Then, go on with your life.

When companies have dealt with me in the past like that (rare, but it does happen), I just don’t use them anymore and bad-mouth to others as appropriate. I know it’s cost them more than any reasonable corrective action they could have taken. (It’s a small, albeit, real comfort.)

My brother-in-law and I were near the end of the line boarding the plane and the plane’s overhead bins were full so a NWA ticket agent took our carry-on luggage off the flight and did not give us a claim ticket or tracking number for the luggage despite our attempts to get one. Neither would they gate check the luggage. Bye, bye luggage. We spent nine days of a 12-day trip tracking down our luggage (thank you to my brother who had an iPhone). We spent hours each day talking to Northwest Airlines, sending emails and finally realized they had no idea where our luggage was and would do nothing to help us–at least the unempowered minions in their customer service department.

We then spent hours tracking down that one lone NWA ticket agent who had taken our luggage off our flight since he was the only person in the universe who had any idea what had happened to it.

Well, we finally reached him after we left numerous voicemails and he proceeded to scream at us and call us liars. (I still am unclear why he used that label.) Within two hours he had located our luggage–in Amsterdam where he sent it when he took it off our flight.

We spent four years planning for this trip and it really was a lovely, wonderful experience. But because we only had carry-on luggage and we were in a foreign country we had to replace clothing, toiletries, etc for nine of those 12 days to the tune of $593. That is what we want back from Northwest Airlines. I’ve called them on the phone and sent over 40 emails the last 16 months trying to get refunded for those expenses. Our NWA flight connected with an IcelandAir flight that took us to Copenhagen, Denmark so there standard reply has been that IcelandAir is responsible according to an interline air agreement for any reimbursements of our luggage. Neither airline has reimbursed us. At this point I have begun to wonder, am I spending too much time and energy trying to recoup that money?

But the really interesting part is that the bank really isn’t making money off of 75% of Americans. They make 3/4 of their income off of the 25% of the population that overdrafts their accounts. Some people are paying quite a bit for “free checking”, and it would be a shame to do so because of an error the bank made.

Good for you for taking the time to get those fees reversed.

Liz Pulliam Weston writes an excellent article about the advantages of a credit union over a bank. I’ve not personally used a credit union, as my banking needs have primarily been satisfied by online providers and I’ve been very happy with the results.

The only thing I could come up with as a potential advantage of a bank over a credit union is the relative proximity of more banks, especially if you travel and need access to branches. It’s a stretch, given that it’s 2009, however.

Nonetheless, it still makes sense to compare rates and potential fees; just be sure to include multiple credit unions in your search.

Here’s what brought on the switch:

I had $75 in overdraft charges on my checking account at Big Bank. For starters, it was because of 3 transactions totaling $7. $75 for $7 sounds a bit excessive. Second of all, it was because a teller had deposited my paycheck into my savings account instead of my checking, something I never do, and had not asked her to do.

It took me over 2 hours of arguing to get them to refund me the $75 but they eventually did, but then I decided to get smart. I told them I wanted $150 given to me. When they asked me why, here’s the explanation I gave them (I had 2 hours of waiting and arguing to put this logic together):

Had the mistake been mine, I would have been charged $75 for the inconvenience I caused the bank. In this case, the bank was wrong and was an inconvenience to me, so I wanted to charge them the same $75 they were oh-so-willing to charge me. They owed me my original $75 they had erroneously charged me, plus $75 on top of that. They didn’t go for it, so I withdrew all my money right then and there.

Working with a credit union has been wonderful. Higher interest rates on savings (very close to ING rates), lower rates on loans, and they are invested, and invest, in the community. I’ve been looking for a reason that banks might be any better than credit unions, but no one, not even a bank, has been able to give me any reason. Michael, do you know in what instance the services of a bank would be preferable?