Sometimes you find the Universe speaking to you. Yesterday I did not hear it at first. All I could hear was anger and, honestly, a bit of embarrassment as well. Here we are, just before Christmas. I've slacked and procrastinated getting gifts. We always do. Mainly because money just isn't available to go crazy and buy all the things we wish we could at one time. My husband and I took the day to do a little shopping and spend a little time together.
We went to our favorite jewelry store. The one we have used for years. The one we have an account with. I wanted to get a gift that meant something. Thinking about her being a new mother in just a few more weeks, I picked out a beautiful necklace for my son's girlfriend.
We follow the salesperson to the register. She asks about our account and conveniently my husband has his account card so she doesn't have to look it up manually. Everything is going great. Until...
For some ridiculous reason, the store (from the Sterling Family of Jewelers because yes, I'm going to call their asses out) has closed our account. The account we've had for YEARS. The account we just paid off in September. Allegedly, the closure was because we hadn't made a new purchase in the last six months. Like... seriously? Again, we've had this account for years. My husband makes a couple of purchases a year normally. However, the last purchase he made was a rather large one so we wanted to get it paid off before adding more to the account. Because we aren't stupid and trying to go into massive debt over jewelry.
The manager says that the account can simply be reopened. Except the account can not, in fact, be "simply" reopened. The salesperson calls whoever the salesperson needs to call. Nothing. She gives my husband an 800 number to call. He calls. We discover that the account was closed on December 6th. Thirteen days ago. Thirteen days! The lady on the phone tells him that the day the account was closed they mailed out a letter to inform him that the account was closed.
Here's a novel idea. How about you send out a letter BEFORE you close the account?! I could not believe this is how they operated. Because the account had just been closed, she could not reopen it so soon. We have to wait six months before the account can be reactivated. Guess what? Not doing it. Because if they can simply close an account it good standing with ZERO notice to the consumer, I do not want to do business with you any longer. Congratulations, you just lost at least two customers. I'm know that it will ultimately have no impact on the business.
I was angry. My husband was angry. We left the store and decided to go get something to eat the anger away. We sat there scarfing down our fresh fired pizza, it was then that I realized this was the Universe speaking. Telling me that I did not need to spend this extra money. What I do need was to stop, take a step back, and look at all that I already have.
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