Washington Mutual-A Negative Banking Experience!
Written: Jun 21 '02 (Updated Jun 25 '02)
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Under 500 yards from my house, had all the qualifications we needed from a bank
Cons: JOAN the teller, a lying manager and an 11 day hold...is that enough?
The Bottom Line: It would be my recommendation that you stay far far way from Washington Mutual. It's nothing but sales people disguised as a bank.
|
|
|
| chrisceb's Full Review: Washington Mutual |
Due to our recent move to Florida, my husband and I needed to open up new checking accounts with a new bank. We’ve been using Union Planters for years up in Tennessee, but once we moved, we realized there are no Union Planters in Central East Florida. So the search started.
My husband and I have two checking accounts. One for my business, albeit a personal account (or...ahem...MY account) and a joint account which we share. I know, how lucky am I? Not only do I get to share an account but I’ve got my very own too!
So, we need two checking accounts with free checking. We also want a debit card, which is not attached to a credit card. Just a plain ole’ debit card. Now, we also didn’t want to pay a fee for a POS (point of sale) purchase. Are you getting this? Let’s reiterate. Two free checking accounts, a plain ole’ debit card with no fee for a POS.
You would not even believe how many banks we had to talk to in order to get our requirements. Would you be surprised if I told you ten?
The first bank we decided to check out was a brand new Washington Mutual (opened just that day) that’s about 500 yards from our subdivision. When I walked into the bank, I was a little shocked at how “before their time” these banks are. When you walk in, the ATM machine is directly in front of you. Apparently, to use the ATM after hours you punch a code into a keypad and the doors open for you, and then closes. No one can come in until you leave again. Nice option, and it seemed like a great solution to safety issues.
After passing the ATM you round the corner to a help desk where you’re greeted by a smiling, courteous face behind the desk asking what they can do to help you. I wasn’t quite sure I was actually in a bank. Most banks act like they’re doing YOU a favor by allowing you to bank there. Hello? I give you thousands of my dollars every year; you have access and use all my funds and you act like you’re doing ME a favor?
Rant off.
After telling the “Help Person” what you’re there for, she directs you into a large room with freestanding pedestals all around the center of the room. On each of these pedestals are a flat screen monitor, a desk space for writing, a credit card swipe and a pen. All the pedestals are black and house a printer and computer tower inside the enclosed pedestal. These, my friends, are your tellers. There’s no place to wait in line, no typical mile long wall between you and the teller...and no stools or chairs for the tellers to sit on. They are like a cashier at the grocery store.
Each of the tellers has on a uniform. A clean (at least they looked clean), ironed, long sleeved button down light blue shirt. Each of the workers at the bank (manager and all) had on navy pants and navy shoes. And of course a name tag. Our girl was named Joan...you’ll hear more about her later. Basically, the associates were absolute cookie cutters of each other.
Another nice aspect of the building itself was the play area. Gameboys, books and playtables adorned a small corner of the bank so children could be occupied while the parents handled their official bank business.
Washington Mutual does offer free checking. They also offer plain ole’ ATM/Debit cards that are not linked to a credit card. Although the bank associate (Joan or the manager) didn’t know this upon our asking, she actually had to open an account for us, insert all our personal information including social, address and drivers license number before she could tell us whether or not the bank could actually give us a plain ole’ ATM/Debit card. Big hassle that it was, at least we got our ATM card.
We also found out at that time that Washington Mutual did not charge a fee for any POS transaction.
Likewise, my husband and I heard about all the other offers Washington Mutual had to offer, as Joan was not only informed, but she was a saleswoman too. She tried to get us to get a matching savings account for our checking accounts...free of charge. Because? Joan said Washington Mutual is in the business of helping you save your money.
Thanks Joan, but we already have a savings account elsewhere.
Joan let us know that Washington Mutual has online banking. For a small fee of $5 a month you can pay all your bills online, or you can check on your accounts for free. No thanks again Joan, we just want our checking accounts opened.
Joan also informed us that Washington Mutual offers children’s savings accounts with only .25 to get you started. Again, no thanks Joan, we came in for a checking account, didn’t you hear us the first three times we said it? And no again, even at just .25. And yes Joan, we understand that it only takes .25 to start them up, we’re on a limited time schedule and we really just want to get the checking accounts right now.
Joan also tried to talk us into getting our mortgage through the bank, as well as refinancing our home, or opening up a home improvement loan. She never even bothered to ask if we own a home. We don’t. We’re renting for two years.
Joan let us know that for the first three months of any new member’s account, Washington Mutual will hold any deposits, but the teller will always let us know when that will happen.
After my husband and I were finally able to convince Joan that we really wanted nothing more than a checking account at that time, she allowed us to pick our pin numbers for our ATM/Debit cards right there on the premises.
My husband had a number of checks from companies he works for that needed depositing. He used to sell health insurance to individuals and self-employed people, so all of his checks were from national companies. I’m sure you’ve even heard of them. Conseco? Blue Cross & Blue Shield? Fortis? The total of all the checks ended up being about a $1000 deposit into our new account. Joan took the checks, opened our account, and got us a deposit slip.
Now, in between all of the tons of information I just shared with you, which Joan shared with us, is where all the problems began.
Joan asked us every personal question under the sun...and then some. We were asked exactly where we were living and where we moved from. Where our son was going to school. What my husband did for a living. What I did for a living. How old my daughter was. How old my son was. What their names were. Where we shopped for groceries. What my husband used to do for a living. Where was my son, since only my daughter was with us. What church he was attending church music camp at...you get the message. She even asked me why I wanted a separate account from my husband.
Then there were two situations that really made me wish I hadn’t even walked into Washington Mutual. And yes, I’m going to tell you about them, just to show you how totally irritating Joan was. My daughter was playing in the play area and every once in a while she’d come over to see what we were up to. Joan offered to let my daughter use an ink stamp to stamp a few of the documents. Joan asked my daughter if she’d like to help her stamp. My not quite 3-year old said “O-Tay”. She says her K’s and hard C’s as T’s. She calls her brother Tonner (Conner), and when my daughter asked for cookies she says “Tookies”. Joan actually had the nerve to try and teach my daughter how to say her C’s. She looked at my daughter and said “K,K,K, Kitty...can you say K-itty”. My daughter said “Sure I tan...Titty”. I, of course, had to snicker, as I knew how my daughter says Kitty. That shut Joan up for approximately 2.4 seconds.
Then Joan proceeded to make fun of my husband for the reasons we prefer a non-credit card ATM/Debit card. The reason we prefer a plain ole’ debit card is because if anyone steals your card, they can empty out your bank account in literally a second. With an actual credit card, the card company protects you, and the thieves aren’t actually stealing your money. They would be stealing the credit card companies money. And you are protected from that. If someone steals your ATM card, they need to use it with a pin number, which is virtually impossible to figure out. So you’re protected somewhat by your pin number.
When using an ATM/Debit credit card, you have no security from someone emptying out the money from your account. Now you may be protected by your bank, or even the credit card company through your contract...however, the thieves have still taken off with all your cash and you still need to figure out a way to pay for things with no cash in your account. Make sense? It’s really not asinine if you look at it that way is it.
Anyway, there was a point during our many personal conversations which Joan more than made it obvious she thought my husband was some paranoid freak for wanting a debit card vs. the debit visa card. I won’t bore you with the whole conversation, but afterwards we were ready to bolt outta there.
Finally, we were free to go. Joan had finally shut her trap and we piled in the van to go pick up my son from church music camp. As we pulled in the driveway of the church my husband asked me for the deposit slips we were given from opening up our account. I deposited $50 to start up my account, and my husband deposited the $1000 into his.
He looked at the slip and his head nearly exploded! They had put a hold on our money! Not for three reasonable days. Not for four reasonable days. But for 11 stinkin’ days! And if you recall earlier in my review Joan, the busy body, told us that the teller (which in this case was Joan herself) would inform us if our money would be put on a hold.
I don’t know too many people who can have $1000 on hold, with no access, for 11 whole days. My husband was livid! Not only did Joan not tell us Washington Mutual was holding our money, but she also didn’t tell us it was being held for an unreasonable 11 days.
Are you wondering what we did?
We picked up our son, drove right back to Washington Mutual, closed our accounts down, and got our checks back. We spoke to the manager and let her know that we didn’t mind our money being held for a reasonable amount of time (three to five days), but 11 was totally unreasonable. Then she looked us square in the face and told us a bold faced lie! The manager’s name escapes me, but she informed us that it is a federal law for banks to hold new member’s money for 11 days. I won’t even tell you what my husband said to that. But it looked something like this...*&%&$$#+. He of course said this in the privacy of only my ears, but to her he said he’d been banking in the US for over 25 years and never, ever had his money held for 11 days. I was so proud of his calm, cool and reserved way he handled the situation. I would have blessed the woman out!
After that 90 minute sales pitch, invasion into our private life, being lied too and closing our accounts, we decided to contact any other banks by phone. We finally found one with all of our requirements and it’s Union First. I’ll let you know how it goes...so far so good though!
Now even though Washington Mutual had a number of the requirements we, as bankers, were looking for, their sales associates totally ruined the experience for us. All the personal questions were totally unnecessary, and obtrusive. The in-your-face attitude from Joan was like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. And then being lied to by the manager was just the icing on the cake.
There’s more to banking than just free checking. And if the human element isn’t there, no amount of free checking or ebanking is going to make it a great bank.
On the flip side, our checking account opening experience at First Union was very pleasant. Hillary (our new girl) even offered crayons and coloring books to my kids to keep them occupied. At Union First there are no fancy teller stations, no uniforms and no Joans! I just know if we stayed at Washington Mutual account opening adventure wouldn’t be our last negative experience we had there.
Recommended:
No
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
chrisceb
|
 - Top 200 |
|
Member: Chris B
Location: Florida
Reviews written: 367
Trusted by: 322 members
About Me:
MEN HAVE NEVER
ASKED FOR ADVICE ON HOW
TO COMBINE MARRIAGE
AND A CAREER
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.