San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

Flu,

I am witnessing this with everyone. ATT over bills my company by hundreds a month. I have to call them and wait on the line for 30 minutes or more and then here them say....we are so sorry you accidently were billed under the wrong plan. They then make adjustments to the account. They know the game like Blur Cross knows the game. Send the bill out and most people just pay them because they don't have the time to screw with it because they just lost all their money in their 401K believing lying CEO's that their cash flow was fine....

Just called CITI and they wanted to charge me 15.00 to take a payment over the phone.

Called Time Warner and they wanted to charge me 5.00 to process my credit card or I could do it for free via the automated phone system.

Wells Fargo slaps 20.00 on me every month and I have plenty of money in those accounts to meet the minimums.

Flu, this country is in moral decay across the board. These companies know how to play the billing games and screw people.

Well guess what I told ATT? Guess what I told Time Warner who used to give me internet speed up to 10 MBPS and now they tier it from 5 to 7 to 10 so they can screw people to pay extra.

I am shutting all my services down with these firms. I am done with the Bull Shit. As far as I am concerned the consumer holds the power.

Update:

After spending 30 mins on the phone with BofA they are crediting me the $20 bogus fee and said that there a is a "permanent" fee waiver on the said accounts.

BUT, before I hung up, the customer service rep (nice gentleman BTW), tried to get me to open another account!!!!!!

Savings account with 1.0% rate. Said that the savings account normally would carry a minimum balance of $5k or $20/fee, but that because I'm a loyal/good customer for some time, that they would waive the account mgmt fees on that new account even if i had a few cents in there.

The customer rep was really nice, I'm sure he was just doing his job. But WTF? Mind you, I have a mortgage account and 3 checking accounts there already there. I just politely said, thanks but I really don't want to open yet another account at BofA and have to deal with tacked on fees later.

Amazing.

Oh, and my recent experience with Citibank. Citibank closed one of my credit cards down because of a suspicious card activity. I couldn't log into my accounts, and pay my bill off, and they said no worries it would just carry over to the new account.Then they claimed to have sent me a new card. I waited 7-10 days. No card. Then the rep cancels my new card and sends me another, and says he can expedite the free of charge. I tell him, no expedite delivery of the card (the last time they said it was free, they ended up charging me $10 for the expedited service). I get my new card about 3 weeks later, and guess what? They tacked on a $25 late payment fee on my previous balance and charged me apr on the balance while my credit card was in limbo...

Nice.

Ditto. Suddenly my cable, phone, and internet randomly cost more. It's not negligible: like 5% more. No problems with the banks though (I keep close watch).

Should I cancel time warner and try att u-verse? Anyone done that?

Ditto here.

Wells Fargo, in our case. They started adding $20-30 fees, just arbitrary. A couple of months in a row, despite assurances from branch, crediting the charges back, etc.

We told the manager if it happened again we would close our accounts with them. It did, so we closed the accounts and severed the relationship.

If we started charging our clients 'arbitrary' fees, (1) they wouldn't pay them, and (2) they'd cut us loose on the spot. Pretty unbelievable.

I have had Union Bank of California since 1992 and haven't experienced any of these things. Great bank, great service and very conservative.

Nostra, I recently switched from time warner to uverse. I am pretty happy with my uverse service, and i saved quite a bit doing so with all the promo's. I don't plan on keeping uverse beyond the promo, and will probably switch back to cable after the promo ends, unless they can extend it.

Here was the thread. http://piggington.com/ot_how_much_you_fo...

My cost is about $37/month (before tax/fees/etc) for uverse U-100+2 receivers,express DSL.

Thanks! I'll look at that.

DirecTV recently raised their monthly fee on us. It was an increase of $6/month for the standard service. They did the same thing about a year ago.

$6/month is about 10% year. Way more than inflation. As a technology company their costs should probably decrease every year.

I called them and told them that I'm not accepting the price increase. Told them to cancel the service otherwise (I want to switch to Verizon Fios eventually anyway). They gave me the runaround but eventually agreed to keep my monthly rate the same for the next six months.

CEO's are seeing poor earnings results on the horizon and are desperate to defer the bad news. These cheap tactics will work for a little while, but in the end they will lose customers and take an even bigger hit.

Gandalf,

Same exact thing has been happening to me with Wells Fargo. Everyone should yank their money and let these scammers hit the floor as far as I am concerned. They aren't paying me any interest anyhow so whats the use.....

I pulled a large sum out last week and the guy just looked at me like, what the hell do you need that kind of money for in cash? I told him I was going to Vegas and putting it all on black....

He laughed...and then I said well if you want to lend out my money on deposit 10X to someone for 6% interest and pay me jack shit for interest...then go screw yourself.

He called over a business specialist immediately and I told him the same thing. This wet behind the ears kid looked at me like I just stepped out of a Matrix movie....

What people do not know....what I do know is the consumer holds the key and we need to start using it now....

so why do you bank with them? There are hundreds of other banks that will take your business and offer you a much better deal.

Umm duh, banks make money by charging fees. Thats the banks business model as distinct from Savings and Loans. Of course thanks to deregulation by Reagan, there aren't any of those left.
Josh

Security Pacific started yanking random $20's out of my account when they were in trouble in the 80's. They wouldn't give them back so I moved.

At&t tries to rip us off every couple of years with unrequested plan changes. It is a real hassle to get it fixed and get a refund. I got it fixed and demanded a refund which they refused, so I told them I would short my future payments to compensate if they kept wasting my time. It got fixed.

Credit Unions have become the replacement for the ole Savings and Loans.

How about we start our own 'Piggington Credit Union'.
We can give ourselves a high % interest for deposits, loan out at only 5x our deposits (low risk of bk), control loan to value ratios (low risk loans), and keep the cost very low (no big executive bonuses).

Co-Op banking where the depositors have control not the bankers...

Lucky In OC

Isn't that because of the new increase in state sales tax?

For BofA (and Wells for that matter), convenience.

For Citibank: it use to be for the dividend dollars. But more importantly, I do like their virtual account number feature when I buy something from the net and i suspend the establishment is shady. It has come in really handy to generate virtual account number with a preset limit and expiration date, and use that number for purchases. It has also come in handy, when it comes to signing up for "trial" services that require you to provide a CC number. In the past, even if I cancelled my trial services on time, I often get charged accidently. With a virtual account number, I can configure a virtual CC# to use for the trial service such that it's expiration date is 2 month or the credit limit ($2.00) is reached right after my trial period expires. That way, even if I cancel my service, the business can't bill me accidentally, because the virtual account CC# will be declined.

Except that when you have a written document you signed explicitly stating that the account is a no-fees account. It's one thing charge fees with the customer knowing.

It's completey different for a business to state no-fees and then "accidentally" charge fees to see if the customer notices and goes through the process of disputing them.

Doesn't seem like these banks use to do these games.

I agree with you flu and when you catch them and call them on the fees, they usually back down. I also think that they did not used to be so petty and money grubbing (is that possible?), but I think the complexity of billing statements from telephone bills, cable bills, etc. has allowed them to pad their bills and get away with it much of the time because most people are so busy they do not have the time to scrutinize bills, item by item. This includes the government and its enumerable fees that are really taxes.

Except that when you have a written document you signed explicitly stating that the account is a no-fees account. It's one thing charge fees with the customer knowing.

It's completey different for a business to state no-fees and then "accidentally" charge fees to see if the customer notices and goes through the process of disputing them.

Doesn't seem like these banks use to do these games.

Haven't we spent a good percentage of the last year talking about bank insolvency? When the govt is willing to tax the ever living fuck out of your kids and your parents to pay for its profligacy, it hardly seems unreasonable for banks to charge a little something extra.

Written documents are for suckers! Contracts are for suckers(ask a short seller)! Those who aren't that well connected anyway. I'm shocked flu that you of all people would exhibit such faux surprise. You've been around this board long enough to see the fraud evolve. You are the mark, expect it get over it, adjust in your banking business model and move on. Either that or goto cash like I'm doing.

Josh

Experiencing the exact same thing with WF - have business, personal, mortgage, etc with them. It's pissing me off.

What's the best way to check on the relative safety and stability of a bank? Went to TD Bank today (Sunday!) and they blew my mind with their outstanding customer service and the fact that they're open 7 days a week. Where do I go to check whether they're at risk or not? They just took over a bunch of "Commerce Bank" branches over here on the east coast. (just relo'd to DC area)

Actually, I'm not a subscriber to the sky is completely fallen. BUT, to your point, i would think in this economy that in order for businesses to survive, that they would be working on customer service to retain customers.

Contracts are good if you have you decide to pursue things the legal route, depending on whether it's worth your time and money. And frankly, I'm one of those people who would sue someone over $20 in small claims even though court fees would be a lot more than the claim, especially if I'm being ripped off intentionally. Usually, I'm a pretty easy going customer, but in the past I have also been the customer from hell. And I do argue over dollars and cents.

Anyway, I have a pretty good feeling about US Bank...Sort of moonlighting with them right now.

Flu,
I gotta say that since starting using Virtual #s a few years back, using a real CC # on any transaction feels like leaving the front door unlocked!

I wouldn't know, since I use a credit union. The only fees I pay are 75 cents to use my ATM card abroad.

Take your money away from banks that treat your pooly.

Don't get mad, get even. Make them pay you:

http://www.nyse.com/about/listed/lcddata...
Wells Fargo preferred shares, 10% dividend

You can't get even, practically speaking. You can withdraw your money, though I suppose that is a certain form of getting even. What irked me was FLU's faux surprise. Banks charge fees, period. That is the basis of the banking business model.

Credit unions have indeed replaced S&L's. I just don't know which ones are solvent any more than I know which ones play the least amount of games. I've had the same account at San Diego Crappy Credit Union, since I was 15. They've played games with me too.

Josh

Again, I generally haven't had this problem for the longest times. Fee disclosures are pretty evident. What is irritating is the "oops, we accidentally charged a fee, but we'll reverse it...That occurs more these days"...I've never had an issue with any CC companies before.

Doesn't take you much to get irked? :)