corporate greed

We recently e-mailed Target through their investor relations. We asked some very important questions on their online bill pay policy, and we also asked for answers as to why they don’t disclose their terms of service agrrements up front before a potential shopper gives their personal information to Target.

here is our e-mail to Target:

Re: REDcard application

June 12, 2008

To whom it may concern:

                In the consumer interest of applying for a “REDcard” we visited the link: http://redcard.target.com/redcard/page.jsp?contentid=rc_choose. Now on the left column of this web page is another link that allows potential cardholders to view “rates and fees.” We visited this link and there was a brief overview of what to expect. So, after clicking on the “Apply” link we noticed three tabs at the top of the application. The third tab is of concern “Rates, Terms, and Fees.” One of our questions to you is, should this link not be readily accessible first? Should the consumer be able to make an informed decision based on facts before they enter any vital information, i.e. Social security #’s?  Why would Target not allow potential shoppers to view all pertinent information?  Some of the most important questions, what is the cancellation fee for a Target credit card? What are the maintenance fees? If the valued consumer uses “online bill pay” and then decides to cancel their account before the bill is entirely paid, why does Target also close the online portion of their account? By closing their online account, and not sending a paper bill to the consumer that would put that consumer in a precarious spot, because they do not know how much, and when to pay their bill. If an online account is closed, why does Target not automatically revert the consumers account to standard postal correspondence?

We ask these questions not blindly. We have been contacted by consumers who have experienced extraneous fees with little to no help from your customer service department. 

We look forward to hearing your response to these questions.

Sincerely,

corporateabuse@gmail.com

We hope to have a reply soon. so while we wait we can look at what our friends over at the FTC did to sub-prime credit card companies with deceptive practices. Yes Target executives you should read this too.

UPDATE! JUNE 19th 2007

Just as we expected, Targets InvestorRelations@target.com did not respond to our e-mail. This was a chance for them to defend their actions. If they will not even answer as so much to say “we will get back to you soon”, or something, then we have to ask why even bother applying for their financial services? They exhibit poor relations with the public when they cannot even take the time to answer a simple e-mail. So we ask that you the consumer, to avoid applying for a Target card as we have shown they will not answer when they are put on the hot seat.