I will add this here for if anyone who has any questions or just wants to read this mess, since I would not want someone to waste as much time as I had to do and since I had trouble finding information to go by.
NSF? As someone suggested, really? But no.
Well, to help everyone who is in this situation since I am still very annoyed at the way all of this has handled. As the Issue is not fully resolved but at least the ball seems to be rolling in the right direction. It simply took way to long and too much of my time. As I never thought it would have to be escalated 3 times, now.
But no, that was not it. However, last supervisor I spoke said the official Freedom stand was that my bank screw up and to call them. Called the bank, talked to them, essentially guy laughed out loud, not joking. Stated that fault was clearly on Freedom's side. So did I, that was never in question. But, I had to go through the motions in order to document it. So I can go back to Freedom with this already obvious information.
Earlier when I spoke to Freedom, told them I was recording the call and that I was writing to the VP of CS. CS sounded nervous as I said that, bit shaky in the voice, I think. Told him he should only worry if he was lying to me. He soon offered me $30 for my trouble. That was unexpected. Yet, I told them to not insult me. CS said that they would transfer me to a supervisor, I refused, as I told them that I had already done that and that they would just parrot the same. CS countered and said that they would be able to up compensation. So with that, I agreed. Spoke to supervisor, she then offered me $20 instead, or $5 for 4 months? I laughed out loud. When I said that the CS I had just talked to had said $30, she responded in complete deadpan, 'I see no record of that in your file.' Implying that I was lying and that, that was that.
Remember, this take away: CS will lie over nothing. CS will tell you one thing and then not write it on the ticket. So when you talk to someone else, they can backtrack under the guise that it is not written on ticket when convinient. This has happened to me more than once and not this one instance.
ALWAYS be aware of this when you talk to them. But this time it broke the cammel's back.
Told her to get the other guy back, as I was telling the truth about what he had said. She said, 'can't do that, system does not work that way.' I said that I had worked in a call centre and I knew that what she was saying was complete lie, or that I could wait for her to get up and go talk to the guy or to call him in if needed, since I had already wasted hours with them, and that an extra 30 min, would not kill me. She said "No." That she was only following procedure. Told her that I was recording the call. Puts me hold, comes back a minute or two later and offers me $30 for my trouble.
Told her that I would take it if only because I was tired of this whole thing but that I was aggrevated by their service and that I still needed to talk to someone in Canada. Since the service I had received had been beneath subpar. She escalates, says that it will take days.
Posted on Twitter that I was going to send a letter to VP of CS, by name, due to bad customer service, tagging all competitors that would fit in the post. Tagged Freedom, too. Giving one last chance for call back.
Got a call from some 3rd line support not too long after, saying that they were contacting me due to a letter I had sent through their site a few days ago but timing seems questionable. As they called soon after my post. So, not sure, and albeit very polite, at this point my trust in Freedom has eroded to nothing. He was super friendly, said there would no ticket made but gave me a voice call ticket? I am not even sure what that means, except that it might not show up in the 1St line's ticket tracking? Admitted to being their fault in a runabout way. Focusing on 'fixing the issue,' and that he would work so the issue would end there. He also made sure to let me know the call was being recorded.
So, even though the funds where there, he was careful to not directly admit fault, but essentially told me that their service provider had flagged my account and that is why my payment had been rejected... it is worth noting that he backtracked on using the word flagged right after, plus refused to tell me reason or code when asked directly. He said he did not know. I now doubt that statement. Said my money was safe, that my money had been in limbo, that it should have been credited back. Adding that it should have been done earlier. Admitted that it took surprisingly longer but that he would see what they could do on his end. Also he upped the $30 to $40. He said he had seen the issue before and that it was something that happened 'rarely.'
Up to that point no one had stated that my accound had been 'flagged.' Told me to not pay Visa and to pay through any other means. Why? Well, apparently, had I payed again with it, which I was literally going to do that day for my next bill, then those funds would have also been rejected and gone into limbo. WTF? I spoke to 3 CS, 3 supervisors and no one advised me of that. Yet, when I looked back the last supervisor told me to use another way to pay but never said why. I do not even know if they knew or it was a coincidence as their service is so utterly inconsistent but the clear thing now is that their 1St line CS WILL lie so will their supervisors. Most of the time by ommision. Since I had paid through the My Account App on my phone. Something that I have been doing for the lion share of 4+ years, using the same card too, for most of the time. A better explanation would have helped.
Their approach for most of this experience is of trying to blame me, which has been part of the entire problem. Since 1st line's take is that I am lying --by reminding me, mostly through their script that it is I who has to go make the payment even though I already had, telling them I already had, going insofar as do providing transaction number. They said this, over and over, on every single call-- even though their 3rd line clearly admitted to it being their (payment?) service provider that was at fault. Or at the very least, be proactive enough to honestly look into it without having to sound like an automaton half the time. Since I had escalated the issue more than once. And they had closed the ticket in the past. They called me one Sunday night during dinner time, I get to my phone, call is gone. Literally 1 minute later I get a message that the\ ticket has been closed because they could not get a hold of me, so I would have to go through their excruciating call centre proccess, again. WTF? That is yet another reason I am annoyed with all of this.
I am still sending the letter. I wasted so much time, so might as well, now. Seriously thinking of switching as tab is finished even though I like my plan. I was thinking of getting a A50 or A70 but now? Partner was going to get another phone too but I might as well give the money to the competition. Never have I had such stupendously bad customer service and I would know, since I worked in one as a kid and I remember the basic procedures, so I recognize a few things in the way they do things.
Freedom's procedures are terrible, likely due to trying to save money and the fact the call centre are another continent(s). They have to review their agreement but I know they won't, because clearly, either Freedom is aware of this and accepts it as a pragmatic money saving device, or their call centres are fudging tickets to make themselves look better in order to justify their contract. Most call centres do this, the issue is by how much. The worse the place the more they fudge. Since one of the basic metrics of judging a call centre's expense is measuring the percentage of issues that have to be escalated outside of it, that is to their 3rs line, or whatever structure Freedom uses. But the level of service is night and day compared to a Canadian CS.
I also find it funny that my bank's script, when a CS picks up the call is to tell you where they are. Always a Canadian site. Guess, this is really a selling point now for many companies.
Reflecting on this, since I seriously doubt Freedom is going to do anything of positive consequence, since in the end, I am a nobody, would be to submit a CCTS complaint from the get go if you encounter this type of issue. Or you risk doing want I did: Wasting hours upon hours over a course of weeks over something that could have been easily fixed in 1 day. Maybe 5 at the very most if they were trained properly and told the customer what to expect.
If you are thinking of going with Freedom be aware that this could as easily happen to you as it did to me. All I did was pay my bill in the same way I have done in the past. Since the issue here is not that they made a mistake, but they went so out of their way to avoid fault, and then handled it poorly, and blatantly LIED until I spoke from someone from their mythical 3rd line, which feels like small quest just get in touch with. This was not some issue over thousands of dollars or hundreds, but pocket change, comparatively speaking. It was such a waste of time for everyone involved.