Stryker Speaks

I know I dont post on here very often right now, work has gotten super busy, but I
figured I would share this one with you. I just sent a letter to my state rep. I cant wait to get my form letter back from her tellling me how important my issues are and how she will consider them in the future

Hello Ms. Bachmann,

I am curious if anything can be done to require companies to be held accountable for the statements by their “customer service” departments. On more then one occasion I have been given information that is simply false.

When trying to set up a computer this is frustrating, but when it comes to financial institutions this can end up in costly late fees, interest rate hikes, and extensive credit damage.

I know that part of President Obama’s economic plans included some credit card reform (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/economy/index.php#credit-cards), but I think that this should be extended to require financial institutions, and companies in general to have some type accountability when it comes to the statements that their representatives make.

I realize the burden of proof in these cases lies solely on accuser, but in a world where “calls maybe recorded to improve customer service” there must be some sort of way for companies to be held to what they tell their customers.

You can ask just about any person on the street if they have ever had a bad customer service experience, and you will be met with an extremely detailed description of a time when they were wronged by some faceless company, it’s bad enough that you need a PHD in numerology to decipher the correct sequence of digits to even get to speak to live person. When you do finally speak to a person, you should be able to trust that the information they give you is accurate.

I am sure that given the economic situation the entire country is currently facing that an issue as simple as this can easily be over looked, but I hope that you will consider the impact that this type of deception has.

Consider this;
according to USA today (7-11-2007 “Banks make billions more on overdrafts”)
*the average overdraft fee is $34 dollars,
*in 2007 that contributed to 17.5 BILLION dollars (how much are they asking for in bail outs?)
*That 17.5 Billion was to cover an estimated 15.8 Billion that was over drafted Essentially banks charged more then a Billion dollars MORE then the actual cost of the overdrafts!
*Bank fees jumped 70% from 2004-2007
*Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., introduced a bill that would require banks to gain approval before clearing charges that would overdraft an account.
*Checks are cleared from highest dollar amount to lowest (allowing more fees to be charged if the account DOES become over drawn.)

Given all that information, try this. Call your bank (or one of your staff members banks who may not have the security that you do given your political position) and ask them to explain their “Funds availability” policy to you. Ask them about when deposits become available, if they are deposited on a weekend, or at an ATM, if your “direct deposit” is available at 12:00.01 on the day your paid. Then call back and get a different person, see if the answers are the same….. If their employees have a hard time answering the questions, how are consumers supposed to comply?

Thanks for your time,