I try and limit my rants about businesses and places of work to a minimum. After all, we're all human and we all make mistakes. I didn't blog about the D-Team Starbucks on School Street right away - many screw-ups before I stated my boycott. I didn't say anything about Boston Sports Club until the very last penny. And that's why, I haven't said anything about Sovereign Bank... until today.
I've accepted the past fuck-ups from the bank customer service in the past. To err is human, right? And, all the problems were rectified - once I caught them. But it begs the question, why did the mistakes happen in the first place? This isn't coffee we're talking about - this is MONEY. So today, I've finally had enough, hence the Sovereign Bank Blog Post.
I went to the ATM to withdraw $200, which I was promptly going to turn into British pounds for this weekend's flight to London. I withdrew the money, took the receipt and grabbed my card, and walked over to Citizen's Bank to exchange my money. When I arrived at Citizen's Bank, I handed over my cash - all $160. Wait... what?
Deep sigh.
OK, maybe I misplaced the money. Maybe I didn't take all the money. But really, I'm not that scattered, especially when it comes to money. I chalked it up to a simple technology error. Shit happens. I believe in karma, so my hope is that if it wasn't technology and I'm really stupid enough to leave $40 sitting on a ledge, someone needy picked up the money and was able to do something useful with the cash.
My friend at Citizen's suggested I call Sovereign, if nothing else because there might be a problem with the ATM. So I called... and I waited... and waited... and waited... and after 8 minutes and 16 seconds I hung up. I'm really quite busy today.
So instead I sent a note to customer service via email.
"Hello,
I am hoping someone can call me as soon as possible. After I waited on hold over the phone for more than 8 minutes, I decided to try an email and hope for a better response.
I withdrew $200 from a Boston Sovereign ATM, but I only received $160 from the ATM. I'm sure it sounds crazy, but I took the money, put it in my wallet and went to purchase currency for $200. When I went to pull the money from my wallet, I had only $160. There must be something Sovereign Bank can do! I have the ATM number, time, date, etc. and would happy to explain the situation to anyone."
Here is the response I received:
"Thank you for your recent email. If you withdrew funds with your Sovereign ATM card from a Sovereign ATM please contact a Personal Banking Representative at the number listed below.
Sincerely,
JV (initials used to protect the name)
Sovereign Direct, Email Team"
OK, so... clearly a live person read my email. Or didn't read my email. The first thing I said in my email is that I had waited on hold for more than 8 minutes when I tried to call a personal banking representative, so WHY would you suggest I do that again? Why?
Now I realize this sounds silly, but again, keep in mind that I've refrained from making bad claims about businesses in the past until the really irk me. I'm worn out. I'm tired of holding for periods of time to reclaim money that 1) is rightfully mine and 2) I put in the account in the first place!
Next step: Changing banks.
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3 comments:
Well that sucks.
Good luck trying to recoup cash from an ATM.
And - you're right - the D Team at Starbucks deserves a negative blog post. I know it's just coffee, but enough is enough.
Not even worth trying to recoup the funds. I know I'll never see the money again. Which is why in this case, it's best to go with Karma...
If I did leave the money there by accident, then so be it and hopefully someone picked up who needs the $40 more than I do.
If the bank stole my money, so be it... I'll be moving banks soon anyway.
Those assholes still owe me $10 from the incident that finally got me to switch to Bank of America after numerous other ridiculous fuckups on their part. I had received a paycheck and deposited it into their ATM. One week later, after the funds were already made available in the account, the funds disappeared. Annoying, but not catastrophic. I called Sovereign to find out why, and they said it was because they never received the check I deposited. They said the envelope from the ATM was missing. So I called my employer, had them cancel the old check and reissue a new check. Two weeks later, Sovereign found the old check and tried to process it. It came back as cancelled because, of course, we cancelled it once THEY LOST IT, and those fkers charged me $10 for the insufficient check! Trying to get a refund involved multiple phone calls and trips to the bank & I finally gave up...not worth my time.
It's more than two years later and I'm still livid when I think about it (I'm terrible at letting things go!). AND I've just about convinced my law firm to no longer bank with them..so there, Sovereign Bank!
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