About two weeks ago, I received a new debit card with supporting information which said that my bank was switching from Visa to Master Card. According to the information enclosed, once I activated the new card or by April 3rd whichever came first, my old card would no longer be active. Not wanting the new card to begin with, I decided to hold off on it until I had to activate it.
About a week later, I was at a fast food restaurant purchasing $5 worth of food and swiped my card. To my dismay, it was declined. I could only imagine what the employee was thinking.
After work, I called Washington Mutual and asked why my card was declined. After checking, I was told that once they mail out the new card, they wait 10 days and then deactivate the old card.
I read the employee what the accompanying instructions said and told her that nowhere in the supporting documents did it say that my old card would be deactivated 10 days after mailing the new card. She could only apologize.
Although what Washington Mutual did was probably legal, it was totally unethical.
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