Death of a Gordon Setter and Canadian Imperial Bank of Com..

External Since: Jul 25, 2003 Posts: 2

My Gordon Setter passed away today and in doing so revealed to me how
cold hearted and useless Canadian Banks are.

I just moved to Canada from the United States. We brought with us our
Gordon Setter which was dying of lymphoma cancer. We had just opened
up a bank account at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and
transferred our funds from our US bank to the CBIC. Oddly enough the
bank advised that they were going to have to put the funds on hold for
ten days while the certified check from our US bank cleared.

Suddenly today at 12:00 our Setter took a serious turn for the worse.
She had been looking pretty good and puppyish for the last couple of
days but today she collapsed while outside doing 'what dogs do'. I
carried her into the house and placed her on her favorite blanket.

Over the next twenty minutes I watched as her condition rapidly
deteriorated. I realized that her situation was extremely bad and
decided to call our Vet to perform euthanasia to ease her pain.

Problem was that I did not have the cash on me to cover the expenses
that I was anticipating at the Vet ( ie the euthanasia cost and the
final deposition cost of her body ).

I quicly called my local Canadian Imperial Bank of Canada branch to
request that take $500 off the temporary hold that they had placed on
our fund transfer from the United States.

Canadian banks it appears don't really want you to phone them... so
they set up an elaborate blockade of answering machines and voice
mail. After routing through a number of the diversions that their
system through at me, I was given the option to call the their 1-800
service number.

I called that number and explained the situation to the 'call clerk'
on the other end. I explained that we had just transferred a six
figure check into the account, certified funds, from our US bank to
our new account at the CBIC. Six days had passed since we had
deposited the funds but due to an emergency situation I need $500 of
that money released from the 'temporary hold' to meet the expenses I
was about to incur.

The CBIC telephone clerk, apparently operating from some call center
in India, put me on hold as she discussed my request with her
superviser. She left me on hold as my dogs condition was worsening in
the background.

When she came back on the phone she basically said that the 'banks
rules do not permit the early release of even a nickle of the funds we
had transferred to the bank until the 'holding period' had ended.

I explained that I understood that policy, but that the only reason I
was making this request is because of the urgency of our situation and
our need to access the funds for this special situation.

She than offered the suggestion that I drive over to our local bank
and explain my situation directly with the bank manager, who might be
in a better position to bend the rules.

I reminded the twit that I had a dog lying in front of me, dying by
the second, and that the urgency of the situation dictated that I take
the time to drive to the Vet - not to some bank to beg a bank manager
to release a tiny percentage of the money that I had just transferred
to their bank.

She was unmoved. I than reconfirmed exactly what she was saying to
me and she confirmed my understanding of their 'heartless and
unflexible' policy.

I than advised her that as a result of their failure to show even an
iota of flexibility in this 'special circumstance' that I would be
immediately withdrawing all the funds I had transfered to their bank (
as soon as it cleared their holding period of course ) and that I
would take my business elsewwhere.

By the time I got off the phone with this 'call center' flunkie my dog
had reached the point of convulsions, her lips and tongue had gone
white and she was in her final death throws.

I quickly loaded her in the back of my truck and drove her to the Vet.
I was prepared to issue a check to the Vet in the hope that it would
not reach the bank clearning house until the funds had been released
into my account.

My Gordon Setter died sometime between the loading of her into the
truck and my arrival at the Vet. The Vet pronounced her DOA after
checking the heart and shining a light in her eyes.

I will not forgive the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce for their
heartless handling of this case. It told me that in a dire
circumstance this bank protected its own interest over that of its
customers.

This was indeed an odd situation to be caught in - having to beg your
bank to release a tiny bit of the funds that had been transferred to
their care. Not many people are likely to get caught in such an odd
situation. But that is my story as of July 25th on how the Canadian
Imperial Bank of Commerce failed to show compassion or flexibility in
an emergency situation.

I could better understand their nervousness or strict adherence to
their rules, had I been looking for a loan. That might have been
excusable and expected. But I was asking for only $500 to be
released from a six figure certified bank check that had been
deposited six days earlier.

Nuff said... dog owners will hopefully appreciate this little tale
about how the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce would treat you if
you had been in the same circumstance.

External Since: Aug 20, 2003 Posts: 128

FlackJacket said in rec.pets.dogs.breeds:

> But that is my story as of July 25th on how the Canadian
> Imperial Bank of Commerce failed to show compassion or
> flexibility in an emergency situation.

Couldn't you have used a credit card? My "insurance" policy is
a no balance card with a reasonably high credit limit.

Is this a recent event? It's been about a decade since the CIBC
has gone by the "Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce".

--
--Matt. Rocky's a Dog.