Every once in a while, I catch an ad on TV – that results in me pausing / looking up, and bursting into bouts of laughter. They really do have some cute ads here in Ireland, and I think some of the funniest I’ve seen in a while. As a result, I have decided to start keeping tabs to share these. Today’s theme…
Now this is just.. Random.
… I hope you enjoy!
Bollocks from the UK:
The Bully Panda from Egypt:
The horror of cleaning your oven:
Blood Pressure Lowering tea from Japan:
I bought a new (to me) car!!
After a little over 4 years in Germany without a car (I didn’t need one), I moved to Ireland. Ireland does have some public transport and alot of Taxis which are relatively inexpensive. However, after about 6 months of being here – I have grown rather tired of the waiting for busses that aren’t on time, taxis that cost 10 – 15 euro to get home with my groceries, and the inability to take my dog anywhere he can’t walk to (he’s not allowed on busses/trains/taxis here) when I want to take him with me. (In Germany, he was allowed on busses and trains – so we actually got to do alot together – including going to cafes.)
The result is that I started looking for a little transportation for the weekends. Thanks to my friend, Liam, he managed to locate (through a friend of a friend of a friend) a 1999 Fiat Punto with 98,000 miles on it. It’s a right hand drive (British), and gets about 40 miles to the gallon. They’re normally between 1200 and 1400 Euros to purchase, but he found this one for 700 Euro – and I had to jump on it. It has 2 new tires, a brand new radio, a new head gasket, new fan belt – and despite not being super clean (the person who had it before me used it to transport her dogs too) – it runs great, and most importantly — it does what I want it to – gets me from point a to point b, runs me over to the grocery store – and more importantly, it will let me take the dog with me to go hiking and/or out into the countryside for some further exploring of Ireland.
Now, just to get used to buying gas that runs over 6 euro a gallon ($10); driving on the “wrong” side of the road… and finally get my full Irish driving license….
Note: I am still planning on walking to/from work and riding my bike where I can, because I want to keep my carbon footprint (and insurance) as low as possible. This car is simply for the stuff that I can’t do with a bike or on foot – like taking my dog to go hiking in the mountains around Dublin.
Friends Don’t let Friends Use CHASE Bank… and that’s what I’m blogging about today.
Dear friends, over 15 (nearly 20 even) years ago, I opened up a bank account with Washington Mutual. I found them friendly, I found them reasonable, and because I know how to manage my money, I was able to never ever have a problem with overdraft fees, getting a loan from them at a reasonable rate, or even using their services – despite some of the hoops that they put in. I loved them, and was very very happy.
And then, I moved to Europe. This is where the nightmare began. Essentially, they bought Washington Mutual and since I’m in Europe as an American Citizen these accounts only get used when I’m in the US. It’s rarely used – money that just sits there in a checking and a savings account.
When CHASE took the account over, they locked it down, demanding I come into my local branch and verify my info. The conversation on the phone went something like this:
Hello, I live in Europe… the branch that is local is in the USA.
(Chase CS) That’s fine, we still need to verify your information.
Can you give me a local branch to do that at? I’m in Ireland, I’d be happy to go there.
(Chase CS) No. You need to come into your local branch.
So for 8 months, it was locked down until I made a trip to the states and could go to a local branch and prove I am who I am and living internationally. The thing is that I also went through this with Washington Mutual, and had already sorted it out with them – 3 years before this latest lockdown happened.
This year, I’ve not touched the money in the account because it’s my “move home” in case of emergency funds which I leave in US dollars. It’s fine – it doesn’t get any interest there, but because there’s no activity on the account – and I’m not using it, there is no physical administration. It’s all computer automated.
So, what’s the issue? CHASE has started charging $12 a month on both accounts if I don’t have direct deposit on the account OR 5,000 euros in there.
That’s $144 dollars a year, for “administrative costs” on an account where it’s not being used, that they’re able to “lend out” to other people. An account that is logged into, an account that is otherwise, just in limbo.
To say the least, It was the last straw.
Today, I moved all the money to my credit union account that is tied to my credit card. I called CHASE CS number.
(Chase CS)a lady answered with “Thank you for calling CHASE, How may I provide you Excellent customer service today?!?
I told her I was an unhappy customer, and said I want to close my accounts, and why. I said the money was moved today and I want you to know that there is a 0.00 balance because of your crazy fees for absolutely NOTHING.
They WILL.NOT.CLOSE.THE.ACCOUNT.
Yes, you read that correctly. They WILL.NOT.CLOSE.THE.ACCOUNT
No, instead, the lady says yeah, I see you moved your funds and the account is sitting at zero balance. You will have to wait 5 days and call us back and we can close it then.
I asked and how much is the fee for this not having ANY funds in the account?
(Chase CS)Oh, $12 A DAY!
SO, let me get this straight, I want to close the account, with the complaint that You’re charging too much in fees (they want another $60 more for nothing) and so I moved all of my money because I don’t want to business with you.
I did the responsible thing and told you I don’t want to pay you or continue our business relationship any further so as to not incur any more fees – as I think your fees are exhorbitant and you won’t close the account for 5 days? You, as customer service clearly know and have verified that I want to close the account and that I’m unhappy and calling from an international location – at my cost-
And you can’t place it on YOUR calendar to close the account??!!??
You can’t place it on a batch job to close the account?!? AND YOU WILL CHARGE ME $12 A DAY for not having ANY FUNDS in that account?!?
(Chase CS) No, mam, they said, we can’t do that. you have to wait 5 days to call back.
I’m just so peeved right now… you can’t imagine
Moral of the story:
NEVER EVER EVER USE CHASE. EVER.
THEY ARE THE WORST BANK, EVER.
*As a side note, I want to point out that they not only took over Washington Mutual bank, but they also took a ton of cash from the governments as a part of the Bailout Scheme. So, not only do they “rape, pilliage and plunder” their customers, they are doing it to the tax paying public as well. Am I angry? You bet!!