Customer Service?

     I'll save you all the gory details because I'm sure we've all been there but to compliment all the pathetic and frustrating dealings I've had with major companies lately, Shaw Cable, Rogers Cellular and Telus (who hasn't told that stupid voice prompted operator to F@%K off and then spend 20 minutes racking up your cell phone to "hopefully" talk to a person?- and then they barely "speaky Engy"), I finally had a "dealing" with my last major conglomerate, Bank of Nova Scotia Visa.

     I painfully learned years ago that credit cards aren't for spending to the limit and then making the minimum payments. I keep one credit card in my wallet for convenience now and as it has been for the last twenty years or so it's the Bank of Nova Scotia Value Visa. I have the Value Visa because back in the day when I usually carried a balance the interest rate on the card was only 10% when some of the other credit cards were upwards of 20%-- it's hovered around 11% for as long as I can remember now.

    I've always been anal about my credit rating and paying  bills on time. The only things I use my credit card for now is my cell phone and these vitamins I get from the States...

    I did some online shopping over Christmas so I did have a bit of a balance but I generally just go into the bank an pay it off. My credit card expires in a couple of days so I phoned to see when I was going to receive a new one and after dropping one call after waiting ten minutes (while I'm at work BTW), I finally got to talk to a person--Laura I think it was who was extremely polite, friendly and spoke perfect English. She informed me that my credit card was good till the end of the month despite the fact the expiry date says 04/09. She also said that they generally send them out 10 days before the end of the month and be sure to call back to activate the card...great, something to look forward to, another 20 minutes on the phone.

    Laura then asked me, "Is there anything else I can help you with today, Mr. Johnson?" I said, "Actually there is. I noticed when I saw my last statement the interest rate on the card had shot up to 18.49%, why is that?"



    She proceeded to politely inform me that since I had missed a payment (which was probably only $20) in December they had to raise the rate until June first and if I'm a "good boy" and make all my payments on time it will drop back down to 11.49%.

    The stupidest thing about this is that even though the payment was late, I had absentmindedly paid the card off twice and was actually showing a $1000 credit balance. I really don't care about the interest rate because like I said, I never carry a balance it was just annoying on principal. I did resist the temptation to play the, "I've been with you guys for over twenty years, I'm actually showing a credit "balance" and this is the treatment I receive?" and proceed to cancel the card, card. It seems now the next company will be just as bad if not worse...better the devil you know than the devil you don't.