Joan E. Cannon sent a message to Marvin R. Ellison - President of J. C. Penney Company Inc.- email address that said:
I am a retired banker, FVP of Bank Operations Administration for Arizona Bank in Tucson Az (AKA Compass Bank). I have been a customer for many years. I shop at the El Con store on Tucson and have always been happy with the service, the employees go out of their way to be friendly and helpful. For the last 2-3 years I have made my payments on line, I set them up during the month to pay on the due date, a one time payment. I checked my account last week and discovered an automatic payment was made on Sept. 22nd and my on line payment posted on Sept. 23rd (due date). Checking further it appeared my account was set up for recurring payments. There have been changes made to the web site looks upgraded and all I can determine is that somehow the changes were made on my account. I did not make the change, why would I when I have been taking care of payments myself for several years. The two payments were $197.57 each which gave me a credit balance. I contacted CS and he politely referred me to an account supervisor who was polite but said they could only refund the amount of the credit balance which was roughly $112.00 that was not satisfactory and I asked to speak to a manager. I was put in contact with an Account Manager whose name is Meelina or Meelima . In a very cut and dried manner she informed me I could be refunded the full amount but I had to wait 7 days for the transactions to clear my bank account I explained the error was not mine and the two payments had been posted to my checking account and hopefully she could see the 2 payments om my JC Penney account. She continually quoted company policy to me. She told me I could send a letter from my bank or a copy of my statement which made no sense as far as timing.. I understand the wait period a bank has certain procedures re: returning checks or posted transactions. I explained an on line transaction would hit a checking account and bounce immediately if there was no OD protection so the transaction would be returned to your processing bank . I also mentioned that I was a long time customer and would hardly try to get money from JC Penney in a less than honest fashion. All she did was continue to quote company policy and tell me the money would be refunded starting Saturday the 30th and a check would be mailed to me. I asked why the transaction could not be credited back to my checking automatically I was told that could not be done and was not company policy. The young woman was very cut and dried made no effort to apologize just quoting policy. As a long time banker I know full well about policy, I wrote and implemented policy as part of my job.I also know that someone in a managerial position or any position dealing with the public should never quote company policy as a reason for a solution . I called the El Con store just to express my frustration . I spoke to an assistant Manager named Hugo who was very apologetic and said he didnt have any way to help, which I did not expect) but to please come into the store meet him and accept a $25.00 gift card . You have a good employee in this young man, he knew how to handle an irate customer. I understand your policies but someone in a management position, such as Meelima should use better judgement and at least try to show empathy . I asked to speak to someone else and she informed me there was noone else who could help. I was going to close my account but that would make more inconvenience for me than you. Just had to express my frustration. I know people in her position deal with a lot of angry people and some who are not honest, however there are those of us who are honest and expect courtesy in return.
Thank you.
Joan E. Cannon
