To Recommend or Not To Recommend NetSpend Prepaid Credit Cards- Final Update

The "NetSpend Nightmare" started on Friday, October 31, 2014, and in an attempt to reach someone via Twitter, I wrote the first blog post about this NetSpend Nightmare, so that I could link to it from Twitter, and hopefully give whoever is supposed to be manning the Twitter account a full picture.

Apparently, no one is manning the Twitter account. Or, maybe they are and they're just ignoring my Tweets.  I tagged their Twitter @ handle and hash tag'd them too... all to no avail.

I spent the better part of yesterday, still attempting to resolve the issue, writing another blog post about this NetSpend Customer Service Nightmare, updating the continued debacle, and tweeting each update...

My tweets were never answered and multiple phone calls yielded the same lack of results from one incompetent customer service rep, and supervisor, after another.

Finally, we got through to a very nice woman named "Michelle," who understood the problem, and who either knew there was a 'procedure' to resolve the problem, or she bothered to look it up, which no one else seemed interested in bothering to do.

So yes, the situation did finally get resolved. But 5 days of pure Hell was the cost of it.  And it was an unnecessary cost, because obviously, there IS a procedure for exactly what we needed, but the reps are so poorly trained that they don't know it, and they're too lazy to bother to actually go look for it... but above all, adding insult to injury, is the supervisor's 'arrogance.'

Every time we asked for a supervisor, we were kept on hold for up to 30 minutes, only to finally be told that the supervisors are 'busy with other calls,' and 'they have no way to call you back, so could you call back in 30 minutes?"  (Oh yea sure, and go through voicemail Hell again, to get to a human again, who is going to refuse to put the supervisor on the phone until you go through the 'process' with them, again, at which point, they will put you on hold, again, and either hang up on  you, or keep you on hold for up to 30 minutes and then tell you to call back in 30 minutes and repeat the process again...)  And worse, the 2-3 times we did manage to speak with a supervisor, they were arrogant and flippant, shutting us down completely when we were asking them to DO what 7 people CONFIRMED they COULD do, before hanging up on us.)  

If that's how you want to spend your day, then I guess I would recommend NetSpend to you.

For the rest of you, the card has it's advantages and it's disadvantages, like everything else.

The two main things to consider are the 'fees,' and the ability to transfer funds between cards.

I use both NetSpend and Green Dot cards.

Green Dot has no monthly service fee as long as you deposit at least $1,000 per month. Hubbies paycheck goes to that card, so we pay no fee.  If you deposit less than $1,000 per month, you pay $1.00 per transaction.   

With the NetSpend card, it doesn't matter how much you deposit, you have to pay $5.00 or $10.00 (depends on your card usage) each month to have unlimited transactions for free.

The Green Dot card though, doesn't let us transfer from one card to another card.

NetSpend does.

And the reason that's important to me, is because when I get freelance work online, my clients send the money to his PayPal account (I lost mine years ago due to consumer fraud that was beyond my control- this is very common).  He then transfers the money to his NetSpend account, and then once it's deposited in his account, he transfers it to my NetSpend account.  From card to card is instant, and it's free.

If I had my own PayPal account, we wouldn't need to use NetSpend for it's 'card to card' transfer abilities, and I would never use it again at all.

We're currently looking into other prepaid cc's, or possibly adding another 'local' friends bank account to the PayPal account so we can just send it to that bank when transferring out of PayPal, and then go up to that bank to withdraw cash.  So we can get rid of NetSpend entirely.

Update on Why I Will Not Recommend NetSpend

So, at 10:00 am this morning, my friend called in to find out what to do about the block on his account.

He said for once, he finally got someone helpful.

She put in a request to have the block removed and told him it would take 4 hours.

So, four and a half hours later, at 2:30pm, he called back, and is again, having problems.

I don't have all the details yet, but so far neither of their Twitter accounts, https://twitter.com/NetSpend  or https://twitter.com/asknetspend have replied to tweets I've left for them, with links to the last blog post, explaining the problem.

I've also found this Twitter account for them too...

https://twitter.com/ReferNetspend  (right, like I'm going to refer them after this debacle!)

At this point, my friend is on hold, waiting for a supervisor.

*******************************************************

Update-  @ around 3:00 P.M., after 7 different people have told both my friend and myself that they would in fact be able to help him get the money transferred with just his social security number, the latest incompetent rep informed him that he needed the 3 digit security code from the back of the card.

My friend requested a supervisor, was put on hold for a ridiculous amount of time, only to have this rep return and say that the supervisor went to lunch and that he needed to call back in 30 minutes.

It is no 4:41 and my friend is in his physical therapy, and this has still not been resolved.

Worst customer service I have ever seen.  Ever.

*********************************************************

Called myself to ask how *I* could transfer money to someone, via my online account if I don't have my card number handy, and "Lynn" told me,

"No, you will need the card to set up your online account."

Ok, obviously another incompetent moron at NetSpend... I explain, "No, I HAVE an online account, I just don't have my card with me and I need to transfer this money to my friend who also has a NetSpend account, with a card AND an online account."

She then gives me another 'knee jerk, robotic, pre-programmed answer' of "No, you'll need the card and the 3 digit security code on the back."

Yea, see, that's the PROBLEM that SEVEN PEOPLE have told us they could help us with, and then hung up on us, in addition to the last schmuck who said they could do it without the card, but they would need the security code on the back, and then told my friend that a 'supervisor' had gone to lunch and to call back in a half an hour.

The level of incompetence here is ASTOUNDING...

I wasn't going to get into it with this moron, I asked for a supervisor. I've been on hold ever since.  Let's see what excuse they come back with this time...

Why I Am Going To Stop Recommending Netspend

Worst Customer Service I've Experienced In A Long Time

I'm an avid pre-paid credit card user, and advocate.  I've had several Netspend accounts and cards since 2008-2009...

I chose Netspend for one reason... I sometimes do some freelance work for a friend who also has a Netspend card and we can do 'instant' card-to-card transfers.

Since Friday, this friend has been trying to send money to me...

However, he's met some obstacles, the first one being that he is currently in a physical rehabilitation center due to an illness, so he doesn't have the actual, physical card on him.

So he called to ask them how he can send the money to me without the card, and the first customer service rep he spoke to said that that wouldn't be a problem.  Then she hung up on him.

Then it happened two more times.

Today, I called myself to find out if there was a way to do it without the card, via the online account, and the first customer service rep that I spoke to said we could, and asked me for his social security number.  I told her I would text him and ask him for it, which I did, and he asked me if they could call him, and she told me that they could not (though they called me, because when I called in, I got a message about 'high call volume,' and was forced to accept waiting for a 'callback' which this was, so obviously, they can make calls..) I relayed this lack of ability to call to my friend, via text message, and while he was replying with his social security number, she hung up on me before I could give it, or even his name, to her.

I called back again, was forced to accept the 'callback' again, waited for the callback, got the callback, and this time a different representative told me again, that yes they could do it without the card number, but they would need to speak to my friend, the account holder.  I asked her if she could call him, and again, I was told that they cannot make calls.  I explained that every time he called them, they hung up on him, and asked her if there was a way that he could do it online, without the card number, and she kept telling me that he has to 'call in.'

Clearly the fact that every time he calls in they hang up on him is going either in one ear and out the other or just directly over her head.

Finally sometime around 10:30 PM EST my friend text messaged me to let me know he had fallen asleep and would try to call again.  Then just around 11:00 PM, he text messaged me again to tell me that this newest customer service rep told him that there is a block on his account and he needs to call back with the card number just to get access to his account.

There is no reason for him to even have a block on his account, as I never even got close to giving that first representative his social security number before she hung up on me, so it's not as if they can say, "oh someone tried to 'break in' to the account."

So I don't actually think that's the case, but if it is, what the Hell reason would they have?  He's been telling these jack asses for 3 days that he doesn't have his card number, and they keep telling him they'll help him, and then hanging up on him. If anyone is 'compromising' his account, it's Netspend themselves.

Now, I don't think that there is any 'block' on the account.  What I think is that it was 5 minutes until 'closing time' for the customer service department and the rep was just lazy and incompetent and wanted to go home.

So tomorrow, at 10 am, EST, my friend and I are going to call Netspend together on a 3 way call.

And hopefully we'll get this resolved, but if not, I will never recommend Netspend again, and I will seek out another prepaid card service that will give us the option to transfer from card to card.

#netspendsucks #netspendnightmares

Rent A Center New Port Richey, FL Review

I've just begun a new contract with a new Rent To Own Store called Rent A Center.  And here is the first instance of a problem I've had with them....

 

 

Hello,

On Sep 13, 2013 my husband and I visited our local Rent-Center, located at 6512 Massachusetts Ave

Port Richey, FL 34653 to inquire about purchasing a new computer. 

 

We found one we liked and told Justin that we had a credit.  He said he would check with his manager and give us a call. 

 

When he did call us back, he said that his manager told him that we no longer had a credit.

 

So we said ok, and went ahead and made our purchase.  Three days later, we received the email that this email is in reply to, with the subject line, "We still have your $50."

 

Our first payment was due on Sep 21.  My husband's job made an error in payroll that week and did not send a payment we were waiting for and I was stuck at home with no car and only a $20.00 which I asked RAC to come and pick up, and told them that I would come in with the other $11.06 on Monday.

 

On Monday, and for the next 2 weeks, my husband's job still had not corrected the payroll error, so when the next payment came due on the 28th, we were not able to pay it.

 

On Wednesday, Oct, 2nd, store associate Mike stopped by the house and we offered to let him take the machine back or we'd pay him on Friday, when my husband's job was to have finally sorted out their payroll issues. Mike said to pay Friday, asked what time we would be in and we told him noon. 

 

On Thursday we got phone calls.  On Friday morning we got another call around 10am... despite the arrangement we'ed make with Mike to go in on Friday at noon. 

 

At this point, I owed $11.06 on the bill from Sep 21, plus $31.06 for the week of Sep 28, plus a $5.00 late charge, (only 1 according to store associate Justin and store manager Xavier.)  And the next payment of $31.06 is due the next day, October 5. 

 

I called and spoke to Justin and told him I would be paying the $11.06 and last weeks bill of $31.06, plus the late fee of $5.00 for a total of $47.12, and that I would pay tomorrow's bill either Monday or Tuesday. 

 

I also told him that I still had this credit to send to him and that I needed his email. 

 

. 

 

And he also told me that my credit is on 'new purchases only,'... to which I said, "But I told you I had when I came in to make the new purchase, and you said your manager told you I didn't have a credit."

 

He put me on hold again, then came back and said "well that will come off the back end of your contract."

 

I said, "ok, I just want the email address so I can send this to you and we'll work it out another time. I'm not asking you to apply it to my payments, I'm asking you for the email address so I can send it to you ."

 

He put me on hold again, and then returned to tell me "We don't have an email."

 

Then he told me that that I would have to pay $67.00 to carry me until "Monday or Tuesday," trying to 'force' me to pay part of the next payment before it was even due.

 

(I could have just as easily said, "Here, take what I owe you today,and I'll be in tomorrow with tomorrow's payment" and then still waited until Monday or Tuesday to and paid the late fee, and not had to deal with this...)

 

So I asked him, "what is the amount of my payment?"

 

And instead of getting a straight answer, I got, "To get you current until Monday or Tuesday... "

I said, "That is not what I asked you. I asked you the amount of my regular payment"

 

So I did the math for him, and that's when he put me on hold and put Xavier back on the line, and Xavier said I needed to pay $61.00.

I explained to Xavier that what was due as of today was $47.12 and that nothing beyond that was due until tomorrow.  I was simply giving him a courtesy heads up and letting him know that I wouldn't be making that payment until Monday or Tuesday, but I was not required to pay one penny of tomorrow's due bill, until tomorrow at the earliest. 

 

And his response was, "I can't take any more late payments from you."

 

So I told him I would return the machine because I was not going to play these games. 

 

After I hung up, I called the corporate office in Plano, TX, and spoke with "Jasmine".  I relayed this story to her and she said that the District Manager needed to hear about this immediately.  She took my name and number, and informed that the District Manager's name is Jeremy Keaton and that he would call me. 

 

I asked her to have him call very soon because I had errands to run and she told me she would mark it 'urgent'. 

 

That was around 12:15 PM.   At this time now, it is just about 1:00 PM and I am finished with this letter, which I will use as my paper trail 

 

Sincerely,

Vanessa Blais

Below is the credit email I had received from RAC on Sept 16, 2013.

Time's running out to get your $50!

Add us to your inbox. See how

View in web browser

Find A Store near you.

Get $50 right now... but hurry!

Print your coupon and bring it to your Rent-A-Center store.

Find a Store  |  Pay My Bill  |   Privacy Policy  |  Find Us On:
UNSUBSCRIBE
This email is a Rent-A-Center advertisement. We sent you this email because you signed up for updates of Rent-A-Center offers and events. If you do not want to receive these email updates, click to unsubscribe. The advertised transaction is a rental-purchase agreement (or in NV, a lease agreement with an option to purchase; in IA, SC, ND and NE, a consumer rental-purchase agreement; in CT and NH, a rent-to-own agreement; in AK, DC, DE, HI, ID, KS, OR, SD, VA and WA, a lease-purchase agreement; in MA and RI, a lease; in VT, a consumer-lease agreement). Not available in MN or WI. *"$50 Off Any New Agreement" offer reduces the total dollar amount of payments necessary to acquire ownership on any new agreement entered into through 10/14/13, when offer ends. Product availability and promotional pricing may vary by store. Free-rent offers will not reduce total rent or purchase-option amounts. You will not own the merchandise until the total amount necessary to acquire ownership is paid in full or you exercise your early purchase option. Ownership is optional. In VT, minimum 18-week rental period applies. MA and RI consumers, any time after the first 90 days, you may purchase the merchandise for 80% of the remaining Total Cost, plus sales tax, calculated at the time. See Store Manager for complete details. Consulta con el Gerente de la Tienda para los detalles completos. ** Pre-approved means no credit check and no credit needed. Agreement requires verification of residence, income and four personal references. Delivery and set-up are included, and RAC services and maintains the merchandise while on rent or in NJ, for duration stated on agreement; set-up does not include connection of gas appliances. For model upgrades, simply return the product you are currently renting and open a new agreement for another model. You can return your product and freeze your payments. To restart an agreement on a returned product, Rent-A-Center will retain your payment records for two years. Thereafter, simply bring in your last payment receipt for reinstatement. 90 days same as cash not available in VT. Trademarks, registered trademarks and/or service marks, indicated or otherwise, are the properties of their respective owners.
This email was sent to: blais.vanessa@gmail.com
This email was sent by: Rent-A-Center 5501 Headquarters Drive  Plano, TX, 75024,  USA When the District Manager Jeremy Keaton had not returned my call by 4:45 PM, I called the corporate office agiain, and here is the email I've just sent off to them describing the reason for that call and the result of it...Jeremy keaton, the District Manager had not returned my call as of 4:47 PM So I called back the corporate office to get his number. They refused to give it to me and said I needed to give him 24 hours to call me back. I asked repeatedly to be connected to a manager or someone with some authority, and I was refused.  I called RAC at 4:51 PM and said I would pay the $48.02, and that I would come in the next day to pay the bill that is due the next day, but I would not be forced to pay it early.  Justin told me that they could not take my payment and they had to wait for Jeremy to call them too.  If Jeremy does wait until tomorrow to call me, as of tomorow, tomorrow's payment will be due. At this point, I expect they will force me to try and pay this weeks payment as well.  Vanessa Blais.

Rent King of New Port Richey, Florida, Scam.

By and far, one of the absolute worst companies I have ever had the displeasure to do business with. I subcontract from a virtual solutions contractor and we service a variety of clients, each requiring different Hardware and operating system specs, so I choose to lease my equipment from rent to own stores, so that If I need to change systems, I can. I have done business with Rent-A-Center, Aarons, and Rent King. I have been very happy with Rent-A-Center and Aaarons, but Rent King is not only unprofessional, it does not comply the state laws that regulate it's industry unless the customer happens to know how to research the statutes, and communicate in writing, to Rent King, the very statute it will ignore on the belief that the customer will not know what it is.

We started our contract with Rent King in Dec 2010 and it was for 18 months (or 72 weeks). At one point, we fell one week behind, and remained '1 week behind,' each week, paying the previous weeks' payment, with a late feet... we never went beyond 10 days late, because on the 10th day, they will lock down the computer remotely from a lojacking system they install on their machines.

Every time we would ask for a balance owed on the account, the store manager Jared, would refuse to give us a dollar amount, insisting that he could tell us that while the account was in arrears.

In the spring of 2012, we caught up the payments and did a buyout on one of our two machines. Jared told us that he could remotely deactivate the 'lojacking' system on the computer that was paid off. This is when Jared informed us that every week we had been late, and paid a late for fee, extended the contract an additional week. At that time, we asked Jared for a printout of every payment we had made.

He printed up a few receipts and handed them to us and sent us on our way.

At home, when we discovered that he had not given us all of the receipts and when we called to ask Jared about it, he told me “You're right, and I'm not going to print out a receipt for every payment just because you didn't keep your records.”

I finally looked up the statutes, and sent an email to the stores corporate offices, quoting the statute word for word, proving that they were legally obligated to provide this information. I added that I would be in that Friday to pick up the paperwork.

When I got no response, I sent another email, asking the store to reply with confirmation that the paperwork would be ready that day.

In the summer of 2012, we had fallen behind again and agreed to turn in the computer that was not paid off (or so we thought) until we could get caught up, as we needed him to repair it anyway because the power port appeared to be broken. They came by to pick it up, and later that day, Jared called me, accusing me of giving him the computer that was paid off, with a power port ripped out of it. It was at this point that Jared informed us that he had not applied the buyout to the computer he was instructed to apply it to, and that he'd never deactivated the lojacking system either.

We wound up having to return our kids bunk beds, and our dryer, both of which were also under contract with Rent King as well, just so we could keep the machine that was working, so I could do my job. And, since that was the computer Jared applied the buyout to, he refused to fix the power port.

When I finally called to ask if the paperwork was ready, the associate on the phone said he knew nothing about it. Jared called me back to tell me the paperwork had been there, waiting for me since I sent the email.

I filed a complaint about Rent King's practices with the Florida Department of Agriculture, Consumer Affairs Division, and continued to make payments while I waited for the regulatory agency to step in and correct the situation, as Rent King would remotely shut down access to my system, which I need for work, if I did not submit to making these payments.

In October/early November of 2012, we brought in the machine that was not yet paid for to be repaired as a few of the keys were not working, and suddenly, the 'case' had a crack in it that was preventing it from closing. Even though it was still under contract on a lease to own, Jared refused to fix it.

On November 30,2012 we called to make a final payment... and we were told by the associate who answered the phone, that it was 'Jared's rules' that we had to physically come into the store to make the final payment, which was $26 and change.

We advised that we did not know 'when' we would be able to do that and would get back to them. On Monday, December 3, 2012, an associate from the store called, again, to tell us we needed to make the $26.00 payment. I told the associate of what we had been told on Friday regarding coming in to the store, and he repeated, “That's always been Jared's rule.” I repeated again, that we would get in as soon as we could get down there.

The next day, December 4. 2012, “Justin” called our home at 6:45 pm and proceeded to inform my husband that we now owe $40.00 because of 'late fees,' instead of the $26.00 that we had been quoted by two separate associates. My husband advised that we would not pay a late fee because of “Jared's Rule” that the last payment had to be made 'in the store, in person.'

Justin was repeatedly rude to my husband, and my husband was becoming very frustrated and agitated so I had him give me the phone. I asked Justin if he was the gentleman I'd spoken to the day before and he said he was not. When I began to tell him of the last two phone calls that resulted in two associates telling us we had to be present in the store, he interrupted me, talked over me, and generally tried to 'intimidate' me. He then informed me that he had told my husband and was now telling me, that he would take the $40.00 payment over the phone, 'right now.' I told him I was not paying a late fee when we were told twice, including on the day the payment was due, that we forbidden to make the payment unless we came into the store to do it.

He then said “I'll take off the stupid $5.00 late fee, and the payment will be $35.00 then.” I then told him, again, that the payment was $26.00 and he told me that it was $26.00 + tax. Our sales tax is 7%... that is approximately, $27.82 total... $

It was at this point that I informed him that I would call tomorrow, after calling Consumer Affairs back about the situation with this store. Justin then hung up on me, and approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes later, Rent King locked my computer.

When I first noticed the computer shutting down, I called and spoke with William, in regards to Justin and about the fact that my computer was shutting down. William, who called Jared on the phone and got Jared's permission to let us make the last payment over the phone. At that point, my husband was gone to the store, with our debit card, so I told William that I would call him in the morning. He agreed and assured me that “Justin” had not ordered my computer to be locked.

As soon as I got off the phone with William, my computer had rebooted and was now showing me that it was 'locked,' and that I had to call the store to have it unlocked.

I called back, and William called Jared, who then called me with an unlock code.

 

The next day, we called to make the final payment, and Jared insisted that it was $33.00 and the TWO people who told us it was $26.00, were both wrong.  Isn't that convenient?

 

Since Justin had already locked down my computer the night before, we were not in a position to have it locked again, so my husband paid the $33.00 and we will add this to the complaint made

with the Florida Department of Consumer Affairs. 

This is the worst store in town. They're a scammy operation and they will break every law they think you don't know they are subject to, until you let them know that you know what laws they're subject to.

Never do business with this store.

Here are a list of additional complaints against this horrible business:

http://rent-king.pissedconsumer.com/rent-king-20080918135925.html

http://rent-king.pissedconsumer.com/rent-king-assholes-20080721128275.html

http://www.merchantcircle.com/business/Rent.King.727-846-7400#feedback-reviews

 http://newportrichey.patch.com/listings/rent-king-3#review_134087