Attention JP Morgan Chase: It's OUR money, not yours!

The bank I use has been swallowed up several times over the past few years, moving from

Glenview Gauranty to

First Federal of Wilmette to

First Chicago, which was then bought by

NBD (formerly National Bank of Detroit) to

Bank One, Bank1 or Banc One (they spelled it different ways; I was particularly confused by the "Banc" spelling used by their investment products) and finally

JP Morgan Chase

Some things get better (bill pay over the internet is the most notable one) but, in general, service has gotten worse. The most recent example occurred Saturday. My wife and I went in to redeem a certificate of deposit because another bank was offering a better rate. In other words, we had entrusted OUR money to Chase for a time, and now we wanted to get OUR money back, with interest.

There was no line to wait. It still took 45 minutes to get a check for OUR money. Chase employees engaged in an entire variety of delay tactics and misinformation. 

If we were renewed, we were initially promised a 4% rate. Then 4.75%. (still not as good as the bank down the road giving 5.23%).

We were told this would generate an unusual taxable event (it would not).

The banker needed to contact headquarters for instructions on how to handle the transaction. This sounds reasonable if the transaction was complicated, but for redeeming a CD at maturity?  He then spend several minutes on hold, occasionally seeming to look for the right form.

We were told we would lose free checking and be charged for our checking account. I responded "bullshit" to this, which is exactly what it was. We still have more in the bank than what's required to get free checking.

Two bank representatives then pretended to "fix our account links" so we would "still qualify for free checking". Eventually, 45 minutes after we first made contact with a Chase representative, we were given a check for OUR money.

In the olden days, this bank sent you a form. You could indicate any change in the renewal period, or request them to send YOUR money back when the CD expired. They even paid for the postage. This was evidently too easy and logical. Now, you need to redeem the CD in person (or so I was advised by the call center desk earlier that morning).

Needless to say, I'm shopping for a new bank.