"Insolvent," your mother
I'm supposed to be getting a housing deposit back from Tübingen to the order of €400. I gave them my account information with Wachovia so that they could flood me with delicious euros, and was expecting like a 50% return on the thing since the dollar was worth so much less. Then Lehman Brothers failed. The euro's now worth less than it was when I paid the deposit, but that's not the point of this story.
I got this email on October 2nd:
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Dear Mr. Hubbard,
on October 1, 2008 we attempted to transfer your deposit to your account with Wachovia Bank. Our bank has told us that your bank is insolvent, and that no payment can be completed.
Please give us another account number to which to transfer your deposit.
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I emailed her back with the news that their bank didn't know what they were talking about, and got this.
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Thanks for your e-mail.
I will be on vacation on the week of October 6th to the 15th.
Please send important questions to my colleague: Frau Fridrich, Menlanie.Fridrich@xx.yy.de.
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The damn woman had sent that out the day before she went on vacation, and what's more, she spelled the name of her stand-in wrong! Goddamnit, Germany.
I sent it to good old Melanie Fridrich, and imagined my beautiful money coursing through the international banking system. It was not to be.
I got this email on November 20th.
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Dear Mr. Hubbard,
On October 17, 2008, we transferred your deposit of 400,00 EUR to the account which you gave us earlier.
The transfer was bounced back to our account as 370,52 EUR on November 5, 2008 with the comment "Account/routing number false."
Please check your account information and give us the correct information by December 4th.
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Arg. I went down to Wachovia the next week and had them check everything to make sure. The SWIFT code was right, the routing was right, but where my account number had three 7s, they had written only two.
30 euros for want of a seven. Jesus.
So I told them how it was wrong, and that the bank name was Wachovia since they had strangely left that field blank, and hoped maybe I would have it in time for Christmas.
I have my doubts.
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Dear Mr. Hubbard,
Thank you for your e-mail.
Our bank has told us that your bank is insolvent. They will not be able to perform a wire transfer to your bank.
To this end, please give us a different bank account. Thank you.
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There are no words. I sent a news link (in German!) that said Wachovia had been sold, and told them the name of other people with Wachovia accounts to whom they had already sent transfers, and that, why, I just received a new debit card from them last week!
Wachovia's going to take out another $35 from it when they receive it.
I guess no one really does ever get their deposit back in full.
I got this email on October 2nd:
------
Dear Mr. Hubbard,
on October 1, 2008 we attempted to transfer your deposit to your account with Wachovia Bank. Our bank has told us that your bank is insolvent, and that no payment can be completed.
Please give us another account number to which to transfer your deposit.
------
I emailed her back with the news that their bank didn't know what they were talking about, and got this.
------
Thanks for your e-mail.
I will be on vacation on the week of October 6th to the 15th.
Please send important questions to my colleague: Frau Fridrich, Menlanie.Fridrich@xx.yy.de.
------
The damn woman had sent that out the day before she went on vacation, and what's more, she spelled the name of her stand-in wrong! Goddamnit, Germany.
I sent it to good old Melanie Fridrich, and imagined my beautiful money coursing through the international banking system. It was not to be.
I got this email on November 20th.
------
Dear Mr. Hubbard,
On October 17, 2008, we transferred your deposit of 400,00 EUR to the account which you gave us earlier.
The transfer was bounced back to our account as 370,52 EUR on November 5, 2008 with the comment "Account/routing number false."
Please check your account information and give us the correct information by December 4th.
------
Arg. I went down to Wachovia the next week and had them check everything to make sure. The SWIFT code was right, the routing was right, but where my account number had three 7s, they had written only two.
30 euros for want of a seven. Jesus.
So I told them how it was wrong, and that the bank name was Wachovia since they had strangely left that field blank, and hoped maybe I would have it in time for Christmas.
I have my doubts.
------
Dear Mr. Hubbard,
Thank you for your e-mail.
Our bank has told us that your bank is insolvent. They will not be able to perform a wire transfer to your bank.
To this end, please give us a different bank account. Thank you.
------
There are no words. I sent a news link (in German!) that said Wachovia had been sold, and told them the name of other people with Wachovia accounts to whom they had already sent transfers, and that, why, I just received a new debit card from them last week!
Wachovia's going to take out another $35 from it when they receive it.
I guess no one really does ever get their deposit back in full.