I run a small business. I’m the owner of my small business. I deal with the day-to-day fun that comes with owning a small business. Today was a rare, red-letter day for running a small business.
As part of doing that whole “pay your taxes” thing the government suggests, I was going through my receipts and listing out deductibles, and I noticed that (according to my online bank statement) I was paying $35 per month for my (business) checking account. That seemed pretty high, so I called the customer service line listed on the website and was immediately given another number to call. That wasn’t a great start.
The second number yielded me to a person who verified all of my information and then transferred me to another person who proceeded to re-verify everything all over again. Somehow, in the process of transferring the call, I might’ve changed identities or something. Anyway …
It turns out, that my account was only $13 per month, but I’m being billed for a payroll service that I cancelled last year. It all gets billed together, and presto: $35/month. Fortunately, I had the paper copy of my termination request for this payroll account and I explained that I shouldn’t be charged. That account was terminated in 2012!
Then they transferred me again. This time to the people that run the payroll service, which by the way, is all part of the same bank. It’s not like I was using one comapny’s service and another company screwed it all up. Same bank.
After verifying my info for the third time in 10 minutes, they explained that yes, they had received the letter of termination, but no, they hadn’t terminated the account. Why, I asked. I mean, it seemed like a logical question considered they’d received and acknowledged verbal and written requests to terminate the account.
Gee, they said, we don’t know.
Well, from the date of the termination request until the most recent billing, there’s $225 in charges that I’d like back. Can you please credit my account with those funds? Oh sir, you’ll need to provide proof that you were charged.
But wait – you just acknowledged that you received a written request to terminate and that you didn’t act on it. How could you possibly need further proof after admitting that you made the mistake!? Especially, again, after you just said you made the mistake?
So now, I’m printing out a year’s worth of bank statements to send to a bank showing the charges that shouldn’t be there, that they admitted they charged, but can’t remove until I show them the charges.
Does this make any sense to anyone?
