Bad customer service

No, this is not my kitty. But she expresses my mood quite well. (I just love this picture!)

DH and I are in the process of ditching our bank, Compass Bank. They have the worst customer service. After dealing with them for three years, they pushed us over the edge last week.

When we moved here, I promptly spent half a day on the internet researching local banks. We wanted a bank that had interest-bearing checking with free checks and free online bill pay among other things. Compass Bank met all the criteria. Supposedly.

First off, we had a lot of difficulty getting the online bill pay set up. Every time DH would call the bank for help, he would be routed to ANY Compass Bank. He spoke to branches in New Mexico, Alabama, and all over Texas. The phone number we were given rolled you to whatever phone was available at ANY branch. Not all branches had online bill pay available. Everyone he spoke to was clueless. Finally, I went back to the local branch office and got it straightened out in person.

Then there was our ATM card. We don't use it very often, but it was also a pain to set up. They had difficulty spelling our names correctly and opting us out of the debit card feature. No, we only want an ATM card. Yes, we're sure about that. Yes, we'd like our names spelled correctly - we're funny that way. Once again, I had to go to the local branch in person to get this rectified. They ended up issuing us the cards FOUR TIMES before it was right.

At one point, we had two accounts, and wanted to close out one and change our checking account to one with more features. Easy, right? No. Of course not. We had major problems with this and DH and I both had to go in person to the local branch to get this fixed.

But last week was the final straw. We use online bill pay for every bill we receive. I schedule the bill to be paid five days before the bill's stated due date. Compass Bank paid our power bill late two months in a row.

We were able to resolve this with the power company amicably. When DH called the bank, they were clueless. They said they didn't know why the bills were paid late. Excuse me? They said it must be my fault as I scheduled the due date incorrectly. DH made them access our bill pay account and they admitted that the problem was not mine. However, they still couldn't explain themselves. So, DH called the bill pay service hotline. They were even more clueless. "This just happens." Two months in a row?! ONLY the power bill?!!

So we opened an account at First Victoria Bank, a bank local to central Texas with 143 years of service. The bank manager herself was the one who helped us set up our new account. We told her why we were leaving Compass Bank. She said she worked for them briefly but left because of...well, because. 'Nuff said.