A Letter to Washington Mutual
Written: Nov 23 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: No minimum balance required for your personal checking account
Free Personal Checking
Cons: I experienced some miscommunication early on
The Bottom Line: I borderline recommend WaMu. My experience has become favorable overall, and I don't plan to leave WaMu anytime soon, namely because of the free personal checking.
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| hamburgerman's Full Review: Washington Mutual |
Here is a letter I wrote to a local Houston Washington Mutual branch on September 10, 2001, a month after I opened a small business checking account.
Dear ***,
My relationship with Washington Mutual is off to a bad start.
First of all, when I opened my small business account with you at WaMu's Fountain View branch in Houston about a month ago, you told me my business checks would cost $32-38. I received my statement and I was billed $59.75 That is very frustrating.
Second, when I received my checks, there were no deposit slips included.
Third, my first statement included a $5 charge for VERIFICATION OF DEPOSIT FEE. What is that?! The only verification I can think of was calling the 800 customer service number to check my last 5 transactions. The only two deposits made were 60 cents and 20 cents, deposits made by paypal.com to verify my checking account. So WaMu charged me $5 to verify 80 cents? Come on.
And forth, it took approximately 5 weeks to receive checks for my personal checking account I recently opened. Turns out the first order I requested was never turned in or processed. These checks were originally ordered from the Memorial Drive branch and adds to the frustration of initially dealing with WaMu.
I left Bank of America because of reasons like these, employees not communicating or giving me the wrong information. I don't want to leave your bank as well, but I feel I must unless these problems are rectified.
I would like you to credit my account for the difference in the quote and actual cost of business checks ($21.75) and refund the DEPOSIT VERIFICATION FEE of $5, a total credit of $26.75. My account number is ###############.
I appreciate your time and speedy response.
Thank You,
Joe G.
The results: I was refunded the difference in the check quote, $21.75. I was not refunded the Deposit Verification Fee. I have yet to receive deposit slips for my business account.
On another note, three time I have inquired as to what minimum balance I must keep in my business account to avoid a service charge. The first time, upon opening my account, I was told the minimum balance must be $3500. The second time I asked, I was told $2500. Most recently, when I called about a service charge on my account (which turned out to be a computer mistake and was quickly refunded), the customer service rep told me I must maintain a daily balance of $2000 to avoid a service charge. I have only had this account 3 months and I have been told 3 different minimum balance amounts. It couldn't have changed that many times that quickly.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
hamburgerman
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Member: Brazil (Joe) Grisaffi
Location: Houston, TX
Reviews written: 38
Trusted by: 27 members
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