[ZTAngel]

It's not just the accents that bother me. It's the cultural differences as well that make the experience frustrating.

Years ago, before the days of online bill pay, I sent off a rent check to my roommate parents (they were the landlords) and then I sent off a check to Burdines (now Macy's) to pay my bill. I put the checks in the wrong envelope and didn't realize it until my roomie's parents called me and told me that they got a check written out to Burdines. Oops.

I called my bank and they told me that I didn't need to void the check since there was no way Burdines would be able to cash a check that wasn't written out to them. Of course, my bank was incorrect and that's a story in itself. Burdines ended up cashing my $550 rent check.

Of course, I wanted that $550 back. I called Burdines and asked for a refund. Their call centers are in India. The woman just did not understand my story. I'm not sure that they have checks in India so I don't think she could have even begun to understand what was going on. I kept telling her that I needed the refund from Burdines immediately since $550 is a lot and it wasn't even their money to begin with. She was not very nice and told me that Burdines wouldn't be able to issue me a refund until 30 days. What? I said to her, "I want the money back now! You all cashed a check that didn't belong to you." She snaps at me, "That's not possible. It couldn't have happened." Oh boy.....

I lost it on her. I'm not exactly sure what I said to her because I was in such a blind rage but it was something like, "Are you calling me a liar?! I have proof. I have a copy of the check with the 'To' line to my landlords and the Burdines stamp on the back of the same check. You want me to fax that over to you to prove that it is possible and that it did happen?! Don't you ever call me a liar! And put your manager on the phone. I want your manager to know you just called me a liar." Not one of my finer moments but I was pissed. She put me on hold and came back a minute later to let me know that they'd be cutting me a check that day for $550. At least I got my way....

I just don't think someone at an American call center would have flat out said to me that what happened with my check couldn't have happened. Someone in a US call center would know that it definitely could happen.