Nightmare on Stark Street

On Saturday afternoon I went to the U.S. Bank at Mall 205 on Stark Street, to withdraw some money to pay a bill. I punched in $200, like we have all done 100s of times before, but the machine did not dispense any money. So I went outside and used the machine at the drive up window, got my $200 and went over to Washington Mutual to pay my credit card bill. Later on that afternoon I checked my account and found the bank had debited me for two two hundred dollar withdrawals, $400, even though the first one was unsuccessful. I immediately emailed the customer support line for the bank. On Monday I visited the branch. I waited fifteen minutes to talk to a "customer service specialist" and she just put me on the phone to wait on hold for an operator in the customer service office. The operator was no help at all. She told me to wait and the pending transaction would be probably be returned at the close of business Monday night.

What happened instead that the bank debited the extra $200, then charged me five overdraft fees of $35 each for a few small purchases I'd made over the weekend. So now they have overcharged me $385, and my account is overdrawn $233, and if it remains overdrawn for five consecutive days, they start charging me a daily negative balance fee. Meanwhile they've taken the money I would have used for groceries and essentials for the rest of the week. Here is the chronology and play-by-play of my U.S. Bank customer service nightmare:

Email 1 from me, to the bank:

Heeeeellllllpppp!

There's an error on my account. On 8-16-08 I got ONE ATM withdrawal at the Mall 205 branch, not two. The machine inside the lobby was malfunctioning and did not dispense any funds, so I had to go to the machine at the drive thru to get money. This charge is in error--I didn't get any money or a receipt. I only made one $200 ATM withdrawal. Please correct this. It will result in overdrafts if you don't, and I don't have $200 to just waste and give to the bank.

Dale Newton

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Dear Dale E. Newton,

Thank you for contacting us through U.S. Bank's email service. I am sorry for any inconvenience. In review of your account, I can see that this was caught and you have been credited the amount of $200. Please let us know if you need anything else.

We appreciate your business and look forward to servicing your banking needs in the future. Have a great day.

Sincerely,


Angie Kreamier
Email Operations
U.S. Bank 24-Hour Banking & Financial Sales

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Dear U.S. Bank

As of 11:39 am, both charges appear on my balance still--and that has resulted in an overdraft. The machine said "unable to complete transaction" and it just kept spinning. I didn't get money and I didn't get a receipt. When will my balance be corrected? I need to go to the grocery store.


Dale Newton
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Dear Dale Newton,

Thank you for your reply to our previous email.

I am sorry to hear of the difficulty with this transaction. I started research on the item in question. Per Federal guidelines
the bank has 90 calendar days to fully resolve the claim. If we have not completed it in 7-10 business days, you will receive
provisional credit from the bank.

Please complete any paperwork you receive from us and return it promptly, so we can complete the investigation
for you. In order to maintain provisional credit, you may be required to submit your claim in writing. If necessary,
paperwork will be mailed to you for completion and must be returned to us by the due date on the letter at the
following address: Cardmember Service, P.O. Box 6342, FG-ND-S2PS, Fargo, ND 58125-6342. The fax number
is 866-229-9625.

The form you receive in the mail will include instructions on what information is necessary. You may also write a
description of the issue, include your name (printed and signed), your account number, your Social Security Number
(not required by helpful), the transaction amount and date. This information can be provided in place of the forms that
U.S. Bank will send to you.

Once the research is completed, you will receive written notification of the results of the investigation.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance or answer any other questions.

Sincerely,

Heidi Brehm
Email Operations
U.S.Bank 24-Hour Banking & Financial Sales
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Dear U.S. Bank,

90 days!!! I don't care what the federal guidelines are. This is a very serious malfunction of your equipment and a violation of the trust consumers put in the bank, and it should be corrected without any delay at all. You sold us on the convenience of ATM banking and you promised it was safe and reliable, and now you've failed me as a customer, and instead of addressing my concerns in a concrete way you recite guidelines and policy and federal regulations. Here's an idea: find out why the ATM malfunctioned, and return the money to my account, TODAY.

I have no doubt if I made a $200 error you would have no trouble charging me immediately. It's reprehensible the bank should take such a ho-hum approach to this. This is your business, to take care of people's money and treat them honestly, and correct errors in a timely fashion. I hope I never have a more serious concern about my account. I would hate to think how it would be a have a car loan or a mortgage through your company. You spend millions advertising how great your service is, but what you deliver falls far short of what you promise.

Customers who have a bad experience normally tell about ten people. I publish a blog, so I'll tell about 2500. My personal mission right now is to tell as many people I can how untrustworthy and dishonest U.S. Bank is. When their equipment fails they blame the customer, and penalize them for expecting them to correct their mistake.

Bank machines should work reliably, and when they don't, immediate action should be taken to fix it. This is an embarrassment, a total failure of your bank to execute it's most basic promise to the consumer. It is an eggregious violation of the public trust. Banks should be safe and take care of people's accounts. That's your business. Apparently U.S. bank is all about collecting fees and filling out forms. Solving problems in a timely manner is way down the list. Go ahead, send me another email full of cliches and half-baked policy statements and script. See if that makes me go away.
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Dear Dale Newton,

Thank you for your reply.

Your request has been forwarded to management for further review. Due to
the content of your email you can expect a
reply after three business days. We appreciate your patience while your
situation and previous emails are reviewed.

Sincerely,

Danielle Snider
Email Operations
U.S. Bank 24-Hour Banking and Financial Sales

If you need further assistance, please feel free to call 1-800-USBANKS
(1-800-872-2657)
or go to www.usbank.com and select the 'Contact Us' link. If you are out
of the country,
you may call us collect at 503-401-9991.
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Three business days?? This is an incredibly simple problem. A malfunctioning U.S. Bank ATM machine failed to dispense cash, cancelled the transaction, but debited my account $200. It happened on Saturday afternoon August 16 at the Mall 205 branch, the machine in the lobby. I had to repeat the transaction at the machine at the drive up window, and the bank debited me twice for one completed ATM withdrawal.

Audit the machine and return my money. There's a camera on the ATM. My request is easily verified. I haven't made any disrespectful remarks or personalized this or made any inappropriate threats. I've simply asked you to provide adequate customer service and resolve this in a timely manner. Your equipment failed. Your company failed. Make it right.

Management getting back to me within three business days is a thoroughly inadequate response. Fix the account, and stop blaming the customer for having a problem. If it was your account, what would your expectation be? What if it was your car, or your house, or your plumbing? Would "we'll get back to you in three business days" be an acceptable answer? Probably not.

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Your tag line is "how many stars does your bank have?" Right now U.S. Bank is hovering around half a star, headed for no stars. Soon you will be a banking black hole. The marketing campaign was a decidedly bad investment. You should focus on execution for a change.

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I just checked my account again, and you not only have failed to respond to my dispute in a constructive way, your system has issued five overdrafts on my account, all a direct result of the bank error I documented previously. These bank fees are in error and should be corrected.


So so far I've called, made a visit to the bank and set five emails, but the bank hasn't done anything. I'm terrified that they will just shrug their shoulders. What can I really do to U.S. Bank? I work for wages--I don't have $400 I can just give to them. The terrible thing is if you give some people a uniform shirt and a nameplate and a computer password, they think they're in charge of some little corner of the world, and mishandling the account of some poor working class idiot is the right thing to do because "it's policy" and "the federal guidelines" say so.

In other news, I broke through tonight and made a $180 in a poker tournament. Do that three more times this week and I can afford to have a checking account at U.S. Bank.

So, how was your day? Anything new?