Reader James says he doesn’t want all this crap that the teller at WaMu forced on him earlier today. The Frisbee sucks, he doesn’t like caramel corn, and his refrigerator isn’t magnetic.
James says:
I banked at an drive-through of WAMU in Vancouver, WA earlier today. When making a deposit, I was given three useless pieces of “goodies”: a small Frisbee with WAMU logo, an airline-sized packet of caramel pop corn, and a magnet letter board. The teller seemed to be very insistent that I take them and “enjoy” them.
Guess its time to shovel all that WaMu branded crap out the door, before they change the name to Chase, huh? Good news for poetic-caramel-corn-eating Frisbee enthusiasts.
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I live to Frolf!
I find it ironic that in order for customers to get items such as these previous to the sale/merger, one would need to “register” with the bank so that they could solicit you with “special offers” and “select rewards benefits.”
I wonder if I go to my local branch if I could get some of that stuff for free. Might as well suck it all in, since Chase is going to be taking frisbees, food, and magnetic sticky-goodness from you in addition to freakishly high fees.
I wouldn’t mind the caramel popcorn at all.
USBank never gives me presents
@cynical_bastard: Because USBank is the devil!
/rant!
/rant!
/rant!
They have non-magnetic fridges? Crazy…
@Gaambit: Seriously, when did this amazing breakthrough take place?
@Gaambit: Our friends have one, it’s kind of sad because they have kids and they can’t hang their pictures on the fridge like normal people
@downwithmonstercable: Removable tape works.
@Gaambit:
magnets don’t stick to (real) stainless. Back in the 80 there were also “fancy” plastic covers that would make a white fridge glossy black… you know, back when all appliance makers had white and beige paint only.
@jaydez: Unlike today where there’s white, black, and stainless steel.
I’ve got a fake stainless steel appliances… I accepted the tradeoff of cold and unforgiving real stainless steel for super-easy cleanup and still being completely magnetic.
I don’t have kids, so instead I use magnets to pin disembodied heads to the fridge.
@Gaambit: Seriously, Consumerist needs to run an expose’ on this travishamockery called “non-magnetic fridges”
href=”#c10725802″>Gaambit: I had a stainless steel fridge in my house magnets wouldn’t stick to. But they did stick to the side of it.
This looks like a job for eBay or maybe craigslist:
Collection of Bankrupt Bank Tchotchkies
Own a piece of financial collapse history with these WaMu branded gift items. Buy now, while you still have money!
Why did the guy take the crap? Spineless (and whiny). No matter how insistent the teller is, just saying “no thank you” and leaving it in the drive-in tube (or on the counter) is the best option if you really don’t want the crap.
Can’t they just put Chase stickers over the WaMu stickers, a la higher prices over lower prices at the Gap?
yeah once I got pencils, pens, eraser, ruler, a plastic pencil case. I was like “what’s this for”? the teller pointed at a large banner behind them that read “customer appreciation day”. This was obviously near this entire meltdown.
I guess they should of saved their money and used it to invest in their company. who are their clients, 5-8 year old school children?!?!
@ceez: See, there’s a distinction between his goodie bag and your goodie bag. Your goodie bag is actually useful stuff.
Of course, the caramel popcorn has been recalled.
@RandomHookup: That was my first thought “watch that popcorn have some sort of PCA product in it”
Who doesn’t like caramel corn?!?!
@Kuonji: Um.. me.. I’ve always found that it smells really funny.. I’ve never eaten it.. but I’m not really a popcorn person… or a caramel person for that matter..
I accept that I’m a weirdo.
Dear God! Free stuff?! When will the world stop getting so terribly horrendous!
You will take these and enjoy them, or else! That’ll be $7.50 for the frisbee, $3.00 for the maggnet, $1.00 for the popcorn, and $15.00 dispensing fee. Oh, and we’re pretty sure the popcorn has recalled peanuts.
Have a nice day!
Interesting. Free stuff, I’ll take it why not.
Why are we complaining about free stuff?! I have a magnetic fridge, I like frisbee’s, my neighbor likes popcorn.
If they just threw all this stuff out we’d be complaining about them wasting precious resources.
Come on people, stop complaining for once.
@idip: I was as WAMU a few days ago and I never got SWAG…and I like caramel corn. boo! If you really don’t want it, give it to a neighbor.
@idip:
Besides, it’s not like they packed it with too many air pillows!
I want a magnetic poetry kit that includes, “Whoo-Hoo”, and I know a lot of my former coworkers at EA/Maxis would get a kick out of them, too.
For people familiar with “the Sims” video game franchise, “Whoo-Hoo” is the in-game euphemism for having sex.
Who has a magnetic fridge? I’ve never seen one!
It would be rather frightening too, as everything metal suddenly gets pulled to the fridge.
My dad used to have a collection of various thotchkes left over from all the banks he worked at after they went insolvent. They threw it out when my parents moved into a Condo. I kinda miss the old coffee mugs.
If you don’t want your frisbee, give it to a kid. They might appreciate the gift way more than you do. It might even make their day. You could make somebody else happy with it instead of bitching and complaining.
@Tekneek:
Yes…I know a dog who would enjoy it too
Send all that crap to 3rd world countries…I’m sure they would appreciate carmel popcorn, frisbees and whatever junk they have as gifts from the almighty…
@jmndos:
Yeah, interesting story. Someone in my company sent us a picture of these kids in africa wearing shirts with our logo on it. It was played up as our brand is around the world, I saw it as the clothes donation company sent a box containing out free shirts to some tribe.
For some reason WAMU sent me a replacement for a card that expires in April. Maybe they have extra cards to get rid of too. I expect Chase will send me one as well
Was any of that worthless crap American Dollars?
1. “No Thank You”
2. Drive away
3. ?
4. Profit
Funny story ~ Made me laugh just at the irony.
What the heck are they thinking? Absolutely should have never invested my funds with those people. Thanking my lucky stars that I kept my digital security investments.
[www.justaskgemalto.com]
I don’t think it’s about wastefulness from an individual as much as from businesses.
It’s easy for marketing managers to decide to spend $$$ on useless trinkets without feeling responsible. HEY, the year is ending… quick, use up the budget because we may not get it next year!
WaMu could send it all over to WAMU 88.5 FM – American University Radio, an NPR News Station in Washington, DC and claim a (charitable contribution related) tax deduction.
Damn, there are real problems in the world and the bank giving away crap they can’t use anymore is an issue?
Here is a nice issue: The top employees received bonus checks as rewards for farking up the business. Yes, the CEO got a bonus check. So did the Junior Assistant to the 3rd Deputy Vice President. Sure the big boy got a bigger check, but it was Junior’s department whiched loaned money for which there is no hope of ever recovering.
The Goodwill stores in Seattle are periodically packed with Wamu grill kits, umbrellas, frisbees etc. They go fast for a few bucks- keep donating ChaseMU! We may not want it for free, but we will give you $2.99 for it.
James,
What is your refrigerator made from. I thought magnets would stick to them all unless you are using a stryofoam cooler.
@feckingmorons:
I am not the James from the article, but magnets won;t stick to my fridge either and it is stainless steel,
They were giving away $20 off coupons for Costco here in SF. A co-worker of mine’s wife got a bunch of them and bought groceries.
James sounds like a miserable guy to me.
i got a little battery-powered coin counter at the branch in shoreline (across from the fred meyer on Aurora Avenue) and a pencil box with pencils. i made out pretty well as i have about 100 bucks worth of coins i was going to roll and count, but instead i have a tchochke to do it for me.
oh and TWO whoo hoo! bumper stickers. bank failure, whoo hoo!
I got a goody in the mail from WAMU today offering me a $100 gift card to move my checking account to their bank.
Since I have BofA now, I’m sorely tempted. I’d still be getting treated like something they scraped off their shoe but I’d at least have an extra hundred bucks.
After the software company I work for was acquired, we were prohibited from “diluting the company brand with former brand equity.” We weren’t allowed to give our stuff to customers, nor could employees keep it or even toss it in the trash.
So, naturally, we donated tons of shirts and jackets to homeless shelters and books and pens to schools. We didn’t know what to do with the thousands of retractable earbud style headphones, though. Or the two-year old box of cinnamon flavored sugar-free mints.
I was too slow! I stopped by my bank earlier today, and they had diddly squat in the way of free WaMu junk (and they didn’t know about any giveaways). I had some genuine bank business to take care of, but I was kinda looking forward to a free Frisbee or some popcorn. I’ll miss the WaMu brand; it was my first real bank as an adult, and has some nostalgia for me.
Yes, I trust WAMU has a TON of “WAMU” stuff to get rid of and would indeed have blank plastic debit and credit cards to either issue or distroy before Chase takes over.
And behold, Consumerist has created the perfect example of what people mean when they say “[x] has fostered a culture of complainers.”
Many of us wish this was our worst problem of the day.