As Wells Fargo has moved into the 21st Century so have their banking options. Being a former employee of the Banking giant I am no stranger to the many wondrous products and services the love to offer. Even while on the phone with Customer Services you can expect to receive pitches. But they do have some products and services that have made my banking experience tolerable enough (barely) to pay a $35 overdraft fee even when I have a couple thousand in another account (or $10 overdraft fee if you have a credit card attached as Overdraft Protection). And so I shall list:

The offer Online Banking at their convenient Main Website. I hate going in so this has been great for me.

The offer free Online Bill Pay for students (or at least they did when I opened my account).

The offer recurring transfers between accounts for routine transactions. A great way to save money.

A new product that they launched not too long ago was their lightweight mobile website. www.wf.com.

These are the regulars.

Stick with me, I’m trying to be positive before I lay into them …and here we go.

Recently I noticed that you can have the Wells send you an email or a text message triggered by account states. Meaning that if I drop below $100 dollars in my checking account, I can get a message notifying me and I can be more careful with my money. (Did you know that all Wells Fargo locations are financed with Fees they collect from their customers? At least that is what I was told in Orientation five years ago.)

No problem, right? A great way to stay on top of your money, or at least that is what I thought until I set up the very scenario mentioned above (along with a couple of others). I receive the alerts, which is what the service is designed to do, HOWEVER I RECEIVE THEM AT 3 AM.

The first one I assumed was a fluke so I thought nothing of it. However, I have been receiving them for 6 months now and every one of them is in between 3:00 and 4:00 in the morning.

“Now Stephe, why don’t you just turn them off?” Well, I sleep through them now, because I’m used to them. But my wife doesn’t.

“Six months later?!” I can hear you say. Well, my wife is patient (or afraid of me).

So I got on the website like a good customer and tried to find out how to change the time… no dice. Nothing on the subject. So I called Customer Support, and after offering me a new product they transfered me to the Online Baking department. After a wait and another product offer I was transfered to the Mobile Banking department. After a verbal disclosure that he was going to offer me more products and services I was told that the notification time could not be changed.

I repeated back to the rep, “So what I hear you telling me, and please correct me if I’m wrong but, if I’m going to receive the messages I have to do so at 3 to 4am?” He stammered for a bit and then recited something about “the time our servers switch over…” So I said that what I was hearing him say was “Yes, only between 3 and 4.” He didn’t rebut so I thanked him for his time and ended the conversation.

On that note, I’ve been thinking about starting a cellphone company that only provides services from 1 am to 5 am. Or an airline that only flies on Friday the 13ths and September 11ths.

My point is: I recognize this is an optional service that I am opting into, however it is unusable by the population at large. I cannot imagine someone interested in this unless they work the swing shift or they are avid ravers.

Advise: Wells Fargo if you would like to make a service to attract the younger, tech savvy customers to bank with you I recommend making it usable.

P.S.- Oh, and if I wanted to open another CD or get a Visa Debit Card for another of my accounts I’LL TELL YOU. Thanks.