Debit Dispute Update

I got a phone call this morning from my BBF (best banking friend) who confirmed what Shane and I were thinking...that our bank wasn't doing enough for us.

After some much-appreciated coaching from my friend, I decided to take the receipt and a copy of my online statement and talk to a bank officer.  As I was explaining the situation, she interrupted me to say that she herself had looked into the transaction after I had called yesterday, and suspects the Wal-Mart cashier ran the gift card incorrectly and wound up $100 short on her drawer at the end of the shift.  At that point, she (or her manager) "corrected" it by charging another $100 to our debit card.

That it is even possible is a pretty scary prospect if you ask me.

The bank officer also said that while yes, it's true that I could withdraw our money and close the account and that I could request that Shane's debit card be closed, leaving him high and dry, I cannot dispute a transaction on his card in order to protect our money.  Only the actual cardholder can do that.  That seems a little backwards.

So, I have the form to mail to Shane so he can sign it and send it back to the bank.  He could fax it, but he doesn't have access to a fax machine.  Once the banks receives it, they will deposit the $100 into our account and will dispute the charges with Wal-Mart on our behalf.  That's more like it.

As for the employee I spoke to yesterday, I lodged an informal complaint against her because I thought she was rude, condescending and apathetic about helping me resolve the issue.  The bank officer assured me that she would speak to the employee about her CS skills, but also said that 1) the employee shouldn't have been talking to me in the first place because she mediates with the merchants and isn't trained to deal with bank customers and 2) that unfortunately, in the majority of cases when a wife says that her husband didn't make a transaction it turns out that he did and the wife just didn't know about it.  I assume that goes the other way as well, where the husband doesn't know about the wife's transactions.  I think that's a sad way to run a marriage.  And I still don't think those two points justify the employee's behavior.

Anyway, I feel better now that it appears something will be done to get our money back.  I'll post about the outcome, but I don't expect to know anything for sure for at least a couple of weeks.