We purchased a TV from SoundTrack per a 12 month interest free promotion financed by Household Retail Services. We didn't receive statements the first two months so we immediately notified HRS. According to HRS, the wrong city was listed in our account.

After the correction was made by HRS, we received all statements EXCLUDING the last statement prior to the promotion expiration date. We contacted HRS prior to the promotion expiration date to request a mailing address and payoff balance. The payoff balance was the original purchase price only - EXCLUDING any finance charges.

There was a $15 charge to process a payment via the telephone so we mailed a check to HRS after being reassured by the customer service representative that the payoff balance was good for 10 days. We mailed a check for the payoff balance the same day. The check cleared our account 3 weeks after it was mailed!

Our next statement's balance was $850 for finance charges @ 21%! We immediately contacted HRS to inquire further regarding the outstanding balance, and we were told that the payment was received and credited to our account after the promotion expiration date. We pleaded our case to numerous customer service representatives, but we were only offered HRS debt management services.

In order to protect our EXCELLENT credit rating, we RELUCTANTLY mailed a check for the finance charges at 21% plus late charges. Ironically, this check was mailed two weeks ago, and it has still not cleared our account! We contacted HRS again, and we were told that the check had not been received. This time we were told that a payoff balance can be processed via the telephone for free if the balance is paid in full.

Of course, we weren't offered this information at the time we inquired about paying off the balance before the promotion expiration date! Now, HRS has suggested that we stop payment on the check and make a payment online.