I'm angry at Wells Fargo.

Okay, so Wells Fargo is my bank and they've accumulated two strikes just in the past month.

Strike One: I walk into a branch to change my address. I dutifully approach the teller, who informs me that my request must be handled by a banker. Seems strange to me - I'm only changing my address, not really something for which a degree of finance is required. So I talk with a banker, who dutifully changes my address but then begins inquiring about the rest of my accounts. Am I happy with my checking? Wouldn't I want an upgraded account? My, there's a lot of money in my savings account. Would I be interested in CDs? Oh, and didn't I know that I could get text messages on my cell phone concerning bank transactions? Now I realize the reason why mundane address-change requests must be handled by bankers. Apparently, when I walk in the door, it's an opportunity for them to sell me something. I'm annoyed and a little offended that I can't walk into a branch office anymore without this level of hassle. I pledge to avoid walking into banks.

Strike Two: I search online at the Wells Fargo website, trying to find what the fee is for stopping payment on a check. (I think a check may have been lost in the mail.) I search everywhere and I can't find it so I call customer support. I have to ask the nice lady a couple of times because there's a bit of confusion - was this a payment made with their bill pay service or with a paper check? Because the fee for stopping payment on the online bill pay service is zero. However, she notices that my bill pay service "hasn't been activated yet". Quite frankly I was only vaguely aware that Wells Fargo offered online bill pay but I wasn't terribly interested - I can pay most of my bills online now anyway via the vendors' websites. So she looks up the fee (it's $29) and we bid each other good day. Well, lo and behold, about an hour later I get an email from Wells Fargo saying "Welcome to Bill Pay"! At first I thought maybe my account had been compromised but then I remembered my conversation from earlier - she probably "activated" this bill pay service without my permission. So I call back - at this time it's late in the afternoon, on a Friday - and I demand that this bill pay service be canceled. I don't care that it's free or whatever, I didn't ask for it so I want it turned off. The gentleman this time again asks about my savings account - wouldn't I want an upgraded savings account? I angrily answer "no". He cancels my bill pay but then transfers my call to an online banker who will discuss my savings account with me further. UGH. I am in no mood to discuss savings accounts right now but I talk with the banker. I don't change my savings account but I do go off on a tirade. I didn't ask for the online bill pay, it was wrong to sign me up for it without my permission, and would you be so kind as to carry this complaint to your superior? She meekly said that the call was recorded and the call hastily ended.

Afterward I felt a little bad on how I treated her, after all it wasn't her fault, but I was damn angry. I told her too that I was on the verge of changing banks, and I am. As far as I'm concerned, they've earned two strikes. One more strike and they're out. It makes me sad, too, because I've been a loyal customer of theirs for about 10 years now and up to this point I've been mostly satisfied with their service. But it's only been recently, I think, that they've adopted this business model where their object is to badger people into purchasing new financial products. Heck I might change banks anyway even if it doesn't take another "strike".