mamajoan

Lately I'm constantly writing parts of posts and then not getting a chance to finish them, so I post them as "private" (so only I can see them) and intend to get back to them later but rarely do. I thought I'd rescue this snippet and post it so at least I can pretend like I'm working on clearing out the backlog....

I wrote a few weeks ago about my bank, NetBank, being in the middle of a buyout that seemed to be falling through, and my decision to jump ship and start up with a new bank, Wainwright. Here's the update on that.

a. The NetBank buyout did fall through. As of last week NetBank was bought by Ing Direct (not the same bank that was originally going to buy it). I'm not entirely sure what this is going to mean for my account. It will get rolled-over to an Ing account, but since Ing apparently does not do traditional checking accounts (they have a checking account where you don't get paper checks, just online bill-pay), I'm not sure whether I'll want that. OTOH, they give excellent interest rates. So maybe I should stick with it. I can't decide. I'm waiting till I get more info from Ing, I guess.

b. I'm also not sure what all of that will mean for my car-insurance bill that was incorrectly applied. To recap, the insurance people cashed my check for 1/10th of what it was actually written for (misplaced decimal point). They "fixed" it and now my insurance account shows that I'm fully paid up, but the adjustment never actually took place on my bank account. So I don't know whether that money is ever going to be deducted or whether I'm getting away with something here, or what.

c. I called Wainwright a week or two ago to ask why I never got my debit card in the mail. They said they'd call back and never did. I called again a week later and the lady was very apologetic about the previous lady's failure to call back. Then she told me (after calling me back, heh) that when you open a new account online as opposed to in person, they put a 30-day "hold" on your debit card application. Ugh! I got pretty irritated and told her that they really ought to communicate that better, because if I had known, I would have just hauled my ass in to a branch and opened the account in person. She was all apologetic and stuff, but I doubt that went anywhere. Anyway, so I STILL have no debit card and no checks -- i.e., no way to actually make use of that account other than going to a branch to make in-person deposits and withdrawals. (well, okay, and I can also use it via PayPal because I did set that up.)

Ugh, why does this shit have to be so damn annoying? Do all banks just suck, or what? What is it with the saying they'll call back and then not calling back? Is there an epidemic of poor customer service in the United States? Discuss.