Dear Chase CEO

Chase Bank
James Dimon
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
270 Park Avenue, 39th Floor
NY, NY 10017

Dear Mr. Dimon

I have been a banking customer at Chase since 1998 (13 years). I had a service fee show up on my account on 3/16/11. On Monday, 3/21 I called the original location (Hikes Point) where I signed up for my account and spoke with Joe. He assured me that the fee was an error and I was “grandfathered” in to an old program that Chase had called “Workplace checking”. He took my work and home number and said his manager was in a meeting but that he would get the refund approved and call me back. I never received a call back.

The next day I called again and asked to speak to Joe. He came on and I said that I assumed he was busy and was calling to remind him in case he didn’t get the credit applied. He informed me that the program that I was “grandfathered” into had been changed and now there was a minimum requirement of $500 in one deposit to have a free account. I asked him if the grandfather had died because I thought that being grandfathered into a program means that the program doesn’t change. He said that I would not be getting a refund of my $12, I had to come in to renegotiate a new plan and the manager was out of the office until Monday. I asked to speak to the assistant manager and she told me she could not do anything either.

I went to the offices on Westport Road and spoke to a manager there. She had another person sitting beside her observing. I explained to her everything that happened and asked her again if I could get a refund of the $12 and continue with my original account that I have had for 13 years. I was told I could not.

I hate to leave Chase, but I guess my business is not worth it to you. So, I will be leaving Chase and you can be sure that I will never recommend your company to anyone. I got my sister, my children and others to bank at your bank because I was so pleased with the years of good service.

The most ironic thing is, you will give your customers up to $5000 in matching deposits and yet you will not refund and honor a grandfathered program of a long term customer. Also, I receive so many mailers about how you will give people $100 to be a Chase banker. Well, I will make sure that any questions I have about chase will be greeted with your refusal to return my $12 and honor your “grandfathered” programs.


Thank you for listening as I get this off my chest and have a great day. I hope that you have fun chasing your customers out the door.

UPDATE: 3/30/11 - I got a call from the Chase Executive Offices today at around 1:00 p.m. They apologized that the branches would not give me a refund of my $12.00. Also, they said my letter would be in a database file for customer issues. They said that the monthly fees were a new policy and they would not be honoring any old policies and that the fee would apply to all future months if I did not meet the qualifications on the account.

This is a good effort on Chase's part. I appreciate their follow up. I will still be leaving the bank as I do not qualify for any of their accounts without a fee. It seems the "not monetarily wealthy" individual is of little consequence to Chase and they are very much looking out for their bottom line. I hope only the monetarily wealthy individuals grace your doorsteps from now on. Us little poor people will find a home somewhere. I do really appreciate getting my $12 back. Thank you Chase for your quick follow up and for the $12 bucks. I'll have a couple of lunches on you. :)