Thursday, August 27, 2009

Pre-Departure Blues

Ok. Not those kind of blues, but more like Bank of America shitty customer service blues. I needed to exchange some US dollars for Euros because certain places in Europe such as taxis and street markets don't necessarily accept credit cards. I also know that banks generally have better conversion rates than airport currency exchange windows so last Friday I went to my bank (Bank of America) to purchase 500 Euros at a cost of $750. Not terrible. The lady tells me that they should be there within 3 business days and they would call me when they arrived.

Wednesday rolls around. Then Thursday- still no call. I don't know about you but I can never, ever speak with an associate at a Bank of America because they always manage to transfer me to "Bob" in India who can't really tell me whether the money has arrived or not. So since I have no luck calling, I was going to wait until Friday to go down to the bank but my dad convinced me to go today instead just to get the status. Good thing I did because not only were my Euros not there, they hadn't even been properly ordered (even though I had a receipt and a charge on my account) so Currency Exchange hadn't even processed the order almost a week after it had been placed.

Luckily for me the same lady at the bank who had taken the order was there and she remembered me so the confusion wasn't totally lost in translation. She apologized (it was definitely her fault) and told me she could place the order today but because it was after X time it wouldn't be processed until tomorrow and they don't do weekend deliveries so the earliest it could get there would be Monday. Now the catch is that I leave on Monday and I refuse to press my luck that closely for something I already paid for. It is BofA afterall, so if they say Monday they probably mean sometime between the following Thursday and never. So the next best option was to drive down to Beverly Hills, the only bank in the region that keeps euros and pick them up there. The lady then informed me that THAT Beverly Hills bank closes at 3:45 everyday. I looked at my watch and it was pushing 3:40. At this point I was already frustrated so I told them forget it, just reverse the charges on my account and I'll conveniently drive 5 min to the airport instead of waiting until the next day to drive 25 min to Beverly Hills and wait in Friday bank chaos for some money that I had tried to responsibly order way ahead of time. I couldn't even get Bank of America to ask the Beverly Hills branch to put the euros on hold so I can just walk in and pick them up. I figured that the money I would save by using the bank system rather than the airport wasn't worth the hassle.

The story isn't over yet. I drove to the airport which really is only 5 min from this bank, the airport traffic wasn't even partially as horrendous as it normally is which was good. I parked and went down to the Arrivals level of the international terminal. Luckily there was nobody at the window so I walked right up. It cost $798 for 500 Euros which is slightly more than the rate at the bank. I gave the cashier guy, whatever you call him, my debit card and it was denied with the message "Amount too high." I knew it definitely wasn't an insufficient funds issue because I had checked my balance that morning but apparently it's one of those Bank of America anti-fraud or theft securities which definitely didn't help the situation. I only have two accounts but both with the same bank so I told the cashier man to give me a second and let me call my bank (Oh God).

I went to sit in the chairs where people wait to pick up their friends/ family members and as I'm calling the Customer Service number on the back of my card I notice the BofA ATM machine. So I had an idea to try and withdraw the $800. I withdrew $500 from one account and tried to withdraw the rest from the other but it wouldn't let me saying I had already maximized my daily withdrawal limit. I can appreciate the steps the bank takes to protect my account but in that moment, that was a different story. Of course when I went back to the window to purchase as many Euros as I could with my $500 there was a line. The people in front of me were helped and then this foreign man with absolutely no regard for lines tried to butt in front of me. I said "I'm sorry were you next?" and he said "Oh, go ahead." Yeah. Thanks buddy. How kind of you. Now I know in different cultures, matters pertaining to personal space are regarded differently but this is also why I think it's a good idea to research your destination before you get there and learn about accepted customs. While it was my turn at the window which was actually more like a counter, this line-jumper man stands right next to me ( YES! RIGHT NEXT TO ME) so that our elbows are actually touching and starts fidgeting around counting his money while I'm trying to make this transaction. That's kind of like someone at an ATM coming up and standing directly next to you and pulling out their debit card because they know they're next in line. Or like, I know this doesn't apply to me and may be more extreme, but someone standing two inches behind you at a urinal because they've got next dibs. That 5 feet of personal space courtesy rule obviously doesn't apply in the international terminals of US airports. I was really about to say something until I realized where I was and wondered where in the world could this actually be considered okay?

The point of the story is that Bank of America sucks saggy balls and truly inconvenienced me without much remorse. I'll have to buy the remaining 190 Euros on Monday but then I got In-n-Out after I left so my afternoon balanced itself out.