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BITS AND PIECES - 6/8/2008
(by Howard Ball - OpEd Columnist - June 08, 2008)
Systemic failures
Back in February and March I finally decided to leave one community bank and transfer my vast fortune to another. This had nothing to do with the staff at the first bank. They were kind and friendly and I hated to leave them.
The corporate bank lurked like a money monster and took every opportunity to sock me for a fee I thought I did not deserve. On the other hand, a bright young staffer at Bank Number Two gave me a good solution to my problem so I changed.
The names will not be used to avoid legal implications. (Except Frank, who I think is in Calcutta or Bombay or whatever they call it now…)
Changing banks is something more than just switching from the blue checkbook to the brown one. There are convenient services called "autopay" and "direct deposit " that must be changed or your money will be in the wrong place.
I found the folks at Social Security very helpful and in a painless phone conversation changed my bank with a firm schedule. Although there were long waits on the phone I thought my utilities got the message that I was in a new bank and the old one was closed. The old people’s club and insurance company were easy. I needed my television for “Jeopardy,” so I talked to those folks and got it changed. All I had to do was sit back and let the computers buzz and pay my bills.
As the bard of Avon once wrote, "tis a consummation devoutly to be wished."
But then on May 22 the gas company tried to draw money from the closed account in the former bank. The wonderful woman I have dealt with for many years called to inform me of the problem. The corporate folks sent me a bill for $33 on an overdrawn account (actually closed).
I then got a letter from the gas company telling me they could not collect and I was billed $15. I checked my records and found I had indeed changed the bank routing and account numbers with the gas company according to their rules.
I called the phone number on the letter and at credit and collection got a nice young lady who said credit and collection could not help me. She gave me the number of auto pay and told me to call them. The fellow at auto pay was polite but said he could do nothing and I should call credit and collection. I asked if he and credit collection worked for the gas company and he said yes.
When I called credit and collection again another nice person insisted they could do nothing. I insisted they better do something or else. I finally asked to speak to a supervisor. The young person told me he was busy but would call back. He did, two hours later and agreed that the gas company had all the correct information. He said they would forget the $15 fee, but I had to call autopay to straighten it out.
I called autopay again and got a hapless staffer who hadn't the least idea of what to do. I asked for a supervisor and that is when they hooked me up with Frank.
Frank said honestly he could not make autopay fix the error. He said I should try to pay by phone and he would help me. In a conference call pay by phone told us I had a balance of zero and hung up.
After I stopped the hysterical laughing, Frank said we should make a conference call with credit and collections. We did and neither Frank nor the fellow at c. and c. could come up with a solution. The fellow at c. and c. timidly asked me if I would mind sending them a paper check for the balance (minus $15). I thought of all the time I had wasted with this corporate monster and wrote the check and put it in the mail.
So much for autopay and the computer age.
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