The Gergorian Rant

This post started of as a scathing post about banks in general, and more specifically Wells Fargo, but due to social networking (and more specifically Twitter and the fact that Wells Fargo get’s the power behind their online persona) it is now a more positive post. So I am going to take the original post that was mostly written before I got a reply from Wells Fargo and then had my issue resolved, just keep in mind that they stepped up to the plate, resolved my issue completely, and now have a customer that will more than likely stick with them for a LONG time into the future as well as recommend to other’s that they give Wells Fargo a chance when they need banking.

Do you have a business? Are you actively watching for what people post (good or bad) about your company? Do you have someone that then responds to those posts in some form and works towards resolving the issue, or at the very least acknowledging that you are aware of it and that the person’s concerns will be brought to the attention of the appropriate people? If not, why not? Read the below posting, then re-read the opening paragraph and explain to me WHY you still don’t have that person in place?

There have been a couple ideas through my head for new posts on this site, but it seems to me that the best ones are when I am most passionate about the subject, and there isn’t much more that makes me passionate then losing over $100 for (what I consider anyway) to be ridiculous causes.

It all started about a week ago when my webhosting service charged my account for my monthly server fees. There weren’t enough funds in my account (I know, shocker right?) at the moment but the bank allowed the transaction anyway, causing my balance to go negative. While I appreciate they paid so my server would stay active and I am OK with paying that overdraft fee despite the fact that I am still not completely clear why they authorize a transaction when sufficient funds weren’t present, it was the tipping point for a series of events that would end up costing me over $100.

On the same day that transaction was processed I had done 2 different transactions, a couple small items at the grocery store that we needs ($4.39) and I returned movies to one of those movie kiosks that I had kept for a couple days longer than I had planned due to my wonderful memory not allowing me to realize the time to return them had already lapsed and then the 2nd day because I couldn’t get to the kiosk in time. I had thought about the fact that it was going to cost me $2 for each movie, and while funds are VERY critical at the moment, decided there wasn’t much I could do about it. So all together I had spent $8.73 at a time when I knew I had about a $12 balance. Should have been fine, except for the fact that I wasn’t aware that my webhost had processed their transaction that same day, and my bank had allowed it.

Fade to today, when I received a check for some work I had done in, and proceeded to deposit it into my Wells Fargo account. As the machine spit out a receipt I glanced at the balance (expecting a positive amount to greet me) only to see that little ‘-’ in front of the number. Why was my available balance still negative? I know they only release a small amount of my deposit, but that should have been more than enough to bring me back to a positive state. Driving home my mind went through all the possible scenarios, I have my webhosting setup to process using my PayPal account, and that is setup for a $200 transaction amount from my main bank account. Maybe it had pulled the $200, paid the amount, and the rest of the funds were sitting in my PayPal account. Nope. OK, that was the only scenario I had in my head, maybe because I’m ever the optimist?

Getting back in front of my computer I pull up my bank account online and take a look at the transactions. That’s when I realized that while the charge that brought my account negative, and the 3 transactions I did in person all occurred on the same day, Wells Fargo (and most other banks for that matter) processed them on different days. With the large transaction happening first, it then caused ALL THREE of the other transactions to happen against a negative balance account, and they proceeded to charge me $35 for EACH of those transactions. So my 2 movies rentals, and purchase of milk and noodle for dinners ended up costing me $113.73, the movies weren’t that good (and I don’t even OWN them now) and the dinner/breakfast made with the grocery store items wasn’t THAT good (I’m a good cook, but let’s be reasonable).

I thought surely I would get someone at Wells Fargo who could see the ridiculousness of these fees and be able to recoup my losses. Nope. While she was pleasant enough, and did a good job of making a personal connection by letting me know she’s had to deal with these same issues in the past, she wasn’t very creative in coming up with a solution. She explained to me that the system has some guidelines for them and can’t be reversed if they don’t meet the guidelines. All I could think was that if the transactions met those guidelines then the system wouldn’t have automatically charged them in the first place!

Why do banks find it so easy to charge their customers $35 for non-sufficient funds? I didn’t have enough money to cover the transaction, what makes you think I can afford ANOTHER $35 on TOP of that? And why is it a per transaction fee. If I didn’t have enough funds for ONE transaction today, what makes you think that status will change on future transactions today? Get with it banks, I realize you make a LOT of money charging the people who can afford it least for things like this, but at some point I have to assume there will be a revolt. You banks got your bailout money from the government… oh, I’m sorry, from your customers, us TAXPAYERS but you still find the need to get more from us at every opportunity possible?

Start thinking customer SERVICE and not customer DIS-SERVICE. And if you aren’t already doing so, start paying attention to Twitter and other online places where people are likely to talk about your business/branding. You never know when you might have a Kevin Smith as a customer, and the general public has a MUCH louder and far reaching voice then ever before. If you don’t take a proactive stance and get at the front of possible problems before they escalate to the point that companies like Southwest Air have and are unable to apologize enough for not properly handling an issue that could have been minimized had you been made aware of it BEFORE it went viral.

Every company should be aware of who is talking about their business and what is being said and taking the steps to make sure their users feel taken care of. There are a LOT of other places your customers can go to, and while you can’t always make them all happy, at least be aware of the times you can make a small concession that could reap huge benefits in the long run. With the simple act of acknowledging that while technically things were handled properly, they may not have been the most ethical of practices. Will Wells Fargo miss the $105 they just refunded me? Not even a little. Will they reap benefits by maintaining a now satisfied customer who will sing their praises to everyone he encounters when banking conversations come up? Yes, how large those benefits might be no one will ever be able to truly pin down, but had this been handled another way, the possible waves caused by my ability to be vocal through online services most likely would have been felt.

Thanks for being on top of things Wells Fargo, I gotta get back to work so I don’t keep having a balance so low Overdraft Fees are something I won’t have to concern myself with much in the future. One quick sidenote, it was my posting to @Ask_WellsFargo on Twitter that caused the turn-around in this whole matter. My hats off to them, now if you own a business, start watching your online presence and what is being said about it.

Gerg

I sat down to write this post and my mind instantly went blank for a topic to write about. As the day progressed I had at least a half dozen ideas run through my head for topics for this blog. One of these days I’ll think to jot myself some notes as I think of the topics so I can stop staring at a blinking cursor as my mind is devoid of thought (happens quite a bit more often then some of you might think). So I guess I’ll just discuss the last 24 (or so) hours of my life.

Last night was my first mixer as a new member of the local Chamber of Commerce and it was quite an enjoyable and enlightening experience. I got to meet several other local business owners, got a few leads on some potential work, and just overall enjoyed myself. While a good majority of the people attending I will most likely not get involved in business projects with, they were still quite an interesting group. Just hearing the stories some of them had, both in regards to their businesses and of a more personal aspect as well. Just getting myself out there, “mixing” it up a bit, and knowing that more people are now aware of the existence of my company in the area has really done wonders for my outlook as to the potential that is out there for me to take ahold of and grow my company.

Masters Touch Tours was gracious enough to offer one of their buses to transport a group of us over to where the mixer was being held, along the way I got to chat with several other business people and started making some more friends in the area. The entire evening was spent meeting great people, like Dan from B&L Flooring America who I had a great conversation with en route to the mixer, where I met Mark from M n M & Sons Construction along with lots of other great and interesting people. I also chatted with Kathleen about her business “Peace Through An Organized Life” where she helps people get a handle on the clutter that most lives are surrounded with. It was a great evening that was just a beginning of great things to come for myself, my kids, as well as, my company.

Today I attended my first meeting of Brent’s school’s PTO (Parent Teacher Organization). They don’t have a full board and it appears I am going to be elected to the VP position where I hope I can use the experiences of my life to bring some new ideas to the group, as well as just helping out with the day to day tasks of running a school and supporting the staff there where possible. They are wanting to get a website setup for the PTO itself, separate from the school so I was able to already offer my abilities to address that matter and I’ll let all my readers know when the site is starting to take shape. I look forward to any feedback or suggestions about the site and if you have any ideas of things to consider while putting the site together be sure to let me know.

Tomorrow is set to be another wonderful opportunity to meet some more great people in the Prescott Valley area when I attend the new member orientation of the chamber. I’m not sure who will be in attendance but I do know that they will be people that I can most likely be of assistance to at some point in the future as they struggle with technology of some sort. Later tomorrow evening I have another meetup of a local web design group I found using the site Meetup.com. I’m sure that will be another spectacular group of people and hopefully I’ll be able to offer as much advice as I’m sure to receive from this group. It will be a great evening of getting to know more people so I know it will be a good time.

Well, that’s about all I have to discuss at the moment, it’s now a bit after 1AM (again) so I’m going to head off to bed and get rested up for my busy day tomorrow.

Gerg

I woke up this morning and realized I hadn’t made a post on Gergorian.com yesterday to match the deadlines I’ve set for myself. Upon realizing that I started thinking about what to post and decided I would make the most of the situation and tie my updates to Gergorian.com and Tekamba.com together and answer a couple questions. So here I am going to answer the question… Where? It seems like such a simple question, but by adding just a few words to the question shapes it into a vastly new discussion.

Where… have you been in your life?

Now I don’t mean that so much in a literal sense, but in a more metaphysical way (as all this entire post is geared to), a more reflective and looking forward type of view. So where have I been? It’s something I’ve thought about quite a bit lately with the move to a new state and finally being brave enough to start my own company. I’ve had a pretty good life up to this point and can only see more good things in my future. Not that it won’t be without it’s problems, but overall I really don’t have much to complain about regarding my life. I’ve been married to two wonderful people. Now some of you are sitting in wonder at that statement, the bottom line is they both made me happy for a good portion of my life. I still care very much for both of them and hope they are happy now, and continue to be so. I can’t see that I would ever want to reconcile with either of them, but I don’t wish them ill will either. I’ve got four wonderful kids that while I may not be the best at expressing to them, I am proud of each one of them as they continue to grow older and the people they are becoming.

I’ve also had the benefit of working with some great people in my various jobs that have all helped shape me into the person I am now that gives me the confidence to continue to help other people with their technology issues as I continue moving forward on a career path that excites me every morning. Each day gives me new chances to see what I might be able to learn, who I might have the fortune to help in their understanding, and the new opportunities that may present themselves in the area of technology. When you can wake up every morning, spend hours and hours through the day doing what earns you a living, and you don’t consider it work, then you have a complete mastery of your life.

Where… are you at now in your life?

Currently I am in one of the toughest places of my life that I have ever been in. This statement is not meant to be in contradiction to how the previous paragraph ended, but rather as a clarifying statement. Right now life is not as easy as it could be, but nothing truly worthwhile in life comes easily. I could have continued in my old career path, showing up every day at my job (that I loved), working for someone else (couldn’t ask for a better employer), and earning a steady paycheck to allow me to support my family fairly decently (we didn’t have a lot of things, but I was always able to balance our needs with our wants so we enjoyed ourselves as often as was feasible). Instead I chose to take a chance, move my kids to someplace new so they could expand their understanding of the world, I could take the chance to build something that would have the potential to not only support my family now, but into the future if built up properly. Making a change is always risky, but when considered with the potential rewards sometimes you have to take those risks to make a better future. You can’t let your life settle into too much of a rut, instead you need to be on the constant lookout for chances you might want to take just to see where those paths lead.

Where… are you heading?

This is a question that I wish I could answer, but at the same time I’m glad I can’t. If I knew where I was headed I might change a decision because of that knowledge which would then affect where I was heading. Yep, I just blew your mind if you REALLY read that last sentence. I don’t know where I am heading. The only thing I can say with any certainty is that it’s going to be a heck of a ride as I head there. So stick around, strap in tight, and enjoy the ride with me. There’s going to be some bumpy stretches, but it will all be well worth it. Let’s just enjoy the trip so when we do reach the end we can look back in fondness and say to ourselves, “Yeah, that was a blast.”

Now, what’s around this corner here?

Gerg

P.S. I answered the next “W” on my company blog at Tekamba.com – “Why…”