Many many years ago when I was in grad school my wife and I were really struggling. We had a Sears credit card and missed a couple of payments on a rather small balance. Because of their credit policy we lost a ton of credit at a time we were just getting started. They reported us as credit risks and when we went to purchase a small home that we could afford we could not get a loan because of their reporting policy. Of course we paid them but they would not agree to remove the notice that would go out to the lenders. So I think this is when it all started about customer relations.
But I do understand about your personal connections with the stores and your loss too.