> The sudden account closures have put financially vulnerable customers under stress. Of course they have. It's no accident that accounts like these are heavily marketed to people with terms like "faster access to YOUR money" and "virtually no fees" and "manage YOUR MONEY from anywhere, down to the penny!" These companies are targeting people for whom every single dollar is of vital importance. To then yank the accou…
With regard to “automated customer handling” (I.e. intentionally wasting customers’ time and energy in the hope they give up) - I can’t help but feel that society has lost a critical social regulatory mechanism, in the form of being able to physically beat up people who repeatedly exhibit scummy behavior. If some airline or bank puts you on hold for 4 hours, there’s no way to throw a few punches or whatever at the pe…
Imagine trying that with google or Facebook or chime.
I don’t agree with the need for physical violence. Historically, we have had decent regulatory protections for customers. I feel like those protections are rapidly being eroded. The threat of reporting to the bank/insurance/etc regulator was real and triggered a response even in the most dense bureaucracies in my experience.
Best story ever along these lines is when an angry homeowner who was wrongfully foreclosed upon ended up suing the bank, winning, then foreclosing on her local branch when they neglected to pay: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/bank-america-florida-foreclo...