Pages

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

bank of inconvenience

i had $6 in cash this morning which meant that i made it through my work day without having to use my check card. after work i needed to put gas in anderson cooper (my car) or i was soon going to run out. my low fuel light came on when i was on my way to work but it was really cold, windy, and icy so i thought the gas could wait until the afternoon. i pulled into the gas station across the street from work and my card wouldn't work at the pump. i got in my car and drove to the next gas station down the road only to have the same thing happen. and then again. and then again. at the fourth gas station i remembered i had just collected $5 that was owed to me by my boss for lunch yesterday so i was able to get a little bit of gas with that $5. i logged into my bank account from my phone and didn't see anything unusual. no weird charges, no alerts, nothing. i went to a bank of america atm to try to get cash out and i was told the transaction could not be processed.

i googled "bank of america customer service" and called the phone number that came up. i spent about 5 minutes on the phone with some guy only to have him tell me that he was in california and i couldn't help me because my account was opened in texas. what the f? he transfered me to someone who i was on old with for-freaking-ever only to have the connection disconnected...on their end! all this time i was driving to my sister's house so when i finally arrived i got on my computer and found a phone number to call to figure out what the heck was going on. long story not quite as long, my card was "purged" because a third party contacted bank of america and told them my information had possibly been compromised. goddamn you, julian assagne!

the dumb customer service person i had the pleasure of speaking to informed me that a letter explaining everything had been mailed to me, along with a new check card. mailed to what address, you ask? well, the house i haven't lived in since july 2007, of course! i have gone online and changed my address with bank of america i don't know how many fucking times and they STILL have my old address on file. so then i had to have THAT check card canceled because i have no idea whose hands it's in. then she told me that i could go to a bank of america and get a temporary card while i wait SEVEN days for my new one to arrive. then she said, "i don't know what time it is in texas but the branch nearest to where you are is open until 4:00!" "it's 4:30," i replied. luckily for them (yeah right, luckily for me) i don't have to be at work until noon tomorrow so i can actually go into a bank of america to get a temporary card. their lobby hours of 9-4 are not very convenient for most people most of the time. and a temporary debit card is about as useless as temporary checks. i'm just going to get the card, take all the money out of my checking account, and work on a cash only basis for a while. ugh.

here's what i want to know...why do i get emails from bank of america ALL THE TIME but when it comes to something that is actually important, the only way they try to contact me is by mailing me a fucking letter? email me, call me, text me, put an alert on my account online, something! i cannot believe in this day and age that the check card division of a national bank can only contact me by snail mail. give me a break, y'all.

1 comment:

Janna said...

I HATE Bank of America...when you tweeted today...I KNEW you banked there!

Sorry BOA sucks!

i will come bail you out if you have to slap someone tomorrow :)