Really? This is Customer Service at its Best

Last November, I sent an electronic check to US Airways to pay the first balance due on my new US Airways MasterCard. As is my practice, I sent payment several weeks before the date due as I don't like checks going astray and not being applied to my account. Imagine my surprise in December to receive my second bill from US Airways MasterCard showing that I still owed $179.10 -- plus a $20 late fee and interest ($2.40) accruing on my unpaid balance.

Thus began the customer service calls (20 minutes today with Tim) to figure out what went wrong and how to correct it, culminating in a heart-felt apology from Jake, the manager with whom I asked to speak after spending the 20 minutes with Tim. Jake claims that an internal audit was completed on my complaint and the first check was never received, so the second check I sent cleared the problem from the first billing cycle. Nope, US Airways MasterCard Services does not owe me a refund or a credit for a double payment, but they "notified" me of that decision in December (NOT). When I disagreed and said I have had no contact from US Airways MasterCard -- or I wouldn't be wasting my time contacting them again -- Jake explained that uh, it was a phone call that went directly to FAX, even though I don't have a fax and he had the correct home number. I had been told to allow two billing cycles for the refund to be posted, which is why I waited until today to do the follow-up.

Jake sounded sincerely sorry, a most practiced delivery from customer services that grates like fingernails across a blackboard. I'm wrong; US Airways MasterCard is right; if there's anything else we can do for you ... . Yep, there is: credit $179.10 to my account. I paid it, the back of the check clearly says "For deposit only US Airways Inc," so credit my account with the second payment of $179.10. No big deal: just do the right thing.

Well, says Jake, when we examined the documents you submitted under case PYT0108274, we discovered that the payment, although it does say "For deposit only US Airways, Inc," was actually deposited by JP Morgan Chase, which is not the credit card's bank (they use Barkley's), so no one owes me a refund or a credit back to my card for paying the same bill twice. And, he says, I was notified of this decision, which, of course, I was not or I would NOT again be on the phone trying to clarify the situation and get a refund credited to my account.

The $179.10 is a piddly sum to US Airways MasterCard, but to me it's a big issue in the way US Airways MasterCard does business -- and I'm not going to be party to it. Therefore, I asked for my current balance due, will send them a check, and then requested that the account be closed. It isn't worth the aggravation to deal with this company because if they'll do it once, they'll do it again. ...

but not to me!