I was gonna post this in the People I Hate thread, but it's more of a general rant/complaint about certain institutions more than directed at a single person.
Is there a more inconvenient time for a mostly necessary business to be open? 9-4 (some branches on Saturday till noon)? Doctors' offices ("What do you mean you don't have any openings for atleast 3 weeks? I'm sick now!") and the post office ("You mean I have to stand in line on my lunch break to make sure this bill is postmarked today?") are at a close 2nd and 3rd. Why do I have to get there before 3PM for it to count today? It's still today at 4, at 5, at 11:59PM!
Not to mention the dumb fees:
-ATM fee ($2 for a $10 withdrawal? FU!)
-Over-draft Protection fee. $10 for moving the funds from my credit card (with the same bank) to my checking when I'm paying interest on it anyway?
-"Not enough money in the account" fee. Actually took me to a negative balance at one point= assholes.
Isn't this stuff done by programs? Who is this stuff inconveniencing in order to charge me $?
Here's a shitty anecdote:
I had a checking and savings account with PNC Bank. I lived in Pennsylvania on the border and worked in NJ. I had over-draft protection so if I (God forbid) made a calculation error and wrote a check that wouldn't clear, it would take the funds from my savings. Well, I was pretty poor at the time and was living paycheck to paycheck and didn't have much in my savings. The bank was hitting me with that crappy "not enough money in the account" fee every month till it was empty and they closed the account without notifying me (I was dumb for not looking at the Saving Account portion of my statement, b/c I hadn't had any activity in it for a while). Well I found out that this had happened when I finally went to deposit money into my savings on a Saturday at a PA branch. They informed it had been closed and that I could open a new one there. I did. Then, I later found out the they couldn't link a PA savings and a NJ checking (both at PNC) with the Over-draft Protection. WTF!? So, thinking it was a good idea, I decided to wait for my last check (that I had out, for a Dr. visit) to clear and then I'll close that checking and open a new account at the PA branch. Well I had just enough $ in the account (and a dollar or 2 extra) to cover for the check, but the Dr. took almost a month to deposit it. During that time, the bank hit me with a $4 checking account fee (before free checking was offered at that bank), and my check bounced because of a lousy $1.75 shortage! And then I got charged the shitty $30 fee... This all could have been avoided if I had the extra cash in my account, but I was pretty broke at the time and I didn't remember that shitty $4 fee.
Over the years, these kinda shitty incidents spring up all the time, especially when money's tight and you are desparately trying to pay bills on time or focus on important things like your sick kid. The last thing I need are $30 fees, damage to my credit, and the inconveniences attached to all this nonsense (like more trips to the bank who happens to have crappy hours).
Another anecdote:
I moved to Florida and they don't have PNC Banks here, so I closed my accounts up north and signed up with Bank of America since there's plenty of branches around and they came decently recommended. I opened a checking & saving account (note: they opened a saving account for me with nothing in it). They don't tell me that the saving has a minimum balance requirement (stupid me= shoulda read the fine print), so a few months later I start to notice a balance of -$5. I instantly go to the bank (on a Sat), to ask why. They tell me there's a minimum balance requirement of $200, but I could approve an automatic transfer of $25 from my checking to my savings every month and that would negate the minimum balance thing. They also tell me that if I need the funds, I can then transfer it back to my checking at any time. Sounds fine, I schedule it at the 1st of month when I know I have funds for my rent+, and think nothing else of it. Couple months later, I check my statement and they hit me for a fee. I checked the months prior... fees every month like clockwork. I go to the bank (Sat again) and find out that they accidentally had my automatic $25 transfer go to my credit card instead. OOPS. They fix it and another month goes by, I check my statement. At this point, I was doing it just to be sure. Yep, another fee. I go to the bank (3rd Sat I've had to for this single issue) and I demand they clear it up. They can't figure out what the problem is and why I'm getting charged. I brought all my statements in from the past year and demand that they refund me for the fees that were their fault. They tell me there's a statute of limitations (90 days) for contesting these fees. I tell them that this is the 3rd time I've been in here to clear this up, so they credit me for a majority of them. Needless to say I closed that useless (inconvenient) account.
Online banking is supposed to make things easier and I love to not have to mail hardly any checks anymore (keeps me away from the post office), but checking my balance on the computer never should have taken the place of balancing my own checkbook (my mistake). Why does it take atleast 1 business day for me to electronically transfer money from one account to another (both at the same bank). It's my damn money, it's all virtual, and it's at the same bank. Why don't things move at the speed of a motem? I just deposited a check in there, why do I have to wait days for the thing to clear?
"Pending transactions may not count against total"... well why the hell not? Why are they pending for so long?!
Thank god for direct deposit or I'd go mad. I'm not a moron, but this money juggling (when $'s tight), waiting for transactions to clear, and "look out! here's another fee" crap is infuriating. Look, I'm human and I make errors here and there, but the banks don't make it any easier. Any Chewers here work in the financial industry that can shed some light on these gripes? Any Chewer have any complaints about banks themselves or other "fine" institutions?
I always hear: "I never have any issues with my bank" or "Must just be your bad luck"...
Don't even get me started on tax returns and the offices that handle that nonsense (my local tax office never filed my return even though they had it on file & they lost record of a payment from owed tax, causing me to pay $12 to get a series of old cleared checks for proof). I'm constantly having these Murphy's Law moments and it kills me. State Police actually threatening to take my driver's license away because I owed them 50cents on a ticket I had already paid (the trooper messed up and totalled up the ticket wrong), but they spent more in postage to tell me than what I owed them.
Am I the only one that goes through this crap on a regular basis? The necessary evils (like having to pay the automatic diagnostic fees because cars nowadays can only run by a computer that malfunctions all the time)...
Life would be so much more enjoyable without these blood-pressure rising moments.
Is there a more inconvenient time for a mostly necessary business to be open? 9-4 (some branches on Saturday till noon)? Doctors' offices ("What do you mean you don't have any openings for atleast 3 weeks? I'm sick now!") and the post office ("You mean I have to stand in line on my lunch break to make sure this bill is postmarked today?") are at a close 2nd and 3rd. Why do I have to get there before 3PM for it to count today? It's still today at 4, at 5, at 11:59PM!
Not to mention the dumb fees:
-ATM fee ($2 for a $10 withdrawal? FU!)
-Over-draft Protection fee. $10 for moving the funds from my credit card (with the same bank) to my checking when I'm paying interest on it anyway?
-"Not enough money in the account" fee. Actually took me to a negative balance at one point= assholes.
Isn't this stuff done by programs? Who is this stuff inconveniencing in order to charge me $?
Here's a shitty anecdote:
I had a checking and savings account with PNC Bank. I lived in Pennsylvania on the border and worked in NJ. I had over-draft protection so if I (God forbid) made a calculation error and wrote a check that wouldn't clear, it would take the funds from my savings. Well, I was pretty poor at the time and was living paycheck to paycheck and didn't have much in my savings. The bank was hitting me with that crappy "not enough money in the account" fee every month till it was empty and they closed the account without notifying me (I was dumb for not looking at the Saving Account portion of my statement, b/c I hadn't had any activity in it for a while). Well I found out that this had happened when I finally went to deposit money into my savings on a Saturday at a PA branch. They informed it had been closed and that I could open a new one there. I did. Then, I later found out the they couldn't link a PA savings and a NJ checking (both at PNC) with the Over-draft Protection. WTF!? So, thinking it was a good idea, I decided to wait for my last check (that I had out, for a Dr. visit) to clear and then I'll close that checking and open a new account at the PA branch. Well I had just enough $ in the account (and a dollar or 2 extra) to cover for the check, but the Dr. took almost a month to deposit it. During that time, the bank hit me with a $4 checking account fee (before free checking was offered at that bank), and my check bounced because of a lousy $1.75 shortage! And then I got charged the shitty $30 fee... This all could have been avoided if I had the extra cash in my account, but I was pretty broke at the time and I didn't remember that shitty $4 fee.
Over the years, these kinda shitty incidents spring up all the time, especially when money's tight and you are desparately trying to pay bills on time or focus on important things like your sick kid. The last thing I need are $30 fees, damage to my credit, and the inconveniences attached to all this nonsense (like more trips to the bank who happens to have crappy hours).
Another anecdote:
I moved to Florida and they don't have PNC Banks here, so I closed my accounts up north and signed up with Bank of America since there's plenty of branches around and they came decently recommended. I opened a checking & saving account (note: they opened a saving account for me with nothing in it). They don't tell me that the saving has a minimum balance requirement (stupid me= shoulda read the fine print), so a few months later I start to notice a balance of -$5. I instantly go to the bank (on a Sat), to ask why. They tell me there's a minimum balance requirement of $200, but I could approve an automatic transfer of $25 from my checking to my savings every month and that would negate the minimum balance thing. They also tell me that if I need the funds, I can then transfer it back to my checking at any time. Sounds fine, I schedule it at the 1st of month when I know I have funds for my rent+, and think nothing else of it. Couple months later, I check my statement and they hit me for a fee. I checked the months prior... fees every month like clockwork. I go to the bank (Sat again) and find out that they accidentally had my automatic $25 transfer go to my credit card instead. OOPS. They fix it and another month goes by, I check my statement. At this point, I was doing it just to be sure. Yep, another fee. I go to the bank (3rd Sat I've had to for this single issue) and I demand they clear it up. They can't figure out what the problem is and why I'm getting charged. I brought all my statements in from the past year and demand that they refund me for the fees that were their fault. They tell me there's a statute of limitations (90 days) for contesting these fees. I tell them that this is the 3rd time I've been in here to clear this up, so they credit me for a majority of them. Needless to say I closed that useless (inconvenient) account.
Online banking is supposed to make things easier and I love to not have to mail hardly any checks anymore (keeps me away from the post office), but checking my balance on the computer never should have taken the place of balancing my own checkbook (my mistake). Why does it take atleast 1 business day for me to electronically transfer money from one account to another (both at the same bank). It's my damn money, it's all virtual, and it's at the same bank. Why don't things move at the speed of a motem? I just deposited a check in there, why do I have to wait days for the thing to clear?
"Pending transactions may not count against total"... well why the hell not? Why are they pending for so long?!
Thank god for direct deposit or I'd go mad. I'm not a moron, but this money juggling (when $'s tight), waiting for transactions to clear, and "look out! here's another fee" crap is infuriating. Look, I'm human and I make errors here and there, but the banks don't make it any easier. Any Chewers here work in the financial industry that can shed some light on these gripes? Any Chewer have any complaints about banks themselves or other "fine" institutions?
I always hear: "I never have any issues with my bank" or "Must just be your bad luck"...
Don't even get me started on tax returns and the offices that handle that nonsense (my local tax office never filed my return even though they had it on file & they lost record of a payment from owed tax, causing me to pay $12 to get a series of old cleared checks for proof). I'm constantly having these Murphy's Law moments and it kills me. State Police actually threatening to take my driver's license away because I owed them 50cents on a ticket I had already paid (the trooper messed up and totalled up the ticket wrong), but they spent more in postage to tell me than what I owed them.
Am I the only one that goes through this crap on a regular basis? The necessary evils (like having to pay the automatic diagnostic fees because cars nowadays can only run by a computer that malfunctions all the time)...
Life would be so much more enjoyable without these blood-pressure rising moments.
