The Bank Job

I'm mad at Washington Mutual. In a moment of anger, I closed my account last week.

In retrospect, I should have waited a few days before doing so as I had some checks pending and an incoming credit on my debit card. The pending checks were easy to take care of -- I contacted the recipients and let them know that I needed to pay them from our new bank account. But the credit has become a problem. The company that issued the credit has stated it was processed on 3/11. I closed the account on 3/12 and the account shows no signs of a credit.

The company states they released the funds, WaMu says they never received them. And, I'm stuck in the middle trying to communicate between them.

Yesterday, I called WaMu. I spoke with a young woman who sounded too young to have any authority at the bank (not to discriminate against young people, but she kept using phases like, "no worries," "like" and "uh sure"). I felt as though she was giving me the run-around. So this morning, I pulled together all of my evidence and made a strategy call. I packed Lola too.

See, I believed that if I took Lola to the bank with me, one of two things would occur: (1) the manager would think Lola was very cute and grant me good customer service or (2) they would start to give me another run-around, Lola would begin crying, and then I would say (smartly), "I'm not leaving until you resolve this issue."

I was sure scenario number 2 would occur. But it didn't. Lola had been grumpy all afternoon and yet the moment we entered the bank, she perked right up. No crying. Nothing. It was as if she knew that I brought her along and planned to use her as a sympathy pawn. She wanted nothing to do with my scheme. I was highly disappointed. Apparently, my child is already striving to be a better person than me. :)

As for the issue with WaMu? It was dealt with, but not fully resolved. Hopefully, it will be soon.