Being the “organizational wonk” of the Westburg/Weller Billboard Insider partnership, this will be the first of periodic thoughts on the business side of operations. Let me know if you think they are worthwhile?

You may have recently read about Wells Fargo Bank and their problems with thousands of employees secretly creating accounts customers didn’t ask for in order to meet sales goals.  The bank ended up dismissing 5,300 employees, including some managers, who were accused of creating sham accounts.

If you think this will make everything OK, let me share with you a conversation I had with Wells Fargo customer service this week.  We operate several companies I get email and text updates if I need to transfer funds into our accounts to cover transfers.  I was traveling last week and received two updates (yes, from Wells Fargo) and quickly transferred funds that same day. In reviewing our accounts this Monday, I saw that we had been charged two $35 overdraft charges, even though at the end of each day we were in a positive cash position.

I called their customer service line and explained what I had done.  They walked through the sequence, saw I was correct but were reluctant to cancel the charges.  After some “gentle prodding” they did agree to check with a supervisor.  Coming back on the line the service rep said they could remove one of the $35 charges.  I suggested that if they could do the one they could easily do both.  She quickly agreed with my reasoning and both charges were cancelled.

So what’s to learn from Wells Fargo’s problems and my conversation with them on a simple bank charge:

1. The Bank had to let those people go from a PR perspective.  Don’t think for a minute though it changes much.
2. Banks make most of their profits from fees and charges.  For a small business owner it can add up pretty quickly.
3. Don’t expect a bank to give those charges up easily.  In fact, the bigger the bank the harder it can be.
4. Which goes to my main thought.  STAY LOCAL, if you can.  Nothing like having the decision maker in your town or nearby.

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