Opinions

I find that the older I get, the more I am likely to become quietly (and sometimes, not so quietly) angry about bad service. And its taking less to make me think that service is bad, too.

I know that I'm pickier than warranted, most times. And I know that overall you have to pay more to get the same level of service as was common a decade ago. On the other hand --

I've been a member of a specific credit union for over 25 years. I knew them when they had one branch, and you knew most of the people there. Now they're big time, and though they aren't huge as banking setups go, they're way bigger than they used to be. Its been ten years since they started charging for things they used to do for free, and dropping things that they used to do which never made money for them.

So I shouldn't have been surprised when, after an account funds transfer to cover a larger than normal level of check writing, it turned out that the transfer seems not to have worked, and they charged me for an overdraft. I didn't like it, I didn't understand it, but I wasn't all that surprised.

But when they charged me that fee, transferred the exact amount, got another check, charged me another fee, transferred another exact amount, got another check, charged me... then I lost it. Wrote them a furious email, copied the new CEO (who'd been so unwise as to send out his email address, even if he personally never looked at it). Taking my money out of your damn bank, you bandits ! And its not a trivial sum, either, though relative to their total deposits, probably not much to cough over, either.

I got a call, asking if I'd like to talk about it.

Hmm.... rage? Cutting off my nose to spite my face? (My wife still has an account there, and it can be awfully convenient at times.)

Not sure. Think I'll go take a four day trip to Williamsburg and mull it over.

Back in a few days.