Ms. Entitled PITA

[Ghel]

It's always something with this customer. She's a retired bank employee, but not really. Every time she tells me she's not supposed to get charged for anything, I want to remind her that she worked for <Former Bank>, which doesn't exist any more. <Current Bank> might be in the same location, but it doesn't have the same name or owners.

Today, she called wanting a copy of a check that cleared her account 5 years ago. Something about needing proof of purchase for a warranty. Never mind that a canceled check doesn't tell you what was purchased, only an amount. She still has her statement, and she can see when the check cleared, but there's no image of the check. I told her she would probably be charged a fee for account research, and she had kittens. She never gets charged for anything. Mostly to shut her up, I said I would talk to the folks in bookkeeping to see if we could waive the fee. "Don't you have your own bookkeeping department?" she says. Not any more - it's all at the main branch.

I get the info on the check from her and call bookkeeping. They say they won't charge her. Cool, fine, whatever. They do a bit of research. Turns out there's a reason the check image doesn't appear on her statement. It was processed as an electronic check. We never received an image of it.

I call her back and relay this. She says she still needs the information. Today. She tells me to type up a letter and fax it to her. Yes, tells, not asks. No "please" or anything. Just she needs this today so she can show it to the store. I type it up and fax it to the number she gives me, hoping this is the last of it.

And I hope it is the last of it. She's such a pain. And so needy all the time.


While I was typing this, a coworker told me that SC called and demanded that we send her wall calendars when they come in. "Tell her I said bite my ass!"

[TheSHAD0W]

Well... Once upon a time, banks would return canceled checks along with every statement, so you'd have proof of payment.

Then, with the advent of electronic processing, they began providing images of checks with every statement. This proved impractical with the amount of printing involved with some accounts.

Finally they eliminated check images in with statements, instead making them available for free upon request. (This was before most online banking systems made the check images available, at least for a while.)

AFAIK, for most banks, they still provide you with free check images upon request, within reason.

[Ghel]

Yes, and we still do provide check images with statements. The fronts, anyway. And only if we have them. If a check is processed in such a way that we don't receive the images, we don't have them to give to the customer. You know when a store scans a check for payment, then returns the check to the customer? It gets processed through the ACH system and there's no image. I'm pretty sure that's what happened in this case.

Our disclosures state that we charge $50/hour for "records research" with a minimum fee of $25. It gets waived all the time, for almost any reason. This SC is so freaking annoying that I really wanted to charge her. But it wasn't my decision.

[Sparklyturtle]

In 2012 I asked if my credit union happened to still have a check from 2004, and they did. An apartment complex we were moving out of was insisting we'd never paid a deposit, and wanted us to pay it again. We'd lived there 8 years. The credit union found the check in question, and I'd been smart enough to write "rental deposit" on it so I had proof we'd paid the deposit. The credit union told me they only held onto check images for 5 years, but there was a chance they might still have it, and because I had the check number, the amount, and the date it was written they were able to track it down and e-mail me an image of the check. I was polite when I asked and thanked the CS person profusely when I received the image, and they didn't charge me.

[taxguykarl]

Between her and Betty, I can't say I envy you, Ghel.

[Dragon_Dreamer]

Whatever happened to Betty?

[Ghel]

Betty and her husband somehow managed to pay off their home loan. I have no idea where they got the money.

But she's still struggling with the restaurant. We're waiting to see if she keeps up with the payments on her property tax agreement with the county. She has until the end of the year to pay the 2nd half 2019 taxes, or the restaurant will go tax forfeit. Based on past conversations with Goodhair and Ted, if the restaurant does go tax forfeit, the bank won't do anything. We'll just let the county take the property.