Free* Asus Eee PC from RBC

Alternate title (I Know You Don't Care, But I'll Tell You Anyways)

I recently got out some anger towards RBC in a letter I'm sending to their client care centre. It was just easier to post the contents of the letter here rather than re-writing it entirely. I'll follow up with their response.

Complaining to a big corporation is a bit of a dance - I know that the only reason they have any concern for their customers at all is because not doing so would affect their bottom line. However, I still need to come across as somewhat hurt and surprised that they don't seem to care about me. That way, hopefully they can get what they want (more of my money in the future) while I get what I want (some of my money back). With any luck I'll get my free computer (read on for details), and if not I'll at least reduce my banking fees by moving to President's Choice...

Anyhow, here it is:

Client Care Centre
PO Box 1, Royal Bank Plaza
Toronto, Ontario M5J 2J5

To Whom It May Concern:

I have been a Royal Bank client since 1995, and am generally pleased with the services I have received from RBC. However, recent changes to my personal banking account are disappointing and certainly encourage me to entertain banking options with other financial institutions.

I was until May 1 of this year a holder of a Signature Plus account for which I paid $6.95 per month. As of May 1 the Signature Plus account was discontinued. A RBC representative analyzed my usage over a few months and determined that the most cost efficient account for me would be the Signature No Limit at $13.95 per month. My account was automatically switched to this higher priced account. I do not plan on changing my banking habits to make use of the additional features of the new account, so I effectively have been dealt a 100% markup in my personal banking fees.

Also on May 1 of this year, RBC began (as you know) a promotion giving a free Asus Eee PC to existing RBC clients who switch to the Signature No Limit account. When I called RBC to inquire about this promotion, I was informed that in order to qualify I would have had to voluntarily switch to the Signature No Limit account. So not only did the forced account upgrade increase my banking fees twofold, it disqualified me for the promotion.

There are two things that keep my accounts at RBC. The first is the inconvenience of moving my established accounts to another financial institution. The second is simply that I consider myself a “Royal Bank guy.” The RBC cards in my wallet have carried me through University, kept me going for a year in Costa Rica, paid for my wedding and now help me raise my two young children. As a result, there is a certain affinity I feel towards RBC. However, my recent RBC experience has made me feel that perhaps this feeling of affinity is misplaced; that RBC is simply another bank whose sole purpose is to extract as much money out of me as possible.

The banking fee increase is sufficient to overcome the inconvenience of switching accounts, and RBC’s policies regarding the recent promotion are enough to make me rethink my loyalty. I would recommend that RBC supply me with some very compelling reasons as to why I should keep my accounts here, because goodness knows the competition is looking very compelling itself.

A $25,000 Replacement Windshield

Alternate title (I Am The Man! or: Whirlpool Sticks It To The Man)

Alright, so kicking off my first consumer rant is my story about our new stove. We got a pretty good deal from Future Shop on a Whirlpool smooth top convection range - $699 down from $949 in their post-Christmas sale. Nice stove, and the convection oven is stellar. I'm not too pleased with cooking on the ceramic glass stovetop, but perhaps that is an acquired taste. Anyhow, in general I was very happy with the range.

Almost exactly 4 months after buying the range (2 days ago), I was cooking something or other in our large copper-bottom pan. In the course of preparing the rest of the food I managed to melt a bit of a no-name resealable sandwich bag on the side of the pan. Oops, but it just hit the side of the pan so no problem. What I didn't realize was that in fact some melted plastic had run down the side of the pan and was sitting between the cooktop and the pan's copper bottom. I finished cooking, took the food out, and left the pan to cool on the stove. Well, by some freak of chemistry the interaction of the heat, plastic, and copper actually fused the ceramic cooktop to the pan right where the plastic had run. Pan comes off the stove for cleaning and crack! - a chunk of the cooktop comes right with it. Check it out:

Incidentally, removing the glass from the bottom of the pan required a hammer, chisel, and a power sander. Not an easy task.

I'm pretty bummed about this, but realize that it is to some degree my fault for letting plastic melt onto the stove (and not actually realizing it so I could pull the pan off in time). I could gripe about the delicate ceramic cooktop, but that's not the point of this post. I'm comfortable taking responsibility for replacing the cooktop on my own coin.

Well, after a call to Whirlpool to confirm that the ceramic top is not covered by the warranty (I had anticipated this), I was put through to their parts department so they could quote me a price for a replacement cooktop. $509, not including installation. I'll write that again, so you know it's not a typo. $509. Add installation fee of approximately $80 and we're dangerously close to the original price of the stove. Pretty darn near 85% according to Mr. Calculator in fact. Let's try to put this into perspective.

There are warnings all through the owner's manual for the stove about the fragility of the cooktop. Certain types of pans to avoid, don't drop anything on it, don't set a pot lid down on it when the pot lid is hot, etc. etc. It's probably safe to say this is the most delicate part of the stove. With this fact in mind, Whirlpool still decides to price the replacement prohibitively high. That's kind of like an auto maker selling a $30,000 vehicle with a specialized windshield that they will charge $25,000 to replace if you ever happen to crack it. Oh, sure - the warnings are all in the vehicle owner's manual. "Avoid driving on logging roads." "Avoid driving behind gravel trucks on the highway." Most folks won't ever have to worry about replacing their windshield. However, given the delicate nature of the part and its essential nature to the operation of the vehicle, some folks will have to replace the windshield. Oh, well.

So now I've got a fantastic stove that's a write-off. I'm certainly not paying $600 to fix it, get another identical cooktop, and go through the same thing when I drop my can of mushroom soup. Maybe I'll just bite the bullet and go for gas.

Anyone interested in a slightly damaged 4-month old convection oven? Cheap!

Oh, and Whirlpool - experience leads me to believe that other appliance companies do similar things, but this unfortunate circumstance has put you on my blacklist. Too bad, cause I actually really did like the stove...