Nightmare in Customer Service

Today was a day I’d like to forget. Not because it is now eleven days with no A/C and no word from management as to when the issue will be resolved. I’m at the point now where I almost don't care any longer, and have no intention of continuing to run management down for information. After all, it took 73 days before they handled the swarming termites.

Of course, that was back when the mean incompetent Nurse Ratched was the Community Manager. Problem with the current Community Manager is she’s so obsessed with her personal problems that she is no longer handling business properly. More and more I'm hearing from residents that she's falling down on her responsibilities. That, when they go to her with an issue to be solved, she turns the conversation to her medical issues, her spiraling weight, her thyroid, that she has five children to raise AND, as I recently learned, is having to work a second (part-time) job. Folks are saying it's time for her to find a less demanding position.

The thought of relocating has once again entered my mind, but I like living here and there are currently too many advantages for me to consider moving elsewhere.

So, though this A/C thing is annoying, I keep reminding myself that there’s a Cosmic reason for everything and patiently wait.

And that’s what I said to myself today, after a two-and-a-half-hour nightmare at the new financial institution.

Because of all the negative press about the financial institution I’ve been with for 45 years, I decided to sever that relationship and, on August 8, began a new relationship elsewhere with an electronic transfer into a savings account, and thought no more about it until a few days ago when there was more negative press about the institution I’ve been with for 45 years.

It was then I decided I’d better also begin phasing a checking account into the new relationship.

Arriving at the new financial institution, I was informed I couldn’t open a checking account, or anything else, because Loss Prevention had put a warning on the electronic transfer, and that I needed documentation to show the electronic transfer had come from an account with my name on it. Now remember, the new account has been open since August 8 and this is the first I'm hearing of their not trusting an electronic transfer.

Not believing what I'm hearing, I say “What do you mean? It’s not like I’m taking money out, I’m putting money in. And I told you people when I opened the account why I was doing so, gave you a few bucks to open it, but said a electronic transfer would follow that same day.”

Didn’t matter, Raul in Loss Prevention said he needs proof it’s from an account with your name on it.

“I don’t understand. It’s from one bank to another, so where else would it come from, who else’s account would it be?”

After considerable back and forth, including my saying"Raul evidently doesn't have enough real work to do", I relented. And, fortunately, had the folder with me that contained banking information, including all the paperwork on the electronic transfer, which the customer service person assisting me faxed to Raul.

Then we waited for him to release the warning so we could move on to opening a checking account.

After considerable wait time, we received word, the faxed documents were not sufficient documentation. That Raul wanted further proof and had gone to lunch.

I asked for the manager and filed a complaint “How dare he go to lunch while I’m waiting for this to be resolved.”

The manager got ahold of someone else in Loss Prevention, but it was the same story … show us proof the money came from an account with your name on it.

I pulled out a copy of my account summary which showed where the money came from.

“That’s not enough. We need proof it's your account -- a summary with your name on it”.

In my mind I said, “F you people”, but what came out of my mouth was, “No! I’ve given you people enough documentation. I’m not giving you anything else. I’m done. Send the money back to the institution from whence it came.”

Afraid of electronic transfers at this point, I asked for a cashier’s check.

Would you believe, in order to get a cashier’s check to redeposit in the financial institution I was trying to divorce, I still had to log onto a courtesy computer, print out an account summary that showed my name so they could remove Raul’s warning.

There’s a Cosmic reason for everything.

So now I’m waiting to see what pearl is at the end of the A/C thing (maybe that cute A/C guy will come back with a single brother) and why the Universe led me away from the new financial institution and back to where I was.

I spent the remainder of the day trying to push the earlier frustration out of my head. It’s still with me, so maybe a trip to the spa chair tomorrow, while the nail technicians perform their magic on my feet and fingernails, will make the memory of today, and that idiot Raul, fade into the past.