prodissues

A Hell of a User Journey

Sun 07 August 2016 by yaniv

Well, that's not a user journey in the product sense of the word, but still a journey that illustrates the bizarre randomness of life...

Couple of days ago I logged in to my FileThis account and noticed the balance on my listed saving account isn’t up to date. So I didn't check this account for a while, and was interested in its actual balance, so I continued to my online bank account. There, I didn't even find this account. I googled the issue, and found that I should simply call my bank and ask to make the saving account visible.

I did, but the customer service weren’t able to locate this account either. It is probably dormant I was told. You should call the unclaimed property department and ask to reactivate it, I was told. Inactive? Unclaimed property??? I started to get anxious. I called that department the next day, and they too weren’t able to locate it. Go to a physical branch, the lady on the phone suggested. They’ll have more ways to locate this missing account.

I went as soon as I possibly could to the nearest branch. It took awhile, but eventually they were able to find it. It is under my wife's name, but barely so, because they got wrong almost every piece of information on her - no social security number and no address. I was lucky they were even able to associate this account to her. I couldn't get any information about this account, because I wasn't even assigned to it, and was asked to come back with my wife and straighten things up. Oh, and when your wife comes, please bring her social security card an id and a proof of address (her info was all messed up in their system), they asked.

Now that the saving account was found I was much more relaxed, but still wanted to get this all over with. So my wife and I went to the branch again today. I took with me our social security cards, passports and ids. I was very careful to stash it in our bag, and made sure I always have eye on that bag. This is a lot of important documentation.

We got the account and information fixed, and continued to a nice afternoon in Staten Island. We went by the ferry, had a nice dinner, spent some time with our daughter in the prime dance, before taking the ferry back to the city.

In our way back, just as the ferry set sail, I asked my wife for the bag. I thought you have it, she said. Hmmm, apparently I don’t. Well, you probably left it on a bench in the promenade. Craaap!!!!! I never lost a bag, or left one behind. This is the first time I do, and there can't be a worst time to lose one, with our entire identities in it. And not only that, but we're in sea, with no way to go back to look for it.

So I had to go with the ferry back to Manhattan, stay on it and get back to Staten Island, hoping the bag will wait me there. Yeah right… On the ferry I asked one of the security guys for help. He tried to do whatever he could, notified the captain who called the terminal and asked to send someone for the estimated location where I thought I left the bag.  No luck - they didn’t find it…

I took the ferry back, and run as fast as I could as soon as it anchored. No bag. I asked around and no one saw anything. I saw in the distance a man with an orange vest, and hopped he’s patrolling the area. He did. To my relief he even knew about this lost bag that has a passport in it... It’s in the precinct, which is just across the street from the promenade. Run fast before the caps will vulture it… I did, and couldn’t be happier to have the people at the precinct accepting my arrival, and being so nice and sensitive with my nervousness...

I back home now, with the bag, still amazed how that random check led to that mess. A mess that could have gone much much worst…