We here at the Cake Eater Pad have had some memorable customer service experiences in the past week or so, and because I'm generous that way, I thought I'd share. I shall try to be brief about it because, well, I want to go and read my book with a cup of cocoa.
First off, the sexy coffee pot with the dual water windows crapped out a week ago this past Sunday. There's nothing quite like waking up, expecting to spend leisurely morning in your jammies, and walking into the kitchen to see your husband, wrapped up in his plaid flannel bathrobe, longish hair pulled back into a ponytail, a screwdriver in his hand and the panicky expression of a junkie on his face as he told you the damn thing doesn't work! That's when you sigh deeply, go and---not fussing with underwear---pull on jeans and a polar fleece and walk up to the neigborhood Bou and score the much needed caffeine.
Since it was Sunday there was nothing we could do about the problem since Mr. Coffee's help line wasn't operating. Come Monday, however, the husband was on the phone with them, and when he finally connected with a REAL LIVE HUMAN BEING they just told him that there's a problem with a leak in the brewbasket that caused the chip to short out, hence it would turn on, but wouldn't brew. After confirming a serial number on the bottom of the old brewer, he told the husband to throw the thing out, and that in two to three weeks a new one would be arriving.
Well, my devoted Cake Eater readers, it only took two to three days for the new coffee maker to arrive. It's exactly like the old one, except for the fact that the brewbasket has supposedly been redesigned.
So, YAY FOR MR. COFFEE! We likes the Mr. Coffee people. Well done! A bouquet of lovely flowers to them.
As far as the brickbats are concerned, well, those go to Wells Fargo bank. They lied to the husband. It wasn't a case of they told him one thing, but corporate policy turned out to be another, and gee, we're really sorry about this, but... It was a case of, "If you want x, we need y. Oh, you brought us y? Well, that's fantastic, but that thing we told you we could do for you if you brought us y, well, we didn't mean it. We changed our minds for no real reason at all. Have a nice day."
Not only did they lie about y, there were also some serious whoppers told with the express purpose of getting the husband off the branch manager's back. She lied. And she told stupid lies---i.e lies that are easily verified for being lies. When confronted, she showed no remorse and refused to make things right.
We've had a wonderful working relationship with Wells Fargo for going on four years now and I've been nothing but impressed with them...until now. It's quite shocking, because they've done nothing but keep us happy over the years. I thought when they took over Norwest it would be the usual merger story and things would be goofed for forever, but I was wrong. The merger was a GOOD thing and Wells Fargo has been a wonderful addition to the local banking community. But now? Well, now they've pissed me off and, to put it bluntly WELLS FARGO SUCKS!
I thought you, my devoted Cake Eater readers, should know how I feel about the matter.
Posted by Kathy at February 8, 2006 01:33 AM | TrackBackWells fargo didn't take over Norwest. Norwest took over Wells Fargo. Since Norwest is a poor name because it implies regionalism (is that a word?) and because Wells Fargo is a long standing brand, they adopted Wells Fargo.
Dick Kovacevich, the CEO of Norwest, went on to be the CEO and eventually the chairman of the combined entity. Also, Wells shareholders received Norwest stock in the deal (which was then renamed Wells).
The fact that they moved a lot of senior jobs to California confuses some people as to who made the acquisition, but I understand that most of the Norwest leadership had lived in California and were happy to escape our ridiculous winters.
Posted by: Nihilist In Golf Pants at February 8, 2006 09:23 AMAll my complaints with financial institutions have been cases of mere incompetence (although gross incompetence is nearly indistinguishable from larceny when it's varnished with condescension). We had an ongoing three-year dispute with our m0rtgage company (or to be more precise with the institution that purchased our m0rtgage). It seems that somehow all our escrow disappeared from our account when the new company assumed the m0rtgage.
They resolutely refused to admit that the funds had been properly transferred, even though I provided them with records from the old m0rtgage company that showed that the escrow had in fact been transferred. The dispute was confounded by the fact that the new m0rtgage company was in El Paso, Texas (600 miles away), and I was dealing with semi-bilingual wizards who seemed both confused and offended when I used words like "feduciary responsibility".
After we refinanced (and had thus closed that account), I wrote a final letter that threatened legal action if the funds weren't mailed to us forthwith. I week later a check in the exact amount of the disputed escrow arrived without any accompanying explanation or apology.
A more clearcut case of sheer incompetence was the time a teller at our bank debited a deposit we made. I know that's hard to believe, but the teller actually withdrew $350 from our account when my wife made a $350 deposit. My darling wife (who has many virtues other than mathematical skill) didn't catch the error until checks started bouncing. So having checked and rechecked the figures in her register, I went up to the bank and asked for a listing of all transactions. I found that sign bit reversal.
And here's the kicker -- when I pointed this error out to the bank manager, she apologized profusely and promised to immediately credit our account with $350. She seem mystified when I demanded a $700 credit. I actually had to explain to this "bank executive" that the net difference between a $350 deposit and a $350 withdrawal is $700 -- not $350. (In case you're considering changing banks; our bank -- after a couple of subsequent take-overs -- is Chase. Beware!)
There, I feel better now. Thanks for letting me vent.
PS -- Your filter is set up to reject the word "m0rtgage" (so I've resorted to substituting a zero for the "o").
Posted by: Bob at February 8, 2006 09:33 AMThanks for the heads up about the coffee pot, as I have the same sexy pot, except mine has the metal carafe.
When I bought my Kawasaki scoot back in 2000, I financed it through Norwest, because the local dealership had a good relationship with their local branch. The interest rate was good, so we used the in-house financing instead of our local bank.
After the merger, we heard nothing from the bank for about eight months. They sent me a new payment book, but other than that - nada, zip, zilch...UNTIL they sent me a nasty official looking letter stating that due to my failure to insure my financed motorcycle, they were going to cancel the loan and demand payment in full within 30 days. I called the person who signed the letter, and asked them, politely, if their head was inserted COMPLETELY up their ass (requiring feeding & breathing tubes), or if they had enough of their mouth exposed to take care of those tasks without medical assistance. I faxed her a copy of my CURRENT insurance information, and was told that "this insurance policy is worthless, because it lists Norwest as the lienholder." My reply: "Yes, Norwest IS the lienholder on the insurance policy. I assumed that your people would contact my insurance company to make that change without involving me in the process." She replied with some crap about how "that's not their job", while I countered with "Hey, I'm not the guy who decided to go ahead with the merger, so this falls into the category of "not my EFFING problem", you dig?"
After much arguing back and forth, she finally admitted that they should have at least asked me to make the change to my insurance policy before sending out a F*** YOU letter. We made the change, and paid off the loan as quickly as possible.
As far as my opinion of Wells Fargo goes at this time; I'd have to say that if Wells Fargo were an individual, and I happened to find them lying on the side of the road with their clothing on fire - the only way I'd piss on them is if my bladder were filled with kerosene.
Posted by: Russ from Winterset at February 8, 2006 04:48 PM