I Agree Totally With #4

I agree totally with #4’s assessment of Ally. I’m extremely disappointed in their continual conflicting and erroneous information … their failure to carry out my written instructions … their slowness to respond until deadlines have passed -- mistakes which always help their bottom line and hurt mine. It’s happened so many times that it’s difficult to believe it is simply incompetence … rather than deliberate orchestration.

Here’s an example. Last summer I opened a number of accounts which I planned to fund by having my broker wire the money to Ally. One day around 2:30 I called Ally and asked for their wiring information … telling them my broker had a 3:00 deadline in order to get the money to Ally that day.

The rep advised me that I shouldn’t wire the money … that ACH transfers were faster … even though I had not set up any ACH links! It took me a while to convince her otherwise, and get her to agree to give me the wire instructions. I asked her to please hurry because of the 3:00 deadline. Again it took her quite a while; she put me on hold several times. I had a strong sense that something was “off” but assumed it was honest incompetence.

A few minutes before 3:00 she finally gave me the wire instructions. I rushed to my broker’s website but missed the deadline. No big deal, I thought … the money will be there tomorrow … what’s one day.

You’ve probably guessed the ending -- Ally had known they were making significant rate drops the next day for all of my accounts. The amount I invested was in the six figures … so the loss in earnings was significant. I’ve never been naïve about Ally’s seeming incompetence and slowness since.

I don’t phone them … I get everything in writing … I print all live chats before they disappear … I print all emails in my Ally mailbox lest they disappear. It’s slow and tedious -- and still full of errors. At this moment there are three “mistakes” I’m trying to iron out. Naturally I’m considering leaving.

Ally is the LEAST “straightforward” bank I have dealt with in my very long life.