Why does a company have trouble identifying my two accounts?

By no means is this an excuse, it is only an explanation. As we advance the digital age, companies with legacy systems may have a difficult time recognizing you are the owner of two different accounts. The company had two individual systems that they ‘merged’ within their enterprise. Also has corporations grow, some departments may not have access to all the customer information, due to processes and/or legality. Its frustrating – feeling like you are caught in a loop, no one can help you completely and it is on your shoulders to untangle. A company may have a rewards program and a credit card program – these two teams may have struck guidelines regarding what information can be shared across departments.

Here are two examples I have experienced:

I had an store credit card with Macy’s (it was transferred from my store credit card from Hudson’s after their acquisition). The card sat unused for years. Needing some retail therapy, I saw Macy’s had great offers if you used your Macy’s credit card for the purchase. I was game.

At check out, the cashier informed me that I needed to ‘upgrade’ my account to a Macys/American Express card. The card I had in my hand was no longer valid. I really didn’t want to open an American Express card. I like limited the number of open accounts I have at one time. I just wanted the discount – I’ll use cash to pay for it.

I did open the account and purchased some Christmas gifts. They had some great sales. The statement arrived and I mailed in a check. The next month I received the statement missing the payment. I called, she found the error. The payment was applied to the closed account (giving it a credit) and the open account went unpaid. She took immediate took care of the problem in full. It was silly their systems let them apply a payment to a closed account, when there was an open account for the same person.

A long time ago I opened a traditional saving account with a bank that was in multiple states. At the time I traveled a lot, and we didn’t have the benefit of online banking. So I opened an account that appeared in all my travels.  I later found out that although they were all the same bank in name, legalities were preventing customers from depositing money in one state and accessing it another. (P.S. This was a long time ago, and I’m sure a lot has changed.