In June of 2009, I opened an Ikea credit card account. I was told the terms would be 9 mos/ no interest if I spent $1000 or more. I spent $1200.
However...the credit card company said the terms were 3 months no interest. I did not catch that I was paying interest until the 5th payment. Because I did not pay off the account within three months, I was charged back interest to the original payment...at a high 21% interest rate.
The credit card company said to call Ikea, and that if Ikea could document that they had that deal, they would credit back the interest and honor that arrangement. When I called Ikea...no one had ever heard of that deal.
I am not stupid. I am working on a doctoral degree and was at Ikea with another high level person. We are credit conscious, and there is no way either of us would have agreed to 3 mos no interest because we could not pay off 1200 in 3 months.
I don't know what happened. It's hard to believe that we were lied to. Perhaps we were just "helped" by a clueless sales associate...but the result is that I was hit with high interest and now have to pay off the bill in full to prevent further interest from accruing, or settle for this crappy deal.
I would have to say Ikea was at fault here for not giving us correct information or knowing the true sales terms for their credit cards. I definitely feel ripped off and angry...Make sure you get whatever they tell you in writing. If I could have produced that written agreement I could have forced the credit company to honor the deal that I was sold.
