In early December I opened a Wachovia free checking account so my grandmother would get a $25 gift card. I deposited $100 and went on with my life. My girlfriend recently had some problems with a check-card (from another bank) and some extraordinary overdraft fees, so when my check card came I asked about these fees when I activated the card. The young man that activated my card politely asked me if there was anything else he could do, and I asked if this card had any kind of automatic system that would approve funds even if no funds were available. He said that 'as a convenience to our customers, they sometimes pay out when there aren't any funds available, and charge a fee'. I told him that I didn't want any part of it and he said he would turn that off on my account if I wished. I told him that if the funds weren't available, then I wanted the card declined. I wanted no part of their 'convenient' service. This call took place on December 28, and I was not offered any type of confirmation number and no email or snailmail notification of the turn-off ever appeared. I took him at his word. I was smart enough to get his name however.
I had to travel in January and used the card at a few places. I got the cards balance down to a few dollars. So, there I am standing in a hotel corridor at a vending machine with a credit card slot. I try my other card but get a card read error. So I whip out the Wachovia card and try it. The first swipe nothing happens. It just says 'authorizing' and after a minute or so it says please try again. I had used this same machine earlier in the week and the approval process was instant. For some reason it was taking longer. So I swiped it a few more times. Finally, on the third swipe I get a soda. At no point in the process did I ever get a 'declined' message, just a message saying to please try again in a minute.
When I got home I got a nastygram from Wachovia asking me to pay for my overdrafts. When I went online to check my account I have almost $180 in service charges because of four $2 transactions.
I immediately called Wachovia and the rep I spoke with said the orginal rep would have to handle my case. He said that according to his screen, the only notation made about my call on December 28 was that I activated the card. The original rep never turned off the 'convenience overdraft service' or whatever they call it. I will have to call back on Tuesday because Monday is a holiday. Hopefully I will get this straightened out.
I carefully read the papers I got when I opened my account and am a little confused at something. Nowhere that I can find does it say that you can opt out. It just says that Wachovia can approve or deny charges at their whim. And also, if I am reading this right, it says that if your card is processed at a merchant and you don't have sufficient funds, they can charge a service fee even if they don't pay it. Is this true? Does Wachovia charge a fee even if they don't cover a charge? Any help or advice would be appreciated.
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