Determining The Lie With A Compass
I made passing mention the other day that I believed Compass bank was the worst bank on earth, I didn't explain further because I really fear I'm getting this on-line reputation of a grumpy old man who complains a lot.
I really would feel bad if I took that title away from more deserving grumpy old men
I'm only kidding Clarence...and by the way happy birthday.
This is a long story but I'll try to simplify it.
Amy
However, the last time Amy was in the hospital she needed some cash and decided to take out the remaining 40 dollars the ATM showed she had as her balance. To make a long story short, she didn't have 40 dollars in the account; she had 3 dollars, even though the ATM said she had 40.
Nine days later I received a notice saying the account was over drawn and had been charged a 35 dollar overdraft fee. It said if I didn't pay the outstanding balance in 8 days from the date of the notice (9 days previous) we would be charged again. I stormed over to the bank and was greeted with shrugs and incompetence. I grudgingly paid 107 dollars...70 dollars in fees, plus the 37 dollars Amy withdrew over the 3 dollars she actually had in the account.
I was furious, Amy was furious...but we had more pressing matters to deal with so we took the account down to zero and said we'd deal with it later. Amy eventually convinced a rather snide person on the phone to waive one of the 35 dollar fees.
Anyway, we've been by the bank 3 times since then trying to close the account and each time we've had to sign our names on a list and wait. Each time after about 15 to 30 minutes we left. Today we decided to wait them out.
Eventually a very pleasant young lady handled our issues. She smiled, talked a lot about unrelated matters, and then refused to waive any fees. She did manage to close the account.
In the process I asked her how it was possible that an ATM could allow you to withdraw more money than you had in your account. She told me, and this is the truth, "Well, these things are calculated using certain dynamics such as the possibility that you might have direct deposit."
We didn't have direct deposit on that account....we had 3 dollars.
So I posed it again hypothetically...I said, "If I came in here and opened an account with 20 dollars, could the next day I go to an ATM and take out 300?"
I swear to you she told me, "Well, this is all based on a matrix of factors most of which are spelled out in your disclosure statement."
Huh? I gave up on that one and instead asked how it was possible that I could mail items to people in India and the Persian gulf and they receive them in 6 days, but that two notices telling us our account was overdrawn took exactly 9 days each to reach us; exactly one day late for me to avoid being charged a 35 dollar over draft fee?
I swear her answer was, "These items are sent to Atlanta where they are transcribed and then a certain set of processes are used before the overdraft mailings are sent out."
Huh? Where do they hire people like this...manure factories?
For the benefit of those of you who might not speak the language...this is gibberish. In my opinion, it is in fact a lie. This young woman, nice as she may be, had no idea what the heck her company does and, in my opinion, Compass bank purposely finagles as many "fees" as possible and delays sending notices of overdrafts in order to double those charges.
I asked for copies of the "disclosure statements" which supposedly spelled all this out for us. The young woman didn't have the exact copies, but the pamphlet she gave me contained enough of the "bank speak" to give me the general idea....again, for your benefit I'll translate, "Compass bank can tell you anything, charge you anything, and change the rules and rates of its charges at any time without notifying you, unless there's some law somewhere against it and you happen to find it."
Dynamic Transcribed Matrix.
If this were algebra that would work out to an equation something like this: D+T+M= BS
We have accounts at 2 other banks, I've had accounts at perhaps 15 banks in my lifetime, and never have I heard such unadulterated monetary malarkey.
There's more....the way they lured Amy into setting up an account was with the promise that they never charge "ATM" fees, plus they reimburse fees charged by other banks if you used their ATM's. That sounds pretty good. Until you read the disclosure statement which states you must save every ATM withdrawal slip and mail it to Compass with a request for reimbursement. Then they'll reimburse you, unless they change their minds and the "disclosure statement" says they can change their policy at any time without any notice.
I have felt betrayed by Citibank for charging exorbitant interest rates, but at least they were honest about being greedy slime. I have felt dismayed by Chase for outsourcing their customer service to India and being unwilling to treat us like human beings, but Compass bank...in my opinion...is the worst bank on earth.
I'm done being grumpy now....I think I'll go back and look at the pictures in the previous post.
posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main
1 Comments
1 Comments:
I am fed up with Compass Bank and their so called customer service. Because of all the problems I have had over the last few months I refuse to set foot in the branch by my home. Every person who works there does not know how to do their job. This is a letter i wrote back in March when all of this started.
Re: unsatisfactory service
On Saturday, February 26, 2005 I found unauthorized charges on my checking account. Someone had got a hold of my Paypal account information and was trying to make purchases using my debit card. There was a $20 purchase made and an attempt to make a $795 purchase that caused the bank to charge me $35 for NSF. I went to the branch location near my home to find out how to fix this problem.
Josh was the person at the counter to wait on me. He gave me a 1-800 number to call and have my account frozen. I used a phone in the bank and tried to call 4 times. Every time I pressed the option to report a problem with my account I got disconnected. By this point I was getting very upset. Josh had been no help; he just said call this number. I went back up to the counter very upset and in tears. Josh called the 1-800 number and got a real person. From what Josh told me, my account was going to be frozen and no activity would be allowed on it. I said I wanted to close the account and open a new checking account. Josh said that was not a problem but I would need to come back on Monday to sign the paperwork. He had a printout of my account and wrote down on it that I would be back on Monday, February 28, 2005 at 12pm to sign the papers for my new account.
On Monday, February 28, 2005 at 12pm I went back to the bank to get my new account, so I thought. I walked up to the counter and Melissa waited on me this time. I told her what I was there for and she knew nothing about it. She tried to give a 1-800 number to call and I told her I had already done that. She proceeds to look up my account on the computer. She told me my account could not be frozen just because of an unauthorized transaction. She said the account could only be set to receive deposits and that would not let any more withdrawals go through. I told her that was okay to do. I just did not want anyone else to try and use my information. Then she called Jennifer Goss, who opens accounts, and asked her if she knew why I was there. She said she knew nothing and was with another customer so I would have to wait. I was using my lunch hour and could not wait for Jennifer Goss. I told Melissa Josh was the one who told me I would be able to come in and everything would be ready for me. Melissa said, ?Josh is not here so we don?t know anything about what he did and can?t help you right now.? Nobody even seemed to want to try and help me. This really upset me. I spent my lunch hour going to the bank and it was a complete waste of my time. I told Melissa I would be back on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 at 12:15 to get this taken care of. She said she would let Jennifer Goss know.
On Tuesday, March 1, 2005 at 10:30 am I called the bank to make sure Jennifer Goss had done the paperwork. I did not want to waste another trip over to the bank. Melissa said the paperwork was ready and Jennifer would see me at 12:15pm. I went to the bank again on my lunch hour and saw Jennifer Goss. She had the paperwork there for me. But then she said didn?t understand what I was trying to do. I again explained what happened with Paypal. Then she seemed to understand. She showed me the paperwork and asked me some questions about what features I use i.e.: online baking, bill pay. Then she asked me what money I was going to use to open the new account. I told her I was going to use the money I already had there at the bank. This seemed to really confuse her. So I explained as carefully as I could. I told her I wanted my existing account closed and the money that was in that account would be used to open the new account. She finally understood what I was trying to do. She made a comment about this situation being a mess for me (Vicki). I just shook my head. After I signed the paperwork Jennifer asked for my email address, a user name for online banking, a security question for online banking, and the information I wanted printed on my checks. She had a piece of paper on her desk. I wrote down my email address and username then she wrote down the security question information and what I wanted on my checks; name, address, phone number, drivers license number and to start the checks at 3000. She said I would receive an email with the rest of the information I needed to use my account online. She then asked if I had any outstanding checks on my old account. I told her there was one check for $12. She said she would leave enough money in that account for that check. At this point in time I assumed my account was still only set to receive deposits and the bank would be watching for this one check to clear.
I found Jennifer Goss to be very inept. She did not seem to understand anything easily. When I left the bank that day I did feel comfortable with her handling my accounts and money.
On Friday, March 4, 2005 I received my new checks in the mail. They only had my name and address on them and started at 1000. So Saturday morning I went back to the bank and told them the checks were wrong. Josh was the one to help me. I told him Jennifer Goss had written everything down but did not place the correct order. He reordered the checks. Monday, March 7, 2005 I received and email from Paypal that they had tried to process the $795 transaction again but my bank refused it. So I checked my old account online and to my surprise there was another $35 NSF charge and the account was not closed. I called the bank to speak to the manager, Jennifer Jenson but she was not available and I had to leave a voicemail. She tried to call me back at 5:20pm that same day but I was not home yet and she left a message on my answering machine.
On Tuesday, March 8, 2005 at 10am I went back to the bank to speak with the manager, Jennifer Jenson about this whole mess. She really didn?t care what I had to say. To me she was very cold and very smug and talked down to me. I wanted to know what I could do to get the two $35 NSF charges reversed and find out why my account was not closed when I thought it had been. Pretty much everything I had been told from Josh, Melissa and Jennifer Goss had been wrong.
She told me my account could not just accept deposits if I had outstanding checks. She told me the account had not been closed because of the one outstanding check. She then said there was nothing she could do about the two $35 NSF charges. According to her those charges were made because of the actions Paypal took (trying to put the $795 transaction through twice). I told her these were unauthorized transactions and I should not be charged. I did not understand why the bank was charging me when they refused the transaction. She again said those charges were made because of the actions Paypal took (trying to put the $795 transaction through twice). I told her I wanted the old checking account closed right away. She closed it.
I went on to the next problem, my checks. I told her they were wrong when they came in and I had to reorder. She said Jennifer Goss wrote down what I wanted and that was what was ordered. I told her Jennifer Goss did write down what I wanted because I saw her do it but that is not what came on my checks. So Jennifer looked up the order in the computer. The order showed only my name and address! Then she said I guess Jennifer Goss didn?t put in all the information. I also told her I had never received an email about the online banking and when I called the PC banking number they said I could not do anything until I had an active ATM card. So far everything Jennifer Goss had done or told me was wrong and I told the manager, Jennifer Jenson this. She really didn?t seem to acknowledge this or take any responsibility for all the problems I have had with this bank.
I again went back the two $35 charges and tried to explain that I did not understand why the bank would not reverse them. She told me it is not the banks problem and I need take it up with Paypal if I want my money back. This does not make any sense to me. I was very upset and crying by this point. I told Jennifer I have not done anything wrong and I did not understand why the bank would not help me. She said in a very smug tone that the bank had helped me; they opened a new checking account for me. I stood up to leave and told her as soon as paid off my line of credit I would be closing my account with this bank. She did nothing to stop me or even offer to find a way to help me. She never apologized for all the wrong information I had been given by numerous employees or even offered empathy for having my Paypal information misused. This woman shows no care or concern for her customers.
How can a bank that runs commercials priding themselves on customer service treat a customer so badly? I also had unauthorized charges made to a credit card I have. When I called the credit card company they were very helpful. They showed concern for me. They were able to get me a new account and card without any problems. I only had to make one phone call.
I would like to know what you are going to do about this horrible service I have received and how are you going to get the two $35 NSF charges reversed? This is the first time I have ever had any problems with this bank and I cannot believe what a mess this has turned into. Please address the previously mentioned issues immediately.
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The most recent mishap with Compass Bank happened on July 5, 2005. Somehow they accidently transferred $1800 into my account. It took me three phone calls before I could speak to a person who could even offer an explanantion. But even then they could not explain how that much money accidently gets put in my account. And now I have found out the account I thought I closed in March is still open. I went to the bank on three seperate occassions to get that account closed. No one seems to know how to do their jobs.
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