Terry writes:

I’m writing to tell you about the miserable service I’ve received from Wachovia Bank. On several occasions I’ve logged into my checking account to sent payments for various things. It seems that more often that not I end up hearing from these businesses wanted to know where the payments are. I know full well that I’ve sent them, and even having the confirmation codes to prove it. I log in to my account and can find no record whatsoever of these payments.

At this point of course I call customer service, which in my opinion would be better called customer dis-service. I explain the situation to them and the inevitable response I get from them is “We have no record of that transaction”. “Well yes, that’s EXACTLY the problem, now what are you going to do about it?” I say. Of course they reply that with no record there is nothing they can or are willing to do and suggest I resubmit the payment. They refuse to acknowledge that there might be a problem or that they might be responsible in some way.

These people seem to think that their computers are infallible and that whatever the computer says must be true. They are not willing to consider anything else. I work with computers and I can tell you that they can and do make mistakes but these people don’t want to see that there might be a problem with the system. They seem incapable of understanding that someone might have made a programming error that could result in this.

My credit is being damaged by Wachovia and my good standing with business I use is being ruined. Wachovia blames me and treats me like I’m some kind of mentally ill child. It’s disgusting, demeaning and unbelievably insulting to be treated this way. I may not be able to resolve this with them, the black marks on my credit aren’t going to go away by themselves, but I sure as all can close my accounts with them and make sure people hear about it.

Thank you,
Terry W.

Sounds like Terry is stuck in a tier 1 customer service heckhole. They can’t fix his transactions because there’s no record of them. If they can’t see anything, then there’s nothing for them to fix. And it seems there’s also no escalation button for them to press. In the customer service flowchart it would say, “IF root of problem exists at level solvable only by people above my paygrade THEN press this button.” If Terry still has his accounts open, he could give this Wachovia executive contact info a shot. Otherwise, Wachovia just lost another customer due to their rep’s indifference and inability to handle issues not covered in the plastic three-ring binder.

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