I am a big fan of anyone who fights for the people vs these billion dollar companies that treat customers horribly. Thanks for building the site and getting your message heard. I've had issues with all the major online places...ebay/paypal/banks etc and I hope that one day they are forced to do better business because of sites like yours. Thank you.

My saga is as follows:

I recieved a letter in the mail from my local Wamu branch in late November 2008 stating if you open a free checking account between then and Jan 31st 2008 and deposit $100 to open it, they'd credit you $100 for becoming a new customer. I didnt know to much about the bank with them being new to my area within the last 2 years and decided to give them a try. I went to the free.wamu.com website as stated on the form and for 2 days the site didnt load correctly. Error each time. So I called my local branch and asked how I should go about opening the account and claiming the $100 bonus. I was told either go to wamu.com and enter the promo code during registration on there or to bring the paper into my local branch. I should of gone in..but instead I signed up on wamu.com. There isnt a place to enter the promo code if you go this route.

I opened the account online made a large deposit and even spoke to employees in the bank showing them the paper I'd been mailed and it appears by not entering the code (since there wasnt a place to do it and that the people in this branch told me to do) my account is not eligible for the bonus. I wasn't thrilled, kinda felt scammed but I'd been looking for a quality bank for a long time and even though this was strike 1 against them, so far I was happy with them and the service at the local branch.

My debit card arrived in 10 days, Pin # arrived in 13. You can use your card as credit, but without a pin it can be a hassle some places. I went in and during a deposit asked if they could issue new pin #and this cant be done until your original pin comes via mail. It's only a few days, but for the lone reader out there who is pin-less and wondering if it'll ever come...it will and you just have to wait.

At this point I'd had the account "nearly" a month and had only made cashiers check, cash or electronic deposits...no actual paper checks. I took a paycheck inside and after I got the receipt and was turning away the employee says to the theres going to be a small hold on that check for a few days. How long? It's a 7 day hold, funds will be available next Friday. This special treatment is because I was a still new customer. I had $100 of the total available immediately the rest were gonna be a week. If I would of know that before I was walking away and thinking clearly I would of definately been more upset but spur of the moment, it seemed alright. Then back at work, Im looking at the receipt and it said the hold was longer. Funds deposited on the 19 would clear the 31st. 7 business day hold. I called the person I was at the bank with and asked if I just heard it wrong, nope.they definately said 7 day, next Friday. That of course meant that bills I thought I'd pay on Friday wouldnt be paid until Wednesday and the two $5 late fees I'd get meant that I should of just cashed the check where it was issued for or into my old bank where I would of had it in 2 days.(I was sincerely trying Wamu and expected alot better from them, I let more slide because I thought that this was short term thing) I have access to the account that the check on hold was written from, it cleared in 3 days. The other 8 days Wamu had my paycheck for all purposes. The following week I made another deposit, nothing said about a hold, $100 immediately the rest pending. Cleared the account it was written from in 3 days again...posted to my account in 4. Better, not great. but better.

On the third week, same time, same amount, same teller, same bank, $100 immediately, rest hold/pending. 5 days later, no release... no pending payments at all and they took away the $100 that I had from that check. After spending close 20 mins on hold having to verify everything under the sun I told the reason the situation occured was that the check I'd deposited couldnt be verified by the issueing bank yet. Not saying its a bad check, just that they couldnt or wouldnt verify it with the issuing bank yet. The hold would be lifted on following Saturday according the the date I was given. 8 days from the Original deposit. This time, the issuing account hadnt seen the check post at all, had over $xx,xxx in it. Plenty to cover the relative small check.

I also had a debit card issue where my card was declined for a $3 burger after waiting in line, first time that's happened and I wasnt happy. If I had made a mistake and didnt have funds or miscalculated, thats one thing...but this was because I bought a $10 book online from Canada and it was suspicious enough to freeze my debit card. They didnt call, didnt email, didnt knock on the front door...just waited for me to get 2-3 online transactions decline and then one grabbing food before I finally called, tried every combination in the world to find a live person. Finally spoke to someone who asked me 5 security questions and if I bought something on a certain date. Card was unlocked.

So in conlcusion, my opinion of Wamu isnt great at all. I think they've spent to much money on cosmetics, electronics and advertising. The insides of the banks here are much nicer than most others where we live. The people smile and have a good vibe in person from what I see. I just dont think they run the business well at all, from the top on down. They are definately trying to be the more modern friendly bank in many ways but the lack of ATM's esp during the evening/nite and the constant need to limit the use of your own money are a huge drawback. Atleast 3 times I have been told things by employees that are not correct. JPMorgan is going to have to rework the place or else its not going to last