Sometime earlier this year, a computer decided that a $2.95 "online banking fee" should be deducted each month from Alka Goyal's TCF Bank checking account. No amount of persuasion so far has been able to change the computer's mind.
Every month, Goyal complains about the charge, and someone at TCF Bank gives her a credit. Then the new statement arrives, with the same infuriating debit.
"I think it's taken care of, sure enough, next month it shows up again," said Goyal, a St. Paul high school science teacher who lives in Apple Valley. "It's just annoying. It's just seriously annoying."
So annoying that Goyal wrote to the attorney general and filed a complaint with TCF Bank, based in Wayzata. I can relate to her sentiments, having had this experience at a different bank. Month after month I complained to customer service about a persistent "checkcard fee" for a check card I had never seen. I want those hours of my life back.
But somehow, there's a part of us that just can't let go, even if the amount in question is less than we would spend on a double latté. We always ascribe these computer errors to some malevolent conspiracy, a conspiracy we must confront.
In Goyal's case, TCF Bank is just as puzzled as she is, said Jason Korstange, director of corporate communications. Goyal indeed shouldn't be charged the fee, but the computer won't relent, Korstange told me Friday.
"Believe me, there's probably four people right now looking at this thing," he said. "There's some type of glitch in this poor lady's account that no matter what we do, it keeps ringing up her $2.95."
Korstange said that although he hasn't heard of similar troubles among the bank's 1.6 million checking account holders, TCF Bank is determined to fix Goyal's erroneous charges. It's yet another reminder of how much of our lives are hostage to the whims of the microprocessor.
