Problem with - Washington Mutual any constructive feedback on how to fight this is appreciated.

[PastaPete]

I have two checking accounts with Washington Mutual - one I had used to pay bills, the other for my discretionary spending. I had my direct deposit put the amount I needed for bills (all of mine are fixed) into one and the remainder into discretionary.

Lets call discretionary spending account "Account A"
and the bill paying account "Account B"

Earlier this month I changed my plans and have been using my "Account A" as my only account and was keeping it open with a nominal amount ($30.00) in case my direct deposit did not update properly (i.e. it still split the payments into "Account A" and "Account B" instead of just going to "Account A" - it would save me a trip to the bank, I was going to cancel this account this friday if all was well.)

I went to pay a bill yesterday with their online billpay - and I selected Account A to pay from and submitted it. The bill was for $35.00 and Wamu says I selected Account B, which I am 100% certain I did not, but there's no use fighting this, since the lady was getting pretty annoying and adamant. So I was underfunded for the bill and I got hit with another $32.00 overdraft fee on top of it. Wamu offers 1 courteosy overdraft, which I had previous used a few months back. She would not budge and give me the overdraft, I was extremely nice to her and courteous.

My gripe with her was (from a customer service standpoint - not a business one) why did Wamu send out the bill if they knew that they were going to turn around and slap me with an overdaft fee. She did not seem to understand or had me on the pay no mind list. I asked for her supervisor, and apparently they were too busy, so I was going to receive a phonecall back in 2 business days -

What is my best bet for getting this resolved? Is it a lost cause?


CLIFFS:

* Selected one account to pay a bill with Wamu's billpay (100% sure... too bad i didnt print out the screen shot).
* Wamu paid this out of a second account (That I had a negligable amount of money in for the next few days to make sure a direct deposit didn't screw up) that did not have sufficent money to pay - so I got hit with a $32.00 overdraft charge (they give one courteosy overdraft fee waive - which I had previously used).
* I said it was ridiculous, why didn't wamu just not pay the bill instead of drawing the money out of the account with NSF and hit me with a NSF.

Thanks,

Pastapete

 

[FleshLight]

If it is an error on their art, they will wave it. If indeed you cancelled the billay on the other account and they don't have a required grace eriod, then it should be in error.

 

[Ns1]

The reasoning is that it's better for whatever bill you paid to be paid and then deal with the overdraft later, vs not paying the bill and not paying the overdraft

Of course, there's also the profit motive.

I don't see what leverage you may have unless you can prove that you selected account A for bill pay

 

[Viper GTS]

IMO the odds of them being wrong about which account you selected are slim to none.

I did this recently with AMEX, I was in the middle of migrating all my banking from one bank to another & submitted a payment to the wrong account. Thankfully the account was already closed so the payment came back as invalid account info rather than insufficient funds, but it was nearly the same situation you're in - I would not have intentionally chosen that account to submit the payment to, but I can't prove that I didn't.

The difference here is that I trust AMEX enough to assume I was wrong, whereas you seem to think WAMU is out to screw you (which is highly unlikely).

Bottom line here is you were almost certainly in the wrong. If you've already burned your overdraft grace then I would just let it go. Be more careful in the future.

Viper GTS

 

[jandrews]

I know you think you selected a but it is very slim that you actually did and now you are yelling at some lady about how you know you are right. I mean I hope you dont work in IT because you are just like the user no one believes when they say they know they didnt click that icon when you know they did.

 

[Turin39789]

Sounds like time to change banks.

 

[BigJ]

Originally posted by: PastaPete
* I said it was ridiculous, why didn't wamu just not pay the bill instead of drawing the money out of the account with NSF and hit me with a NSF.

Banks make money on fees. The more fees they can tack onto somebody, the better off they are.

I have a Citibank account that has a line of credit attached to it. If I ever overdraft, the credit line kicks in and I don't get hit with any fees.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Turin39789
Sounds like time to change banks.

Sounds like every other bank, except WaMu offers to waive the first overdraft...

 

[jtvang125]

I'm sure that their computer looked through your accounts, saw that one had very little funds in it, knew that it can slap you with an overdraft fee if it withdrew from that account to pay the bill, and proceeded to do so.

Or maybe, just maybe you selected the wrong account.

 

[elektrolokomotive]

Since you've already burned your grace O/D charge, I'd say you are slightly prone to making mistakes in your banking.

 

[waffleironhead]

Sounds like every other bank out there. The only thing I could recommend is for you to go in and cancel your accounts. I figure you have about a 50/50 chance of getting the fee refunded this way. There is a possibility they will remove the fee rather than losing you as as a customer. But be ready to find a new bank.

 

[elektrolokomotive]

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
Sounds like every other bank out there. The only thing I could recommend is for you to go in and cancel your accounts. I figure you have about a 50/50 chance of getting the fee refunded this way. There is a possibility they will remove the fee rather than losing you as as a customer. But be ready to find a new bank. And hope they're more understanding when you screw up.

Fixed.

 

[waffleironhead]

Originally posted by: elektrolokomotive

Originally posted by: waffleironhead
Sounds like every other bank out there. The only thing I could recommend is for you to go in and cancel your accounts. I figure you have about a 50/50 chance of getting the fee refunded this way. There is a possibility they will remove the fee rather than losing you as as a customer. But be ready to find a new bank. And hope they're more understanding when you screw up.

Fixed.

I never said he didnt screw up. I was offering my best idea on avoiding the fee.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Turin39789
Sounds like time to change banks.

Sounds like every other bank, except WaMu offers to waive the first overdraft...

They already did, this was his second offense.

 

[oiprocs]

It's all good man. You still have a home, a car, friends and family who love you.

Just accept that someone made a mistake and it'll be unpleasant to continue trying to find out who it was. Just work to resolve it. If that means getting hit with $35 fee or whatever, then so be it.

If Wamu's service upsets you that much, which it shouldn't, because it's a mainstream bank and you can't expect credit union service from them, then switch banks. But don't expect BofA or Wells Fargo or Wachovia to give you the VIP treatment. Banks are banks.

Btw, I have Wamu, and only one account, so I can't really say I understand your pain. But I tried.

 

[KB]

I bet they have internet logs that will defend them. Not sure what you have here.

Get a new bank. My Credit Union will automatically transfer funds from one account to another to prevent overdraft charges. They will do this up 5 times a month. I hate banks.

 

[Cold Steel]

I have had a WaMu mortgage, never a checking account.

But I can tell you that WaMu mortgage is the worst mortgage company I have ever had to deal with. They are unbelievably rude. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. google "washington mutual mortgage complaints" and see what you get. I can't say enough bad about them. I will never do buisness with them again.

So I guess anything bad any one ever says about WaMu, I'll be more than a little inclined to believe it.

 

[Turin39789]

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Turin39789
Sounds like time to change banks.

Sounds like every other bank, except WaMu offers to waive the first overdraft...

He's unhappy with the customer service. He has hundreds of other choices.

 

[Ns1]

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Turin39789
Sounds like time to change banks.

Sounds like every other bank, except WaMu offers to waive the first overdraft...

He's unhappy with the customer service. He has hundreds of other choices.

quite frankly it's going to be hundreds of other choices that will treat him exactly the same. Except with more fees.

 

[erikistired]

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Turin39789

Originally posted by: Ns1

Originally posted by: Turin39789
Sounds like time to change banks.

Sounds like every other bank, except WaMu offers to waive the first overdraft...

He's unhappy with the customer service. He has hundreds of other choices.

quite frankly it's going to be hundreds of other choices that will treat him exactly the same. Except with more fees.

that's not always true. i've had banks (like regions) look at the situation and reverse the fees if it was clear that an error had been made, mine or theirs. if i keep two accounts and one can cover an online bill pay and the other can't, it's pretty obvious what happened. it's not like he didn't have enough money AT THE BANK to cover it. if they truly want to keep you as a customer chances are a higher level manager will resolve this, if not, find someone who handles customer service better.

there's a huge difference between passing bad checks (essentially what this is) and clicking a wrong account like this.

 

[NL5]

I didn't read all the responses, but call and talk to the branch manager - they will usually reverse the charges, even if it's your fault.

 

[slayer202]

wamu is weird. I was trying to get my credit card setup for online statements or whatever, and they tell me that the account is in under someone with different d.o.b. and SS # then me. Info was my dad's (I am a college student). So I call my dad to ask him to set it up for me. They tell him the account is under my information....called back, and it took another 3 days to set up