Last month, when my bank cut me off from cashing my Series EE savings bonds, saying "We don't do that anymore" one week after doing it... I called around to assorted financial institutions, trying to find someone to break my bonds. Our savings & loan over in Bill-Paying Town does it! Or so they said, over the phone. I even asked if nine bonds was too many. My bank didn't want to do more than three or four at a time. The S&L phone-answerer said that was fine.
I wasn't in a hurry, what with Thanksgiving on the horizon. Besides, if I waited until after December 1, another bond would be matured. Which would give me the nine I had asked about. When Farmer H said he was going over there to pay the taxes at the nearby courthouse, I invited myself along with the bonds.
We were greeted as we walked in. I went directly to a teller, as I always do when I have business there. The people at the desks are for discussing loans, I assume. The Teller asked how she could help me. I said,
"I'd like to redeem some Series EE savings bonds. When I called, I was told that you do that here."
I pushed my bonds, my driver's license, and my mom's death certificate through the slot. That's what is needed, since they are all TOD, which means Transfer On Death. My name is on the bond in that space, even though Mom is listed as the owner.
Teller looked at my stuff. Then shoved it back.
"I don't do bonds. Let me show you to someone who can help you."
Seriously. She could have told me when I said why I was there that SHE didn't do that. No need to let me drag out the paperwork, then look at it. Off she went out of sight. She came out a door to my left, and darted down an aisle between the desk partitions.
"There she is! Go!"
Teller hadn't motioned for me to follow, but Farmer H thought I should. You know how the young people these days dart around like they have somewhere to go. And they are not good communicators. So I started after her. But Teller reversed her route, and was headed back up that aisle towards me.
"No. Not here. Come around."
She took me down the main walkway, and sat me down at a desk with a Desker. Again, I explained my purpose. Got the papers out of my folder, and shoved it through the slot in HER plexiglass barrier. She looked it over. Hesitated. Picked up the phone. Talked in a hush-hush tone, but I could still hear when I decided to listen. Which I did, because it was taking a minute.
"She's right in front of me. She's right in front of me! Okay. Bye. Um. I need to take this to the back. I've never done a Transfer On Death."
Seriously? Are people just bringing in their 30-year-old bonds to cash them? Surely somebody else in the county has inherited a bond or two! Desker was gone for about 10 minutes. Farmer H had grown restless after the first minute. He said he was walking over to the courthouse to pay the taxes. He gave me T-Hoe's keys in case I got done first.
Desker finally came back, and apologized for the delay. She started typing into her computer. Then called somebody saying it wouldn't accept the numbers off the bonds. Waited. Waited. Then called Teller, to ask if she would log into that program. Then went over to Teller's counter with my bonds. Then came back and said Teller's computer had the same problem. Then called to ask if EVERYBODY was in that meeting. Seems so. Unless that's just a euphemism for not helping, it's an hour to close.
"I don't know what else I can do. We have a new program. Last time I called to get it resolved, they called back within an hour. I can't guarantee..."
"Well, I drove all the way from Hillmomba. Because I was told that you can redeem the bonds here. But I don't want to sit for an hour on the CHANCE that it will work."
"Oh, I can call you when it works again."
"Okay. You'll get a recording, so you can leave a message."
Desker gave me back my bonds, and the copy of my license, and the copy of the death certificate. Though I'm sure they'll not trust that when I come back, and want to copy them all over again.
Right now it's Friday night. I've heard nothing from Desker since I left there on Wednesday. You'd think she would have been able to find out something by now...
I told Farmer H, "It seems like we got better service there when we had more money in our accounts, rather than what we have now!"
"Yeah. Or when we still had a loan that we were paying regularly. They're really not benefiting much from us now, compared to then."
Surely that has nothing to do with our service... but I'd think a courtesy call would be nice, to update me on whether or not I can expect to have my bonds redeemed there. Otherwise I will mail them to the Treasury Department with a long form, and I don't especially want my bonds in the Christmas mail rush.
5 comments:
Oh, why not. Waiting for whatever screw-up that will almost certainly happen--from a distance--is almost as fun as watching unfold in person.
"Surely that has nothing to do with our service.."
Of course it does. Those with plenty of money and business at any particular facility ALWAYS get the best and fastest service.
With no loan repayments and not much in your accounts there, you mean very little to them.
Which is inexcusable in my opinion. Their job is to service customers, not just customers-with-money.
Sioux,
I'm pretty sure you won't be disappointed...
***
River,
We used to have two very healthy accounts, but over the past 20 years have frittered them away on taxes, health insurance premiums for the past 5 years, and two boys' living expenses during college. In fact, every time Farmer H walked in, the guy who gave us our original loan to build the Mansion would call him over and discuss foreclosed rental properties with him, in case Farmer H wanted to buy one. Now, not so much.
Sadly, I can't even get good service at our BANK, where we have a large balance, contrary to the beliefs of the Save A Lot checker on Friday... story coming up on my not-so-secret blog.
I was going to tell you that creating a scene might work. It has been my experience that when someone goes batshit crazy they get attention and sometimes get their request satisfied just to get them ou the door. But when campers have tried that on me, it absolutely does not work. It gets them evicted. Maybe it is because I am onto them. It works on HeWho before I override him. It would not stop me from lodging a complaint to anyone higher up, though. But we all know I sort of enjoy a good debate ...
Kathy,
I would have asked for somebody higher up, like I have done at my bank, but she kept calling to ask for other people, who were supposedly IN A MEETING.
You are definitely a better scene-maker! I tend to mutter under my breath. Like in Country Mart today, when a strapping young employee came at me with an empty cart, in a pickup game of chicken. He was lucky that I'd arrived at my aisle, and made a right turn before our collision. Because I decided that I was not going to swerve for him. He wasn't even KEEPING RIGHT coming down the front aisle. No way was he from that island of wonky drivers, ENGLAND!
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