I have recently had a horrible experince with my local AT&T store. My husband and I first visited the store on Monday April 6th. We went with the intention of purchasing me an iPhone 6 and adding it to my husband's existing account. We picked out the phone, a case, a screen protector, and a car charger for my new phone. Also decided to purchase a Braven brand speaker that was on sale. Upon ringing us up, they ran our debit card and their computer system froze. The assocaite who had been helping us then called over a supervisor, showed her what was happening, and they asked us to check our bank account. We checked, and our checking account had been charged $277 for the purchase. This charge was still showing as pending, but with any bank acocunt, the amount had already been deducted from our available funds. The supervisor said they didn't see anything on their end and asked if we could slide the card again. I was hesitant because on our end, we had already been charged. We went ahead and tried again (this time for $266 because they had rung us up incorrectly the first time) and again, their computer froze. We checked our bank account again and we had been charged another $266. We now had a total of $543 that had been deducted from our available funds. The supervisor and associate then went into the back room. My husband and I waited for a long time until finally the senior store manager came onto the sales floor. He apologized for the whole thing and said that he had done some research and said once the first charge was done 'pending' it should fall off and the second charge of $266 would stay and post to our account. I checked the next day and both charges had posted to our account. Along with our rent check and two car payments leaving us with a whopping $97 in our joint checking account. I called and asked for the manager, told him that both charges had posted, and his response was "Yeah I knew that would happen. I'll have to call our accounting department in Atlanta and have them look into it." I didn't hear anything for several hours and called again. He said that acccounting was working on it and he would have to call me back. He didn't so I called him again on Thursday. He said that "Jack" from Atlanta was out of his office and he still hadn't heard anything. I asked if because the funds had been taken, if they could just do a cash refund (we purchased with a debit card) at the store level and I could have my money back. The store manager said "Yeah I guess we can do that." and I told him I would be in the next day (Friday) for my refund. I drove to the store on Friday during my lunch break from work. The store manager was not there but another woman said that he had already initiated the refund electronically and had called my husband to tell him that he had done so. No pending refund is showing in my bank account, I called my bank and they do not see any incoming funds to the account, I now have to wait Lord knows how many days for refunded funds to post, and I am going into the weekend with $86 in my bank account. I don't get paid until Thursday.
Ok, so:
1) Why did this happen in the first place? Why was I ever asked to slide my card again when there was a pending charge showing in my bank account? The money was obviously taken somewhere. The store manager should have either a) done a post void or b) checked the electronic journal to see if the transaction had occured after the computer froze.
2) Why did I have to keep calling to check up on this situation? Why was this not made a priority and kept up to date on the situation?
3) Why was a refund at the store level not the FIRST option? Why was I waiting for "Jack" in "Atlanta" to get back to work and get my money back?
4) Why did Julian (the store manager) not wait for me to come in on Friday to do a cash refund (AS WE HAD AGREED) and instead initiated a refund to my bank account. Refunds take days. Cash would have been much more convenient and faster. Also, why did Julian call my husband? I had been the one speaking with him the entire time. I was his point of contact. Why would he now leave me out of the discussion and call my husband instead?
I have worked retail for the better part of a decade and would NEVER let this happen to a customer let alone go about it in such a non-chalant manner. This is completey unacceptable. I would like to be contacted by the regional manager ASAP given that Julian clearly is completely disconcered with this matter.