Premier America, Worst Credit Union Ever

What can you say about a credit union that

• debits your account immediately upon setting up a transfer to an external financial institution
• then denies the transfer...
• then locks your account so you can't do ANYTHING
• then every time you call to ask to get it straightened out, the customer service people tell you helplessly that they're waiting for the third-party transfer vendor to get back to them
• and the third-party transfer people *every time* say it will be 3-4 business days to resolve, no matter how many different days you call
• so after over two weeks, you still don't know where your money is, or when you'll get it back

Here's what I say: YOU SUCK.

A somewhat politer (marginally) version of YOU SUCK will be sent to the CEO and the VP of Member Services - but only after I actually get my money.  And a complaint will be sent to the NCUA.

I'm also considering my sister's suggestion of calling a television station about it (it's the kind of alarmist, anti-consumer story they'd like to get all breathless about...you know, a "KXXX ON YOUR SIDE" report.  I also liked my cousin's suggestion to walk into the branch office every other day or so saying I'm doing a health inspection.  Except these idiots are in California (Chatsworth), and I'm not.  (Which was why I was trying to get my money out in the first place.)

So if you have an enquiring mind and want to know why the transfers were blocked in the first place, because our names didn't match exactly from one account to the other.  Happy to know that one account having a full middle name and the other one having an initial is enough to screw me out of my $ for weeks.  Apparently the way to avoid this is to put all of the $ into a checking account, and then write yourself a check.

And I thought electronic transfers were so much more efficient...

New Energy Source?

I was so hopeful that someone had found an efficient way to turn flour into energy.  But no, it's just Home Depot being illiterate.  Darn.

Inability to Spell.....Not Just Americans

Refreshingly...or sadly?...the inability to spell isn't just an American thing.  A few menu boards in New Zealand had some errors, including:

Avacado salad
Ceasar salad
Vegeterian falafal

Note to restaurants: if you can't spell the food item name properly, why should I trust that you'll make it properly?  As is my custom at home, if the menu is illiterate, I'm not going to dine at that establishment.  The only exception is if something is labeled as "krab", because then I know you're telling me it isn't real crab meat, but that fake whitefish stuff (which I actually like, anyway).  And if I order krab and get the real thing, well, I win, don't I?  :-)

A Dream Come True

I recently asked one of my managers if she had any advice on what I could do to improve communication with someone who is being a bit difficult, since polite-grams and smiley faces weren't getting me anywhere.  Her answer: be blunt.  lol!   It's a dream come true!

Why Insurance Companies Suck

We had a little fire incident - that thing called the Monument Fire, which some people may recall.  Filed a claim, and after some f**king around by the "restoration" company, managed to get the damages documented, and we were paid, damages fixed, etc.

So of course the next shoe to drop was...what will happen to our premium?

Answer: MORE THAN DOUBLED.  And heck, to my mind, we weren't even talking about a major claim - the house didn't burn down, after all, just some stuff outside like water tanks, a fence, 192 oak trees, etc.  (And no, we didn't try to get 192 mature oak trees replaced.)

I started scouting around for alternatives and got quotes from several reputable companies (and better yet, not from any I was advised to avoid, like Farmers), better rates, and they all said the fact that we filed a claim really only accounted for about a $50 difference in the quote.  So I called our current company and got a different story, namely that filing the claim completely explained the huge increase.

What's sad is, I'd probably have just shrugged and said ok, fire, premium went up, all the companies are charging more now (or denying coverage), just take it.   It's still a relatively decent deal in the cosmic scheme of things.   But it rankled anyway.  My company, whom I suppose I shouldn't rat on specifically so I'll just use initials - AAA! - just seems to be taking advantage of the situation.  So phooey on them.  They were good to us when they needed to be, but this little maneuver loses our business.  So there.