What a timely post. I had the pleasure of being on the other end of the line from a variety of very unhelpful customer service reps in the last few weeks.
I am the only one in our household who works outside the home. All accounts are opened in my name and with my husband as the secondary on the account.
We have a joint bank account. We opened it together and use it together. Since only I deposit money in it, and 99.9% of the time I am the one to withdraw it, he doesn’t perform many transactions.
Each time it’s “new card time” (when they send you the one with the updated expiration) I have to call and ask where my husband’s card is. They tell me, each and every time, that they have no record of him. They ask for him to be put on the phone. They then ask him all kinds of questions such as “when was your last deposit?” “um… Never!”, “What was the amount of your last deposit?” “Zero” “What is your mother’s maiden name?” etc. He answers them. They tell him he’s not in the system. They put him into the system.
Week’s later, he’s still got no new card. I call up. We find he’s STILL not in the system. Once again, they want to talk to him. He doesn’t even know our account numbers. He doesn’t need to know our account numbers. He just needs a damn card to withdraw money in case he ever needs some.
This last time was the last straw. This is the same bank that does this over and over. I went, in person, to the bank this time. We’d gotten the card, finally, and the new pin, but when we went to activate it at the ATM, it told us the pin was wrong. I went into the bank and told the ladies (who know me by name because I’m a good customer!) that I wanted them to fix this. Turns out, he was in the computer TWICE this time. And no, the pin was no good (she tried it herself), so he had to wait “7 to 10 business days” to be issued a new one.
We finally got the card, the pin, and got the stupid thing working. He has been on the account since day 1. He should be automatically sent his own cards whenever they come due. I shouldn’t have to reset everything because he doesn’t use it very often.
And I’m sick to death of being the one to open accounts, only to have the transplant HIS name over mine as the primary just because he has a penis. Last time I checked, his penis wasn’t paying the bills!
) She went to the grocery, and tried to get a check cashing card. This was before groceries took credit cards. No way - only I could get one, because Louisiana had a Head and Master Law which said that the husband basically owned everything. There were cases where a husband, legally, sold the house that a wife paid for right out from under her.