Amazon 24 months NO interest NO payments MacBook Pro
[UPDATE] I need to update and point out that the really crummy organization here is GE Money who plays the role of Amazon's credit department in this story as they are the bank that underwrites, or guarantees. Amazon CS reps have the call notes from the day of purchase that quote the credit department: "we were told by X, from credit, no interest and no minimum monthly payments on selected computer." Some total winner named Gwen from GE Money said "I don't care what X said, she's only one person in the company."
I "bought" my new MacBook Pro a couple months ago when Amazon offered a deal of interest free financing for 24 months with NO MINIMUM PAYMENTS. The catch is that if I have to pay it off in full within 24 months or the interest is charged retroactively.
I couldn't believe it so I called Amazon customer service to confirm. They confirmed. I had to pay for it with an Amazon.com store card, so I opened an account. Problem was that the card had a $1500 limit, so we conference called the credit department to increase the limit. No problem. I had the credit department confirm, again, that I didn't have to make any payments for 24 months. I asked "Are you saying that I don't have to pay a thing, that when the monthly bill comes I can ignore it?" That seemed like an unequivocal enough question.
They confirmed.
Two months later I got a call from Amazon credit (GE Money). They wanted to know why I hadn't made a payment.
Damn. They denied ever making such an offer. No interest, sure, but no minimum payments was not part of the deal they said. The young woman even kind of mocked my idea that such a deal would have been offered. I screamed at the top of my lungs into the phone. She hung up on me.
I googled and wayback-machined for hours trying to find some evidence. None. Amazon doesn't google-cache well. I should have taken a screen cap of the offer. I wrote down the names of the reps I had talked to but Amazon has call centers all over the world and nobody was familiar with the names I offered.
I decided to keep calling Amazon CS in the hopes that I might stumble upon the person I originally talked to or someone who new of them. All I got was condescending, yellow laughter.
Then I found Kai. He searched back through my account's call records and found a call record that quoted the name I had taken down from the credit department which said "we were told by X, from credit, no interest and no minimum monthly payments on selected computer."
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I post this here in case someone else jumped on the deal and is googling around looking for a little evidence that it was offered because GE Money is trying to deny offering it. Maybe it was a typo, but on May 20, 2008, it was there.
I "bought" my new MacBook Pro a couple months ago when Amazon offered a deal of interest free financing for 24 months with NO MINIMUM PAYMENTS. The catch is that if I have to pay it off in full within 24 months or the interest is charged retroactively.
I couldn't believe it so I called Amazon customer service to confirm. They confirmed. I had to pay for it with an Amazon.com store card, so I opened an account. Problem was that the card had a $1500 limit, so we conference called the credit department to increase the limit. No problem. I had the credit department confirm, again, that I didn't have to make any payments for 24 months. I asked "Are you saying that I don't have to pay a thing, that when the monthly bill comes I can ignore it?" That seemed like an unequivocal enough question.
They confirmed.
Two months later I got a call from Amazon credit (GE Money). They wanted to know why I hadn't made a payment.
Damn. They denied ever making such an offer. No interest, sure, but no minimum payments was not part of the deal they said. The young woman even kind of mocked my idea that such a deal would have been offered. I screamed at the top of my lungs into the phone. She hung up on me.
I googled and wayback-machined for hours trying to find some evidence. None. Amazon doesn't google-cache well. I should have taken a screen cap of the offer. I wrote down the names of the reps I had talked to but Amazon has call centers all over the world and nobody was familiar with the names I offered.
I decided to keep calling Amazon CS in the hopes that I might stumble upon the person I originally talked to or someone who new of them. All I got was condescending, yellow laughter.
Then I found Kai. He searched back through my account's call records and found a call record that quoted the name I had taken down from the credit department which said "we were told by X, from credit, no interest and no minimum monthly payments on selected computer."
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
I post this here in case someone else jumped on the deal and is googling around looking for a little evidence that it was offered because GE Money is trying to deny offering it. Maybe it was a typo, but on May 20, 2008, it was there.
4 Comments:
I was looking at buying a D700 this way on Amazon. Unlike your experience, which I find disturbing - I do believe that they'd make such an offer, it possibly being a slip up, and then deny it as a typographical error or deny it outright, which is what they appear to be doing. That's not OK. The fact that you were laughed at over the phone is really infuriating.
This time around, though, the fine print states " No Interest if Paid in Full in 24 Months...Minimum monthly payments required."
No idea how high those payments will be, but, it's a check of a lot easier then dishing out 3k on it right away. Would you suggest against it or have your (unplanned) payments been going alright?
Thanks!
By
Nick, at August 22, 2008
I'm still in the middle of it, but have finally gotten someone who is going to listen to the call recordings. I'll post the results here.
By
sitenoise, at August 22, 2008
I should add that the most disturbing part is Amazon CS pretending like it is all a GE Money issue and they have no ability to converse with them. Bullshit. And GE money says they have no way to contact Amazon about the call notes. Everybody was afraid to contact anybody associated with the calls in question.
By
sitenoise, at August 22, 2008
I am so glad someone posted this, because I got thoroughly hosed by both Amazon and GE money. They had a special at the end of 2008 on HDTV's. You could get the Amazon store card and pay no interest and NO MINIMUM PAYMENT for 24 months. They gave me a credit limit of $1900 but my purchase ended up being $1915 just slightly over, so they had to re-do my order and up my credit limit. Well first month I made no payment I get a $35.00 late fee which they waived. I tell the guy on the phone the terms of the agreement and he says he'll take care of it. Well I didn't make a payment in March, now I'm getting a call from collections, which sends me back to Amazon. I speak with Amazon who says they have never offered a deal like this, to which I say B___Sh__!!! They did offer this, and now after reading this post I know they did. It's the old bait and switch game, so if I don't make the minimum payment every month their going to charge me a $35.00 late, unbelievable!!!
By
Anonymous, at April 05, 2009
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