NOT enjoying Sterling Montgomery!

I should have known this was not going to be a good week when I ran by the bank Monday afternoon to make a deposit and they wouldn't accept it.

WHAT?!? I've been banking here since I started my photography business in 2004!! Without proper documentation I just went home and stewed all night and gathered all my banking info.

Went back to Sterling on Perry Hill the next day where I've been going for 5 years and showed them all the documentation. Okay, no problem, they just needed a copy of my business license. Manager said they shouldn't have been accepting deposits from me for the past 5 years because they didn't have a copy of my business license. WHAT!?! It wasn't like I was trying to hide it. I told them it was my business account when I opened it and when I added a second checking account and when I added a credit card. But now they need a copy of the business license?!?

So, they made a copy of the business license, assured me that nothing would change about my accounts (remember those words), deposited my check and I was on my merry way.

The next day I decided to check my accounts online like I do most days and WHAT?!? they're GONE!!! Completely disappeared!! The bank had already closed so yet another night to stew.

Called them first thing the next morning. Well, it seems that now that they have my business license on file it will cost me a fee each month to look at my accounts online. WHAT?!? What happened to "nothing will change" ?!? Okay, we'll get a manager to call you ....

no call ....

called and left voice message that no one had called ....

no call ....

called again right before the bank closed. Well, there doesn't seem to be anything they can do so they'll get everything ready for me to move my accounts to another bank.

Gee thanks!

So much for encouraging small business and improving the perception of the banking industry. The thing that really makes me mad is that if I had not tried to do things the right way, if I had just taken cash under the table and never reported or deposited it, then I could have avoided all this grief. One of my favorite sayings is "no good deed goes unpunished" -- not because I like it but because it is usually true!

I came home after the last "encounter" yesterday literally sick! This has taken up so much of my time and my emotional energy this week that I've fallen far behind on editing and following-up to confirm appointments and responding to request for information.

And now I've got to go through the hassle of finding another bank and changing all my information with my vendors during the busiest portrait season of the year. QUELLE NIGHTMARE! (to quote one of my favorite lines from You've Got Mail)

Thanks for letting me vent. I'm too small to have any impact, but I feel better letting everyone know how big business treats small business.

And since you can't post on a photo blog without a photo, here's one that makes me smile: