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dvb12503's Profile Image

dvb12503 Reviewed

Ally

Overall rating

2 out of 5 marks

Customer service
1
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4
5
Bank rates
1
2
3
4
5
Online experience
1
2
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4
5
Fees & Charges
1
2
3
4
5
Overall satisfaction
1
2
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4
5

dvb12503 wrote:

Terrible – Most Difficult Banking Experience Ever!

Dear Mr.Michael A. Carpenter (CEO)

I had set up a custodial account for my minor child. When he turned 18 and was going off to college we wanted to change this from a custodial to a joint account. On Aug. 11, 2012 I spoke to one of their representatives and was instructed to send a “letter of instruction” along with a copy of my son’s drivers license. This was done the same evening.

No notice from Ally. I followed up and was then told that I needed to send a copy of an envelope showing my son’s home mailing address. This was done on Aug. 23rd. I was told that I would hear something in 1 week.

No response from Ally. I followed up again and was then told that I now needed to fax a copy of his SS card. This was done on Aug. 31. They couldn’t find the fax and then asked that it be resent which was done on Sept. 5th.

Today I’m told that they have the necessary documentation and now after a whole month of waiting will begin the process of making the account changes.

Be prepared for many 3-4 minutes holds over many days. It’s impossible to speak to the same person twice or get anything accomplished.

Ally’s not a bad bank as long as you don’t need to speak to anybody or have anything done!

Don

Is this review helpful? ▲ Yes 6 ▼ No 1

Additional reviews for Ally

zwoehr's Profile Image

zwoehr reviewed Ally

May 17th 2013

2 out of 5 marks

A comedy of errors in your wallet.

I opened an account with ally because of their good interest rate and promise of decent services. They have not delivered. My account was frozen for "suspicious activity" and I was not notified until I started getting overdue notices on bills I thought had been paid. Their smartphone app crashes constantly making it hard to tell if they receive deposits or not. Their communication is terrible, emails are responded to very slowly and the people at the call center can be downright rude. An online bank to having unreliable software is inexcusable.

Is this review helpful? ▲ Yes 1 ▼ No 0

RichardOrenPincook's Profile Image

RichardOrenPincook reviewed Ally

May 14th 2013

5 out of 5 marks

Very convenient. Perfectly embraces the benefits of the internet age.

Two words: Debit card. I noticed lately that I carry very little cash, if any. It's just so convenient. We can now use the internet to communicate over great distances, and Ally bank has whole-heartedly embraced that fact. I opened a checking account with them about three months ago, and I've observed their entire system revolves around the internet.

Since they don't have a brick and mortar presence, they don't incur the expenses of one, and can give that money to you in the form of a higher interest rate. I had a savings account with USAA before, and my Ally checking account had an interest rate 4 times higher than my USAA savings account! That's a CHECKING account with FOUR TIMES AS MUCH INTEREST as a SAVINGS account!

The only problem I've noticed is that with the debit card, you may get in the habit of not carrying cash, and without and ATM or card scanner, you can't access your money. To fix this, make sure you get in the habit of always carrying $10 or $15 in your wallet when you have access to an ATM. A debit card means nothing if you don't have an ATM, which leads to the last thing I love about Ally: ATM fee reimbursement. Ally acknowledges that if you join, you'll use your debit card A LOT, so they don't have a limit on the number of ATM fees they will reimburse.

*Note: The rating I gave their customer service was meant to be interpretted as "neutral / don't know". I've never used their customer service because I've never needed them.

Is this review helpful? ▲ Yes 1 ▼ No 0

rc2789's Profile Image

rc2789 reviewed Ally

May 14th 2013

1 out of 5 marks

Don't pay all your bills on the same day...

I am a freelancer, so my income is not steady, last week I was paid for some work I did, I thought it would be a good idea to pay all my bills, that way I wonâ??t have to worry about them the rest of the month. Which turned out to be a big mistake.

The next day my debit card was blocked for "suspicious" activity. I remember I was at the store and couldn't pay, my card kept getting declined. When I got home, I checked the account, it showed I had sufficient funds, so I sent Ally a message, asking them why my card was declined.

Two days later they finally replied, saying there was suspicious activity on my account and that my debit card had been blocked, for me to call some fraud protection number to get it unblocked.

I checked my account again and didn't see any "suspicious" activity, just bills and a few grocery store charges - I don't know how any of these would be considered suspicious, especially since they show up in my statement every month.

If somehow paying all my bills on the same day triggered some suspicion, what they should have done was flagged the account until a human could verify - whether or not there really was "suspicious" activity - not block it automatically.

That is just irresponsible and stupid. And the worse part of it all, is they now wanted me to take time out of my busy schedule to call some number and try and fix their mistake.

They didn't apologize or anything. The rep I exchanged emails with did nothing to help, she was just like - well, theres nothing I can do, you have to call the number.

Finally, I broke down and called the number - and guess what? They hung up on me! So I have no idea if my account has been unblocked or what. I could contact them again, but what good is that gonna do?

I've decided to look for a new bank, I cant be a part of a bank that does something like that. Its disappointing, I was such a big fan of Ally, recommended them to everyone and now I feel like such a fool for thinking they were any different.

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ashlee's Profile Image

ashlee reviewed Ally

May 10th 2013

2 out of 5 marks

horrible

I open an CD acct, and mail the deposit in according their instruction. Several days later, they cleared my check, but i can't see any money in my ally cd acct. So I called them, and give them the transaction number on the back of my check( at first they insist that they not deposit my check!! ) and they told me they put the money in suspend acct!! I put the acct # very clearly on both side of my check, and they just told me that they dont know what happen nor no idea why the money go to suspend acct. And I have to wait till Wed to see if they really put my money back ( coz I called on Friday)! How can I sleep through weekend while I feel like I lost my money.

Is this review helpful? ▲ Yes 1 ▼ No 0

ccsp12's Profile Image

ccsp12 reviewed Ally

May 9th 2013

2 out of 5 marks

Terrible

My experience with Ally wasn't too bad until my account got locked and I had to deal with their "Customer Protection" department. The bank clerk there treated me like a Gestapo officer, just assuming I was trying to defraud someone. The exact opposite of helpful and understanding. Not to mention it was really, really hard to get hold of her - way too many calls were needed to reach her, and way too much time wasted. Save yourselves the time and nerves and don't bank with Ally.

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montanaman's Profile Image

montanaman reviewed Ally

May 9th 2013

1 out of 5 marks

a really bad bank

bought a 2011 chevy had probolen it with got tired of the run around and traded it off after 2 years ally called me every week for the payment that i was missing i called them and told them i don"t own the truck any more but they still needed the payment they will turn me into collection so went to the dealer i bought my truck from and asked them what was going on they told me dont worry they took care of that then i left the next week i went back to the dealer and they said we mailed out the check they called ally they told them that they did not get a payment from them they said no way we have a fedex copie on who sinde for it so they mailed out another check with late fees i had another check they had for my extended warranty called ally asked them what was going on they told me they mailed out on the 16 of April so 5 days i should see the check waited no check called again they told me they mailed it out on the April 30 no check called today they told me that they mailed another one out May the 6 so give ti two weeks

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Piller's Profile Image

Piller reviewed Ally

May 9th 2013

1 out of 5 marks

Worst Online Bank That Most Should Avoid Like The Plague! Horrible Experience.

Very poor experience. Opened an account with them & funded it. A week later they froze the account. I called to inquire as to why & they told me the would actually have to cancel the account & refund to me the money i had funded it with. I had read of them doing things like this with others but hoped my experience would be different since i had had a auto loan with them & my experience with it was fine. They couldn't give me a good reason they were cancelling the account but i was fine with it as i just figured i'd forget about doing business with them. Then came more problems. They insisted i verify my identity before they would give me back my money from the account they closed. They wanted copies of my drivers license & a few other things. This was an absolute joke imo as they had no problem taking the money, freezing & then cancelling my account but now their fraud & loss prevention department would not let me get my funds back directly into the account from which they were taken without proving who i was. I have banked online for years with ing direct, charles schwab, capital one, emigrant direct & amex & i can tell you ally is far substandard to those banks & even though they claim to give you a better deal with rates/features. All that glitters isn't gold, i would advise to stay away & go with someone else. Make that anyone else. Ally is the worst bank in the nation imho.

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MauiGirl's Profile Image

MauiGirl reviewed Ally

May 4th 2013

1 out of 5 marks

Hawaii is NOT a 3rd world country!

I would like to share my experience with everyone who is THINKING of using Ally Bank for a car purchase. THINK again! After just one year of receiving and sending our car payments to Ally, they for some unknown reason decided to delete our apt. # in our mailing address, thus not allowing the post office or fed ex to deliver our mail from the. When I realized we had not received our payment coupon for March, I called. "No worry they said. Give the mail 3-5 days. Five days went by, called again, "no worry" give the mail 3-5 days. 5 days again no payment coupon. They would not fax, e-mail or resend a payment coupon. Spoke with supervisors up the chain. Still no luck. They just said "don't worry, you have 10 days after the due date to get the payment to us. Well, guess what! I got upset and sent them a check to pay off my car. End of story? NOT! They fed ex'd us paperwork to sign and return. We did not get theFed Ex envelope, why? No apt. #. They replied that Hawaii does not get Fed Ex service! We see the trucks daily! Supervisor also told us we were the ONLY customers that live in Hawaii. I find that very hard to believe because all our car dealerships carry Ally! It took from March to May to receive the title and when we took it the next day to the DMV office they said it would cost $50 for being over 30 days as the bank had signed the title on the day they received our check. So, I repeat, please THINK when considering using Ally. There are several other options!

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kerryscott's Profile Image

kerryscott reviewed Ally

Apr 22nd 2013 - updated: Apr 23rd 2013

1 out of 5 marks

dont walk run away

did not see if someone posted this but you call the Philippines for the autoloan. payed 500 online and the take 1685 .i could go on but just say worst mess up bank ....customer service -0 engish please online experience -0

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Julz65's Profile Image

Julz65 reviewed Ally

Apr 22nd 2013

2 out of 5 marks

Horrible

If you are a full-time rver and do not have a physical address other than the mailing service address ally will close all of your accounts. I had a savings account/cd/traditional ira with them. I asked them to close the savings account, they closed all of the accts and made up some lame excuse as to why. Oh by the way i did give them a physical non-mail service address but 2 weeks after providing that they decided to close all my accounts. I had just closed my 401k and had the check made out to ally to deposit into my traditional ira, so now the check is in limbo until someone actually figures out what is going on. Very sad to say the least, noone takes responisibility for making a huge mistake. Kicker-- they tried to blame it on me stating that i closed them and never provided the physical address. Really??? I did finally get an honest person that read me the notes where i called and emailed ally. Unbelieveable!!!!! So if you are a full time rver, stay clear unless you still own a home or rent one somewhere. If you have a physical address, and you just want your money to sit in an account and not bother with it, they do have great rates!!

Is this review helpful? ▲ Yes 1 ▼ No 0