Bank card in hand, I cruise down to D Street and Bonita to use the closest Wells Fargo ATM. Check in my other hand, I am already envisioning the digitized numbers popping up on the screen and adding to my account.
I get there and slide my handy dandy card in and press the necessary buttons. Nothing happens. I wait and I wait.
The unresponsive screen stares at me mockingly, daring me to go inside where I will probably face a rude teller who wants to know why I cannot just use the ATM outside and, later, charges will appear on my bank statement for actually using my other non-automated customer services.
As if to say “Na-na-na,” the machine spits out my card and puts an out of order sign up. Thankfully, my card is still in one piece. Hesitatingly, I glance over at the other ATM wondering if I should take a chance. It looks a little more user-friendly, so I decide to try my luck.
Big mistake. Going through the same necessary procedures, still nothing happens.
I began assuring myself that I know how to do this-I have been doing this for over a year now; I am a woman of the future; I can handle the advanced technology of banking-all the time trying to ignore the pack of wolves behind me waiting impatiently with their ATM cards.
This ATM spits out my card as if it was worth absolutely nothing. Clutching my only link to my bank and, most importantly, my money, I walk away concerned. I do not have the time to go inside the bank. That was what ATM banking was for-quick and easy access to my account.
Banks have had an increasing desire to become more efficient and boast of things like telephone banking, ATM usage and even Internet banking. All are supposed to allow their customers easier access to accounts.
But this new technology has left out one important thing, and that is to make sure the needs of the customer are met.
As a student banking customer, I can only use the Wells Fargo ATM to handle all of my necessary transactions. If I go to another bank’s ATM, I am charged. If I go inside the Wells Fargo branch, I am charged. If I use the telephone automated services more than three times, I am charged. Banking is no longer about serving the customer; it is about how much they can make their customers pay.
Not only do we pay for these services, but half the time, we are not even really getting the best customer attention possible.
At first, I liked the idea of ATM banking. I did not have to face moody tellers or wait in long lines-or so I thought. As I continued to be a faithful ATM user, I have had to stand in even longer lines because one machine is broken, or faced a series of fees because I could not always find a Wells Fargo ATM when I needed it.
Wells Fargo has always prided itself on how it continues to serve its customers. Well, maybe Mr. Wells and Mr. Fargo forgot that in their rush to advanced technology.
Supermarkets now post signs advertising bank stops inside. The Wells Fargo branch on Bonita Avenue closes today and all of its customers, especially those at the University of La Verne, will have to trek to Albertsons, and, no matter how much they assure us, banking just will not be the same.
Supermarket banks, ATMs and telephone services cannot substitute as the only means for banking. They are unreliable and, if we are forced to use only them, we should not face charges. I would rather talk to a real life person than another ATM that spits my card out and before it thinks to ask, “Would you like another transaction?”
LaShanda D. Maze, a sophomore broadcast journalism major, is features editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at mazel@ulvacs.ulaverne.edu.
