In my last post, I teased a story about an eventful stop at the bank that Megan, Steven and I made while I was in Boise. All’s well that ends well, but the journey was quite frustrating.
It all started on Friday afternoon as the kids and I were out geocaching, and we wanted to stop and get some late lunch. I needed cash, and checked my iPhone for the closest Bank of America so I could access an ATM without incurring fees. We found one about two miles away, and swung into the drive up ATM lane. The car ahead of me pulled away, and I pulled up. I remembered I had a couple of small checks in my purse that needed to be deposited, so I made the deposit first, then selected “Another transaction. Withdraw cash. $100”. The machine whirred and clicked and a message appeared telling me to take my cash below. The only problem was, there was no cash below.
My card was returned and I pulled around to the parking lot and the kids and I went inside. Approaching the Welcome desk, I briefly explained what happened, and the teller told me I would have to speak to a “Personal Banker”. There were three, each with customers. So we waited. And waited. And waited. The kids played with apps on my iPhone, read books, and asked how much longer. I was in the process of downloading a bank app to my iPhone so I could check my balance and see if the $100 had gone out of my account when a PB opened up and invited me in.
I explained what happened, and he checked my account. He said the deposit showed up, and $100 did go out of my account. I would have to talk to the ATM Fraud department. He escorted me to a small customer conference room and dialed the number for me.
I had to enter my account number, my social security number, and another personal identifying tidbit, and then was transferred to a customer service rep. I explained what had happened, and she asked me for my account number, my social security number and another personal identifying tidbit. She verified that the $100 did go out of my account, and she would transfer me to the ATM Fraud department. When someone answered, I explained what had happened, and she asked me for my account number, my social security number and another personal identifying tidbit. She verified that there might be a problem with the ATM and she would transfer me to the ATM Claims department. That’s when my call got disconnected.
I started over, and you can reread the above paragraph to know what happened. Right before the third representative transferred my call, she gave me the direct line number to the claims department in case I got disconnected again. You guessed it; I got disconnected again. Meanwhile, the kids were asking how much longer. They were being SOOOO good!!!
The third time I called back, I was able to get directly to the Claims department, give her my account number, my social security number, and another personal identifying tidbit, and within two minutes she had credited the $100 back to my account. Whoo hoo!! We were on our way. But not before I got some cash, because remember, the ATM had failed to dispense it. I was ATM-shy by that time, and went to the teller and wrote a check.
We stopped for some pie later that afternoon, and I reached for my sweater. It was missing and I knew I had left it at the bank. We drove back down and guess what we found? Two repair trucks in the drive up lane tearing the ATM apart! I felt so vindicated.
Don’t you just love modern banking conveniences? I don’t know what we would do without them, but they can sure be frustrating at times. Just yesterday we had one of our credit cards compromised which resulted in having to close that account and get new cards. Of course, it is the card I have all my monthly payments attached to, not the one we use for gas and restaurants, and of course most of them are due in the next couple days. This will be fun.
It almost seems that the more convenient things get, the more trouble it is when they break down.