I have a new reason to never go near a RadioShack store. This is in addition to the old and sufficient-in-itself reason that they rarely employ anyone who knows the first thing about electronics or radios or even shacks. I cannot recall the last time I asked a question in one of those places and got anything resembling a correct answer. I usually get back blank stares and I often have to explain the products to the salespeople. But there's this new reason, which is that I've realized how all-fired stupid I always wind up feeling after I go into one.
Last week, my mother needed something that would be most efficiently purchased at a RadioShack that was adjacent to a store I was patronizing anyway. The transaction would not involve any technical knowledge on the part of the staff so I thought it would be okay. Are you beginning to see the rumblings of my stupidity yet? Wait. You're about to view it in all its glory. I went in, found the item and was handing my Visa card to the guy when he asked, "Do you have a RadioShack discount card?" I said no. He asked if I wanted one. In Pavlovian response, I said yes. I have a zillion discount cards…too many to even carry in my wallet. I have a little case of them in my car and when I go somewhere, I take in the appropriate card. And note please that these are discount cards we're talking about here, not credit cards. I assumed what the RadioShack employee was offering me was a discount card because that is what he called it. More stupidity — on his part for saying it and mine for assuming this guy knew the difference.
Next thing I knew, he handed me a form to sign that began with words like, "I acknowledge that I have read and will abide by the terms of this agreement…" Showing a smidgen of common sense but not much more than that, I turned to the man and asked (a) what agreement? and (b) is this a credit card?
He told me they were all out of the agreement but, "It just says that you will make the payments."
I asked him, "Have you read this agreement?"
He said no, but that's what it says. I told him that I was not going to sign any document that said I'd read and would abide by the terms of an agreement that I hadn't seen, as summarized to me by someone who hadn't seen it either. Furthermore, I said, I did not want a credit card from them. "Okay," he said and he tore up the form he'd asked me to sign, whereupon I left with my purchase, feeling a bit stupid but not as stupid as I did about an hour ago. That's when my new Citibank RadioShack credit card arrived in the mail. I guess he used my Visa card somehow to get all the necessary information because they not only had my home address but my social security number and other personal info, as well.
I phoned the service number on the back of the card. After a very long wait on hold, a polite lady apologized profusely and told me she had just cancelled the account and that I could destroy the card. Fine…but I shouldn't have had to waste twenty minutes of my life to cancel a credit card I never wanted.
For some reason, I decided to waste a bit more and phoned the RadioShack in question. The manager apologized about eighteen times and said, "Yes, it is a credit card and the salesman should have made that clear to you before signing you up." I asked him about the agreements that people have to sign and he admitted that they'd been out of them for some time. People, he said, are still signing up for the cards even though they have to sign that they've read and will honor an agreement they haven't read. I guess you have to be pretty stupid to shop at a RadioShack. Not quite as stupid as you have to be to work in one…but close.