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Ahh, Akiina:
The other day, I received an overdraft notice from my Bank of America account, which struck me as very odd because I do not bill to that account; I bill to my Wells Fargo account, but I live in Boston and received my BoA account by way of the bank's partnership with UMB.
The overdraft notice didn't specify what the ovedraft of $20 was for, so I headed down to the branch office to inquire. I recognized the charge; it was something I billed to my PayPal debit card, which by default draws from my Wells Fargo account, but my BoA account was connected so I could add funds from checks I cashed in Boston. I still do not know exactly why it chose to bill that account since I had a significant amount in my Wells Fargo account at the time.
I brought the account positive and asked them to rescind the overdraft fee of $35. They said yes, but that there was another $35 fee pending for having left the balance negative for another five days (it took two days for the notice to arrive and two more days for me to get down there). I asked that be rescinded as well.
"I can't do that, we'll have to wait until tomorrow to give you an up or down on whether it can be done, I'll bring it up with my manager."
"Alright, why don't you bring him down here?"
"What...? Um, alright."
The manager came down, a stereotype, portly and red-faced in an beige suit. He very obviously did not take me seriously.
"So, she explained to you how our pending system works, right?"
"Yes."
"So there's nothing we can do, ok?"
"I would appreciate it if you would rescind this charge, as you have the authority to do. After all, the account has been brought positive, the charge was never intended, and the amount of the fee is greater than the amount overdrawn."
"The charge is pending. When it goes through tomorrow I'll give an up or down on it."
"Why can you not give an up or down now?"
"Because it hasn't gone through."
"The charge is internal and it's already been billed. What criteria would you take into account?"
"Various things about your account."
"Such as?"
"History, how long you've been with us, etc."
"Alright, and you have all that information in front of you, don't you? So why don't you go ahead and give me an up or down?"
"I can't do that until it goes through tomorrow."
"Alright. Well, tomorrow, you'll be in that position, won't you? And you have the information in front of you right now. I live in Revere so it's a fairly long ride to get here; I did you the courtesy of coming down to resolve this today. So why don't you approach it as, if were in that position tomorrow, what would you do?"
This was true - it was a fairly long trip. He stared at me for a moment.
"Alright. Wait ten minutes."
I nodded and sat and started to read a book. He returned, "Based on the information available...my answer would probably be no. This was not a bank error, and, uh, you're probably going close the account, and we had the right to charge that fee."
"Well, the amount is larger than the overdraft itself, no? The account was brought positive and the charge was never intended. If you rescind this, you will have my gratitude and future business."
"I have said, the answer will likely be no."
"Alright, well then. Tomorrow you will find yourself in that position. And if you decide in the negative, here is what I will do...
"Our chancellor has open hours. I will walk in and sit down and I will say matter of factly what has happened. I will say, 'you know, this doesn't seem very fair, we have this partnership with BoA as a courtesy to the students, to help them with their on-campus banking because many of us are far from our hometowns. It doesn't seem very fair that they are, you know, shaking down students like this, especially with student debt being such a big issue, you know, maybe we should reconsider the relationship?' And then I will go to our campus newspaper, which recently had an article about the issue of student debt. And I will also tell them the same thing."
The banker continued to stare at me.
"Anyway, thanks and have a nice day. I hope you will decide in the positive tomorow."
He then reached forward and said, "Here is my card. Please call me if there are any problems." He then told one of the associates to also give me her card. I pocketed them and left.
The next day, I received a call: they had decided to not rescind the charge. I called the banker up and his secretary, saying he "was not in today", offered to take a message.
"I intend to speak with him."
"He is not in, I said."
"I heard you. I intend to speak with him, so please put me through."
"He's not in!"
"Put me through to someone parallel to, or above him, please."
I got his subordinate, an assistant manager who hadn't heard the story and said his boss was "not in today". I gave the same spiel, recounting everything that had happened, "this doesn't seem very fair, I hope you will decide in the positive, if you do not do this...this is what I will do...etc." He said he'd talk it over.
I received a call the next day from the assistant manager. "We do need to treat all our customers equally, but we will make this exception and rescind the charge..." The charge had been rescinded, and I paid only the $20 draft.
I will now head down again to thank them...and close the account.
So you see, I am just as effective in real life.
Aestu of Bleeding Hollow... Nihilism is a copout.
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