Did you call the Kohl's credit card customer service to ask if they would remove your late payment fee? I have told dozens of customers to call the credit card company directly and they almost ALWAYS get the fee removed! Also, if you call using the store credit phone you never have to wait. The phone in the store is a direct line to the credit company.
I agree that it's silly that as a Customer Service employee I can't access a customer's balance at the register. I don't think that POS associates should be able to tell you that information, but I do think you should be able to find that out as a Customer Service employee. They don't need to give me access to any other information, just the balance. It's fustrating as an employee to constantly have to apologise to customers because I cannot tell them their balance. The best thing that you as a customer can do is COMPLAIN TO CORPORATE! Nothing ever gets done when the employee complains, but when enough customers complain to corprate, you can bet that things will change and fast! All you need to do is ask the employee at the service desk for the corprate number.
I see your logic that if a store associate can open an account why can't they close the account? I think the reason is because we aren't trained to deal with that situation on the store level. I also think that they want to prevent people from just opening a Kohl's charge to get the special discounts, and then closing it the very same day. It's a pretty easy thing to change, another thing to complain to corprate about. I'm sorry that the person you talked to on the phone was rude. Next time, ask to speak to their supervisor and complain.
You can pay your Kohl's charge online. I don't know why you haven't heard about that, but I'm sorry it wasn't brought to your attention! The website is pretty easy to use, and that's how I pay my own Kohl's charge.
As for the debit card thing, that is something I'm on the fence about. On the one hand, I understand your argument that a debit card works like cash, and on the other, I can understand why Kohl's doesn't want to make that an available payment option in the store. Part of the reason why we have the Kohl's charge is to save money on bank fees. The bank charges us every time you use your credit/debit card. However, it's a HUGE inconvinece for the customer to have to bring cash or check. Most people don't carry that stuff around with them (I know I don't!). Again, complaining to the sales clerk or the customer service representive or even the store manager isn't going to do any good. Complaining to corprate is the only way to get your voice heard (not that the employees aren't listening or don't sympatize, just that they can't really do anything about it!)
Did you know that any Kohl's employee can look up your account number for you at the register? All you need to have is your Driver's Liscence and your SSN. We can't accept payment if we can't look up your account or if you don't have your card because we don't know who's account to apply the funds to! The last thing anyone wants is to make a mistake where the amount you paid is put toward someone elses balance instead of your own!
I'm really sorry that you had a bad experience at your local Kohls. Please don't let your experience at one store tarnish the reputation of the whole company. Most of us want you to have a pleasant shopping experience and want to help as much as we possibly can. I'm sure if you tell your concerns to the store manager they will be happy to help you in any way possible.
Honestly, what did you expect Kohl's to do? Give you a nice pat on the back and "job well done?" Of course they are going to prosecute you! That's what happens when you steal, you get caught and you have to pay the price.
Kohl's takes shoplifting very seriously. As an employee I've been told NOT to interfear with a customer that may be stealing, I'm supposed to note their appearance and then notify Loss Prevention. Why? Because Kohl's WANTS to wait so that they can charge you to the fullest extent of the law. They want to show you and others like you that you cannot steal and get away with it in our store.
At Kohl's we love it when we can give a customer a great deal! What we don't love is someone that comes in and tries to get something for nothing. People like YOU make costs higher for Kohl's which lowers payroll and raises prices. In a sense what you just took you took from everyone, employees and customers of Kohl's alike! I'm glad you got caught and I hope that you have to pay for it. Maybe you and others like you will stop to think about the conseqences before you shoplift again.
The employees you mentioned were doing their jobs. Even in customer service we have to ask people if they want to open a charge. I know first hand that the LAST thing a customer wants is to deal with is an associate trying to sell them a credit card when they only came to the store to return their whatever. But I have no choice. We are pressured to meet our credit goal every day... and if we don't we lose hours and could lose our jobs!
Us associates aren't stupid. WE know you don't want to listen to us constantly hound you to get a credit card, and we don't like to tell you about it when we know that you don't want it. We don't deserve all the annoyed sighs, glares and fist shaking that we often get for just doing our jobs.
Next time, complain to one of the managers or ask for the corprate number. Tell them that when the store is a mess the focus needs to be cleaning up and not selling credit. The employees will thank you, because chances are all the people that were working the night you visted had to stay late after the store was closed to clean up.
Regular POS assoicates have no way to look up a bar code in Kohl's stores. In fact, they aren't even trained to use the computer with which you can look up the information. That fact does not excuse her balant disregard for good customer service. I hope you complained to the manager! She was correct in calling a floor associate to check for another bag (there may have been some in the back). Her next step should have been to call customer service since they can look up the bag on the computer there.
My advice to you is to go directly to customer service next time you find an unmarked item and bypass POS. Bring it up as soon as you find it and the assoicate there will look it up while you contiune shopping (sometimes it can take awhile to find the right thing... afterall we don't want to overcharge you!) The customer service associate will usually just ring up your purchases right at the service desk when you are done shopping.
I'm sorry that you had a bad experience at your local Kohl's! You should speak to the manager there, and I'm sure they will do their best to fix the problems that you encountered. At Kohl's we are all about customer service, we WANT you to have a good shopping experience.
You can call Credit Customer service and pay over the phone with your debit card or check without having to wait for a representative for no charge. The system over the phone is automated so you won't have to wait to make a payment.
You can also pay in the store using cash or check at any register. You can even pay right after you make your purchase so that you don't have to return later to pay the bill.
We make every effort at Kohl's to provide you with fast and convinent ways of paying your bill. The website must have been down or undergoing maintainence to behave in that fashion. I'm sorry that you had difficulty using our website!
Kohl's always asks for your SSN to verify your identity when calling. You can always tell the person on the phone that you aren't comfortable giving them that information and they will ask you a different set of questions.
From what you are describing, it seems that the Kohl's credit servers where down at the time you were trying to make a purchase, which is why your charges were denied and since you tried to pay multiple times you were charged multiple times once the servers were back up. If the charges were allowed to go through you would have been refuned your money without question.
Alot of credit card companies have 25 day billing cycles. This information was given to you when you signed up for the account. This is why it is important to read your credit card agreements.
Did you try calling the credit company and asking them to remove the late fee? They will usually remove it for an honest mistake like yours.
If you don't want to wait for credit customer service to answer your call you can always call from any local Kohl's store. They have a phone in the customer service area that is a direct line to the credit company so that you don't have to wait. Also, the customer service assoicate can call on your behalf if you do not wish to deal with a representative over the phone, they just need your lisence, SSN and Kohl's card.
Did you know that you can also pay your Kohl's card payment at any register in the store? You can even pay right after you use your card so that you don't have to worry about paying the bill later. You can also pay online and even set up payments 45 days in advance on the website.
We really do try to make every effort to make your experience at Kohl's a pleasant one, but we cannot help you if you don't tell us that you are upset.
Well, even though you misread the sign, Kohl's still should have honored the price for you or given you a smaller discount for the inconvience. That is part of our "Yes We Can" policy. I'm not sure why the manager blew you off, or why the employee at the register didn't give you some kind of discount, but that would NEVER happen in the Kohl's I work at. Let me be the one to offer you a sincere apology on behalf of the Kohl's you visited.
