WAMU

About a week and a half ago I got a phone call from my bank. They were calling to alert me to the fact that there were some weird charges on my account and they wanted to know if I had authorized them or not.

I was impressed. The charges had not even shown up online yet. I had no idea anything weird was even going on. The woman who called me (twice. I didn't pick up the first time, but got a message to call them back) said she would cancel my debit card, that I should destroy it, and they would send me a new one. It would take 7-10 days to get it, so I should use checks or cash in the mean time.

I was a little bugged, but I've gotten through 10 days just fine. In fact, it has actually been pretty eye opening as to how quickly I spend money.

But then today, I noticed there was a new $400 charge on my account that I had never authorized. I was confused, obviously, as my debit card was no longer usable, so I called the bank.

It took my 35 minutes and 3 transfers of departments to even get to the right person. When I did, she told me that not only did the original girl not cancel my card, they had no record of that phone call at all.

SCARY!

Then she transferred me to ANOTHER department to dispute the charge, at which point the automated system basically kicked me out and said it was having technical problems.

SO I went to the bank so I could talk to a real person.

In the end, I basically have to cancel my checking account and start over, just in case. Which is BEYOND annoying.

But more than that, my faith in and happiness with Washington Mutual, is seriously in question. I can't believe how long they kept me on hold today!! WHAT HAPPENED TO CUSTOMER SERVICE?

That said, the guy in the AF branch was incredibly helpful. But their phone service. UGH!!! Also, PLEASE hire people to work on your phone lines that can speak coherently and have beyond a 4th grade education. . . I'm just saying.