Banking Woes

My son had a checking account with Chase Bank, part of JP Morgan
He died July 2nd.
I went to the bank on July 27th to close out his account.
After waiting 30 minutes for a banker, and another 20 minutes of her processing paperwork, I was told they "can't do anything until it's been 30 days after the date of his death". 
Being in my state of .... shock, I accepted what she told me and left.

August 14, I return to the bank to attempt to close his account (again).  No waiting this time, but all the paperwork needed to be filled out again -- only to be told that there's a hold on the account.
Um... what?
"You people are really something ... you couldn't have told me that before so I could start getting this taken care of ??  I just want to get this completed." I told them.

After I left, I realized that I wasn't in my right mind to ask questions.

Who put the hold on the account???
My son's employer can put a hold on his private banking account?
Or did Chase put the hold on the account? 
They wanted to get one extra month's payment for his account??
Do they really need that $15 ? 

I checked the Chase website, nothing there says anything about waiting 30 days.

My son worked in retail, and there couldn't be that much money in his account. 
I was just trying to do the right thing by closing his account.
They wouldn't tell me a balance; if it was less than $100 I'd walk away; this isn't worth it!

Seriously, this is crazy.  My advice:  make sure there's more than one person authorized on a checking account.  If something happens to one person, write a check for all but $10 and let the bank just close the account themselves and avoid all this hassle. 

PS:  I don't bank at Chase ... never have, and now never will.

Capital One

The world is run by several huge corporations, and we just have to go along with whatever their policies dictate, as just a number on an account in most instances.  I know back in the 80s when I worked an Accounts Receivable desk, it was our job to call and make sure payments are being made.  I think this world of automation and digitization is awesome in many instances, making our lives easier in so many ways.

But what's lost in the translation is good customer service.

I have an account with CapitalOne .... like so many do, "What's in your wallet?" as they say.  Well, I had mine.  I've been a long time customer with them, at one point owed them about $8000, give or take.  And I came back from that battle, paid off the account.  In fact, if I check my records, I think I overpaid, and they sent me a refund check.

I haven't used the card in ages, but to my own forgetful mind, it may be an account that something uses as an "autopay".  Which is ok, I like that feature.  This became a problem recently for me, however, in that a charge was put on this account, and I haven't received a statement via snail mail or email.  When I learned that I'd been turned into collections for a mere $146, I immediately tried to log in to my account to see what the matter was, see what the charge was for.  They've turned off my services.  I tried calling their Customer Service line, and was immediately put through to their Credit Collections agency.  There isn't even a way to call and ASK what this matter is all about.

Yeah, I'm a little pissed off.  I mean, it's one thing if it's for something that I truly owe on and made some sort of mistake in my own accountability for a debt, but I can't even verify the charge, there's not a person to call, just a place to make a phone payment, or snail mail payment.

In the end, I just paid off the amount, and wrote a Dear President letter.

I don't expect a response, I'm sure he has better things to do with his time than to make sure a customer is satisfied with any sense of customer service.

Even in this modern day digitized world, a little customer service is due to each of us.  Afterall, without customers, where would big corporations be?????

Signed:
Just a Number

Cell Phone

I'm a pretty responsible person, don't have trouble keeping track of my cell phone, but yesterday - something went wrong.  It seems it slipped out of my jeans pocket and I was truly hoping that an honest person would find it, turn it in.  However, that wasn't the case.  My phone is gone, and I had to make the trek over to the Verizon store to find out my options.  Turns out, they aren't good.

I have been a Verizon customer for 10 years now;  I'm not due for an upgrade until May 5. That's 3 months away.  But they weren't able to slide the date a bit, to gain another two years' contract out of me. Instead, I was told that I would have purchase a phone at full retail (approx $400) ... or, I could go buy a "cheapie phone" from some outside source like Yakety Yak, bring it back to Verizon and let them activate it until my contract is done.

That will be the 'sticking point' -- when my contract is done, then what?  Stay with Verizon???  I'm thinking not.  In this day and age of the battle of cell phone companies, you might think they would try to do what they can to keep customers.  I started adding it up... in the past 21 months, I have paid them just over $1800.  They don't want to keep my income??  Or are they too big to care about one simple customer?

I have to admit, I was seriously stressing over not having a phone with me 24/7.  But after today, it's kind of nice not having it.  Maybe this is my "I'm all grown up" point where I just want to have a cell phone with just phone and text, none of this FB stuff, Apps stuff ... on the other hand, it sure comes in handy when traveling to use the airline Apps.


I was up most of the night last night trying to make sure I'd changed all my passwords, and wondering just what was on my phone that I will regret not having.  I believe there were about 500 pix on there.  Did I use my phone for banking?  I'm sure I didn't.  But ....   and that's the big worry.  What data can someone get???  Am I at risk??   *sigh*



When it's all said and done....
having to deal with this has been
a complete pain in the ass.

Allegiant Airlines

Allegiant is a smaller airline, trying to make it's place in the air travel industry.  They are a "no frills" airline, but the "no frills" part is truly no frills!  

If all you want to do is order a ticket on line, fly with very little baggage, and have little to no hassle in the whole procedure, it's not a bad airline to fly.  And ticket prices are low -- if  you're able to make your schedule match theirs.   It worked for me every month last year.   But if you need something outside of the parameters of ordering tickets yourself -- well, it will cost you!    Let me explain.....

Last summer, my flight on a Weds night was cancelled, and rescheduled for Thursday morning.  Travelers were issued a $100 voucher for their troubles, to be used within the next year.  Ok, that was nice of them.  However.  You cannot use this voucher when you book your ticket on their website.  So you call, and they tell you there is a fee of $14.95 each way if you choose to purchase your ticket over the phone.  (So if you're keeping up with the math, your voucher is now only worth $70).  And of course, every person's time is worth something.  I waited on the phone for 30+ minutes on Sunday, but never spoke with an agent.  So I decided that it would be worth my time to swing by the airport on the way home and purchase my ticket (there is no fee if you purchase your ticket at a counter.)

I arrived at the airport at 3:30pm and parked in the parking lot (crossing my fingers that I don't stay past the "first 30 minutes free" ...)  and got into line.  After some waiting, a girl asked if she could help me, I said sure, I'd like to purchase a ticket.   Only to be told "We only sell tickets from 6-9pm on Sundays and Mondays."   "You're KIDDING????"  I exclaimed.    I got home, and dialed them up again.  I have been in their queue line for 48 minutes now, and still no agent to speak with.

Allegiant Airlines works, but ONLY if you're willing to work within their parameters -- there is no extra service, nothing done outside of their limitations.  Services are extremely limited.  If they expect to make it to the big time, they need to work on the Customer Service aspect of their business.  :/