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Sears has sold its credit operations to Citigroup, effective in late 2003, which may (or, then again, may not) correct some of the practices consumers complain about.
Darren of Portland, OR, writes:
I received a call from people who live at a former address of mine that I have not lived at for nearly a year. They had a Sears card sent to them in my name. After thanking them and getting all pertenant info ie. the account number off the card, I called Sears Credit. They informed me that it was not a new card, but an upgrade to an existing account. Neat trick considering I do not have an existing account. I cancelled my only account with Sears nearly two years ago. In fact, when I recently purchased an item at Sears, I was solicited by the Sales person there to open an account. Not only did I decline, but gave explicit instructions to not solicite me through the mails for an account. Not only did Sears disregard this, but they sent a card to the wrong address!
Thankfully, the people who received the card were honest. Had they not been, than the burdon of proof would have been on me, and in the mean time my credit would have been raked through the mud. I also spent an exorbitant amount of time on hold waiting to clear this up.
William of Lithonia, GA, writes:
I went to Sears in Tucker Ga. to buy an iMac computer. The salesperson suggested that I buy the computer using a special Sears charge account. Using my Social Security number the salespersaon determined that I could do so.
I did not buy the computer because the credit terms were too expensive. Sears used the info to open a general account in my name and started to do internal service and insurances charges to the account. I now have a charge account at Sears which I never requested. I cannot locate anyone at Sears who has to authority to investigate the false account.
I am sure I am not the only victim of the snafu and I am searching for others who has been victimized by Sears. I never made any charges to the false account and I cannot pay the bill as this would validate it.
William should report this to the Federal Trade Commission. We would certainly like to hear from anyone else who's had this experience. Please tell us about it.
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