I just called today: I told the woman my concern and that I had intended to pay the full $650 balance on time (which I did the day before, late, after receiving a collection call). And to quote: “let me look into that and see if we can do anything… Okay sir, based on your account history with us that’s no problem at all. We’ll clear that right up. I see you’ve made all your payments on time in the past, and you’ve been a very good customer.”

I’ve never made a late payment for a credit card before. I once made the minimum payment instead of the balance by accident with Citi. I did the same thing and the finance charges were cleared up right away.

Honestly, I think any credit card company will do this, if you have the right credit score and history with them. Negative past items just may be haunting the people who didn’t have such luck here.

Now student loans on the other hand… I made one payment about 20 days late because i had moved and forgot about it. They of course decided not to post it until EXACTLY 30 days late, so they could wreck my credit scores. I fought with them for 3 months, I had my bank advocating for me. I eventually gave up, the loan company had the supreme power in the end and I found out ‘that department does not accept incoming calls’ (the one that makes these decisions final).

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I hardly ever shop at Walmart. The stuff I did get there usually fell apart. And don’t get me started on the clothes!

I’ve had much better luck at discount stores like T.J. Maxx and Ross. The stuff there really does sell elsewhere for the MSRP, whereas the stuff at Walmart is just made to be cheap.

If I need something that I can’t find at either of those stores, I’ll head to Target. The stuff is often just as cheap as at Walmart (sometimes cheaper), but it tends to be nicer.

You do have to be careful with what you buy. Thanks, K, for the advice on the towels. I’m in the market for new ones, and now I know where not to buy them. I find people’s different experiences kind of funny. I’m on my 5th year of using my Walmart curling iron.

I struggle with the ethics of shopping at Walmart. I haven’t seen the documentary, but I do know there are some concerns. On the other hand, because I am in the store so often, I have gotten to know some of the door greeters and cashiers. They are genuinely good people who seem to enjoy their jobs. And if everyone stopped shopping at Walmart, they’d be out of their jobs.

I also bought two phones. Neither of them worked either.

I just got sick of returning merchandise. Such a waste of time.

Of course, on the ethical side, a well-made documentary about Wal-Mart’s business practices persuaded me I should no longer shop there.

I found a great deal at Walmart on some towels. After seeing what terrible quality their clothing items had I decided to buy only one multiple package to check them out as they were all tethered together with those little plastic things so you couldnt see the quality inside.

I got them home and untethered them and every single towel had a flaw of some kind on them. I would have called them “irregulars” although they weren’t marked as such.

After much thought I decided that for the price I could live with these irregulars as most were what I would call ‘blemished’ but still should stand up to use for the most part.

So I went back and got 2 more packages of 6 towels each. Took them home and washed them up (NO fabric softener). Clipped all the loose threads, etc.

Then I noticed as I began using them that they weren’t drying the dishes. They just smeared the water around. They didn’t absorb the water. And they were all cotton towels.

Don’t know what is up with that but wont be buying anything from Walmart in the future unless it is vitamins or toothpaste etc. I guess you get what you pay for.

If I ever get to the point that I force myself out of inertia to buy something I’ll probably ask for opinions. The fridge hasn’t died yet, bless all 23 years of her, and the vacuum… well, we have one. It is okay. If you first rub every inch of the floor with your hands and make a huge ball of hair from me and the cats and throw that away. it does not do well with hair.

gross… yes. Annoying… yes. Good use of my time…. no. But I’m afraid to buy another anyway :)