially if they bought gas or shopped at Wal-Mart...)
TOTWTYTR,
Bingo. As soon as the new card comes in, we'll call and cancel. No need for it whatsoever.
And then there were three...
Two cards should be the minimum - one for you and one for the spouse. That way if you lose your wallet/purse (especially on vacation), you can cancel yours and still have the other one to fall back on.
Plus ... I actually like Discover.
JRD
regolith, you want to watch out for those virtual cards. A friend of mine had one--not sure with which bank, but I don't think it was BoA, and he found out from them that they do NOT actually enforce the limits on amount or dates. If someone gets your virtual number and tries to use it, they will be able to, with that card. You should check with BoA to see if they actually enforce those limits or not.
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