Steve Lopez of the LA Times has a don’t-miss personal anecdote about his travails dealing with his bank after his debit card number was stolen. His bank ultimately decided that the charges were his responsibility, leaving him short over two grand. The bank’s unwillingness to discuss his claim has left him with little recourse. A phone rep told him his previous conversations weren’t able to be reviewed because the rep “can’t always get access to those tapes,” and John Hall of the American Bankers Association told him, in essence, to keep calling until he got it resolved, despite the fact that that’s exactly what Lopez has been doing.

But which bank? Lopez declines to mention who exactly he’s dealing with.

The reason I’m not divulging my bank’s name
as much as I would love to
is that it wouldn’t be right for me to use the influence of the newspaper to get my money back. The average Joe can’t do that. And besides, I want to see if in the end, my bank (a large national operation that will no longer have my business when this is over) does the right thing for the right reasons.

We dig his rationale and it’s one that we, as editors who are also consumers, have considered.

What do you think? Should The Consumerist avoid detailing our personal complaints because of the potential conflict of interest? (Thanks, KR!)

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