The Beginning
It begins with a letter from Washington Mutual, informing me that I should have already received my new ATM card, and if not, to call and let them know. Seeing as how I had not yet received my card and fearing the worst, I called and requested they resend the card. Easy enough.
Unexpected Problem
A few days later I went to the ATM to make some deposits, only to discover that the machine would not accept my card. I called the number shown on the screen of the machine, and the operator tells me they closed my card because of a security breach. Wow, thanks for telling me ahead of time. I went ahead and requested another card be sent to me even though I hadn’t received the first one yet.
Days pass. I still receive nothing in the mail. Finally on the last day of the “5-7 day” period, I receive an envelope in the mail with my PIN code to activate my new card. Except the envelope had already been opened. Great.
Coincidentally the very same thing happened to my cousin recently, and it was with Washington Mutual as well. Definitely not a good sign.
Customer First
I call Washington Mutual to let them know what just happened, and ask if it’s possible to have my card sent to another, more secure address. Nope, they can only send to the one on file. Can’t you send it to a branch bank and let me pick it up from there? Nope. And there’s no way you could spend a dollar and have it sent certified mail to guarantee that your loyal customer will receive his new ATM card? Nope, can’t do that either.
Finally I log onto their online system and update my address to my work address in the hopes that it will arrive there safely. I’ve got my fingers crossed on this one, although I’m really doubting that anyone is stupid enough to open my mail, write down a PIN code, and then put it back in my mailbox so that I know it’s been stolen. My thinking is that the opening of WAMU mail is happening before it gets to my house; whether it’s the USPS or some inside guy at WAMU, who knows?
Too Late
The irony is that three days later I received my new ATM card in the mail, only to find that when I called to activate it had been cancelled earlier when I called to let them know that it had not arrived in the “5-7″ day period. Le sigh.
Update: May 3, 2005
Ironically, my new card arrived safely in the mail today. Hopefully this will be the end of my troubles.
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comments
hahahah. that sounds like such a seinfeld type thing. but i’ve actually had issues with my wamu debit card before too. when i got my new one, i went to change my pin number and it didn’t get changed. so i had to change it again. and then it wouldn’t work as a debit card at stores. it eventually just fixed itself but yah.
despite all that, i still prefer wamu.