Rough time for Quicken customers

The WaMu to Chase change could be a little hard on customers who use Quicken. (story)

Chase turns back the clock on WaMu branches

As reported in the WSJ (WaMu’s Branches Lose Their Smiles 4/7/09) Chase is ripping out all of WaMu’s “customer friendly” branch designs and replacing them with a traditional teller window (with bullet-proof glass) configuration.

I find it interesting that anything about WaMu would be considered customer friendly, as they have had a reputation for poor customer service (including a BBB ‘F’ rating), which has only intensified since the crisis began for them in the middle of last year.

I personally bank at First Republic Bank, which has a very non-traditional branch setup; their branches consist entirely of personal bankers sitting at desks. You develop a relationship with a personal banker (although anyone in a branch will help you) rather than the next-in-line mentality. It is also nice to have my bankers email address, so I can deal with some things without going into the branch or phoning and have access to someone who knows me personally. On the rare occasion when I overdraft (before I had an overdraft protection credit line) someone from the bank would call personally to let us know there was a problem.

Other banks seem to go out of their way to NOT use all the contact information they have for you when there is a problem. Countrywide did this when I accidentally missed a mortgage payment when on vacaction (forgot to pay it before we left). They left 9 automated messages on our home number but never once tried to contact me using other information they readily had – my mobile number and email address. Banks like WaMu, Chase, and others have become too dependent on fees and don’t seem to want to jeopardize the fee stream by making things easier.

But I digress.

It sounds like WaMu’s “radical” branch configurations were mostly cosmetic, not a redesign of how business is done. It seems to be coming more clear that Chase is more interested in moving backwards with WaMu than forwards. Too bad.

Less fun

Chase is making over many of WaMu’s branches (WSJ article) to make them less “fun.”. Read more about this below.

WaMu give customer money

WaMu won’t give Shashi’s money back after cashing out a CD on maturity. This is a blatent example of what appears to be severe ineptness on WaMu’s part. (story)

Getting harassed? Get educated!

Getting harrassed by WaMu’s debt collection? Educate yourself on the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act like LeeAnne did. (story)

Worst Company in America

Chase is in the running over at consumerist.com for the Worst Company in America title (link)

High hopes

I had high hopes that perhaps being bought by Chase would help WaMu get a clue, but it seems that quite a few Chase customers (and new Chase customers via WaMu) are unhappy with the bank, if you believe the 135 complaints over at complaints.com.

Overdraft in the afternoon

Dee deposits cash in the morning to cover checks in the afternoon, but gets overdrafts anyways. (story)