| "HOUSTON V. HOUSTON ET AL." CONTINUED |
If the Senior Client Care Specialist was to be believed I had about eighteen hundred bucks waiting
for me to withdraw from the account. I didn't want to get pushed around at the branch again so I
sent an e-mail to the manager with the note from the Senior Client Care Specialist attached asking if
it was necessary for me to make an appointment to withdraw the funds and close the account. The
manager assured me the partial refund was available and I could stop by the branch anytime to close
the account. Anytime. Come on down to see us. Glad we could be of assistance. Three days
later, Monday morning, January 14, I walked into the branch and told a teller I wanted to make a
withdrawal from my account. How much? the teller inquired. How much is in the account? I
asked. I punched in my ATM code and she dialed up the info. You're overdrawn to the tune of
$11.95. Jacked again! Royal Bank was saying I owed them money. This was when I found out
that money was still being illegally siphoned out of my account.
I asked to talk to the manager. A customer service rep with a far-too-forced smile on her face
appeared instantly from a cubicle directly behind the teller as though waiting for me. I'd like to talk
to the manager please, she'll know what it's about. The rep directed me to the manager's office
where she sat behind her desk. Mr. Houston would like to speak to you. She pretended not to
know who I was for an instant until I said I was Callum Houston. Oh yes, that Mr. Houston. The
door closed and I sat down. I said I was here to pick up my partial refund as promised by head
office and I told her the account had been emptied again. You're familiar with the details of this
matter? I asked. What's going on with my account? She looked up the account on the screen. I
was expecting an eighteen hundred dollar refund, I said. She started playing her game. Playing
dumb. If you'll give me a moment I'm trying to find out what's happening, she said. Oh yes, she
said a few moments later, I see there's been some withdrawals. No shit. I asked for a statement
update which she printed out and handed me. Why was I told to come down here if the account is
empty? I gently put to her. Offended, she demanded that if I wanted her help I had to conduct
myself respectfully. That's a good one. Being told to be respectful while I'm being ripped off.
Completely mute, she got up, walked to her filing cabinet, opened a drawer and withdrew the
December 21 letter I sent her. She sat down and placed the letter squarely in the middle of her
desk. She concentrated on the letter. Stared at it. Focused on it. Fixated on it. The letter was the
center of her total attention. Concerned, she started slowly reading silently from the beginning.
What's going on with this woman? Was this ambush retaliation for the letters I'd sent? Was this an
attempt to pay me back with some additional bank muscle? I interrupted her reading. The debits
from the account amounted to fraud, I announced. I was reporting the activity to the police and the
new withdrawals would be reported as specific further acts of fraud and theft. She woke up. She
didn't know what to do. She looked bewildered and dumbfounded. I told her she had to call the
Senior Client Care Specialist in Toronto and find out what was going on. Are you in the loop with
head office regarding my account? She admitted yes. Well call your head office and get this
straightened out, I instructed. She told me to come back in an hour, she was insistent that I come
back to the branch again. For more of this disgraceful conduct? This office was the wrong place to
be. Time to get out of there before she makes up some other false story. I rose from the chair to
leave. Does all this activity seem normal to you? I asked her. These withdrawals from my account,
is this normal procedure to Royal Bank? This doesn't look unusual to you? It sure looks like fraud
to me. Why does Royal Bank think this behavior is acceptable? She sat saying nothing. Will you
have a payment for me if I come back later today? No, I can't guarantee I'll have your money, she
told me. I was there to receive the funds in the account as directed by Royal Bank and now the
bank was changing its mind. I didn't know why she wanted me to come back. Why come back to
be told what I already knew, that Royal Bank had burned me again? I opened the door and walked
out. She tailgated me into the lobby. Then more excuses: I may not be able to reach head office
right away so come back in an hour, wait here in the lobby if you'd like, I'll e-mail you like before,
blah blah blah. Why do you want me to come back? I asked again. For what reason? To be told
you've ripped me off again? People were starting to stare. She was practically shoving me out of
the branch, in my face, invading my space. RBC doesn't understand boundaries, either personal or
business. I took three steps back from her. Get away from me RBC. She took three quick steps
forward and was breathing in my face again. Look, I said, will you please back away from me. Of
course, she said, and bounced backwards. She was flustered. I walked out the door. The manager
stood in the lobby by the reception desk like a statue carved out of guilt.
RBC invited me to the branch to suckerpunch me. They got me once with the seizure of the five
thousand, then they suckered me with another flushing of the account. A warped retaliation for
challenging them? Both the branch manager and the Toronto head office directed me to this slum
branch so they could tell me I'd been ripped off a second time.
I looked over the account statement update. On January 7, 2008 $6,872.88 was deposited into the
account. The same day $5,000.00 was withdrawn. The next day the remaining $1,872.88 was
removed from the account putting the balance back to zero dollars. The eighteen hundred dollar
refund was in the account for maybe a day before it got stolen. They put it all back then someone
took it all out again. They sat on an empty bank account for a week waiting for me to show up at
the branch. And then on January 11 Royal Bank removed another $11.95 giving the account a
negative balance.
Royal Bank couldn't keep its dirty paws of my cash. $14,359.97 had been stolen from the account,
about twice as much money as I'd had in the account when this fiasco began. I wrote up a second
criminal fraud complaint explaining Royal's actions since the last complaint with all of Royal Bank's
e-mails attached and mailed it off to the Vancouver police.
The branch manager sent me an e-mail later that day saying the refund was now available for
pick-up from the front desk and my account would be closed. I went in the next day and picked it
up. When I received the monthly statement in the mail I found out that on January 14 another
$1,908.73 had been taken from the account. While this figure coincides with the partial refund I
received, the payment I picked up, in the form of a bank draft and a money order, was not drawn
on my account. I didn't withdraw the funds and no one else had authority to access my account.
It's unknown who the recipient of the withdrawals from my account was. In total $16,268.70 has
been unlawfully removed from my personal chequing account. $16,268.70 that I know of.
for me to withdraw from the account. I didn't want to get pushed around at the branch again so I
sent an e-mail to the manager with the note from the Senior Client Care Specialist attached asking if
it was necessary for me to make an appointment to withdraw the funds and close the account. The
manager assured me the partial refund was available and I could stop by the branch anytime to close
the account. Anytime. Come on down to see us. Glad we could be of assistance. Three days
later, Monday morning, January 14, I walked into the branch and told a teller I wanted to make a
withdrawal from my account. How much? the teller inquired. How much is in the account? I
asked. I punched in my ATM code and she dialed up the info. You're overdrawn to the tune of
$11.95. Jacked again! Royal Bank was saying I owed them money. This was when I found out
that money was still being illegally siphoned out of my account.
I asked to talk to the manager. A customer service rep with a far-too-forced smile on her face
appeared instantly from a cubicle directly behind the teller as though waiting for me. I'd like to talk
to the manager please, she'll know what it's about. The rep directed me to the manager's office
where she sat behind her desk. Mr. Houston would like to speak to you. She pretended not to
know who I was for an instant until I said I was Callum Houston. Oh yes, that Mr. Houston. The
door closed and I sat down. I said I was here to pick up my partial refund as promised by head
office and I told her the account had been emptied again. You're familiar with the details of this
matter? I asked. What's going on with my account? She looked up the account on the screen. I
was expecting an eighteen hundred dollar refund, I said. She started playing her game. Playing
dumb. If you'll give me a moment I'm trying to find out what's happening, she said. Oh yes, she
said a few moments later, I see there's been some withdrawals. No shit. I asked for a statement
update which she printed out and handed me. Why was I told to come down here if the account is
empty? I gently put to her. Offended, she demanded that if I wanted her help I had to conduct
myself respectfully. That's a good one. Being told to be respectful while I'm being ripped off.
Completely mute, she got up, walked to her filing cabinet, opened a drawer and withdrew the
December 21 letter I sent her. She sat down and placed the letter squarely in the middle of her
desk. She concentrated on the letter. Stared at it. Focused on it. Fixated on it. The letter was the
center of her total attention. Concerned, she started slowly reading silently from the beginning.
What's going on with this woman? Was this ambush retaliation for the letters I'd sent? Was this an
attempt to pay me back with some additional bank muscle? I interrupted her reading. The debits
from the account amounted to fraud, I announced. I was reporting the activity to the police and the
new withdrawals would be reported as specific further acts of fraud and theft. She woke up. She
didn't know what to do. She looked bewildered and dumbfounded. I told her she had to call the
Senior Client Care Specialist in Toronto and find out what was going on. Are you in the loop with
head office regarding my account? She admitted yes. Well call your head office and get this
straightened out, I instructed. She told me to come back in an hour, she was insistent that I come
back to the branch again. For more of this disgraceful conduct? This office was the wrong place to
be. Time to get out of there before she makes up some other false story. I rose from the chair to
leave. Does all this activity seem normal to you? I asked her. These withdrawals from my account,
is this normal procedure to Royal Bank? This doesn't look unusual to you? It sure looks like fraud
to me. Why does Royal Bank think this behavior is acceptable? She sat saying nothing. Will you
have a payment for me if I come back later today? No, I can't guarantee I'll have your money, she
told me. I was there to receive the funds in the account as directed by Royal Bank and now the
bank was changing its mind. I didn't know why she wanted me to come back. Why come back to
be told what I already knew, that Royal Bank had burned me again? I opened the door and walked
out. She tailgated me into the lobby. Then more excuses: I may not be able to reach head office
right away so come back in an hour, wait here in the lobby if you'd like, I'll e-mail you like before,
blah blah blah. Why do you want me to come back? I asked again. For what reason? To be told
you've ripped me off again? People were starting to stare. She was practically shoving me out of
the branch, in my face, invading my space. RBC doesn't understand boundaries, either personal or
business. I took three steps back from her. Get away from me RBC. She took three quick steps
forward and was breathing in my face again. Look, I said, will you please back away from me. Of
course, she said, and bounced backwards. She was flustered. I walked out the door. The manager
stood in the lobby by the reception desk like a statue carved out of guilt.
RBC invited me to the branch to suckerpunch me. They got me once with the seizure of the five
thousand, then they suckered me with another flushing of the account. A warped retaliation for
challenging them? Both the branch manager and the Toronto head office directed me to this slum
branch so they could tell me I'd been ripped off a second time.
I looked over the account statement update. On January 7, 2008 $6,872.88 was deposited into the
account. The same day $5,000.00 was withdrawn. The next day the remaining $1,872.88 was
removed from the account putting the balance back to zero dollars. The eighteen hundred dollar
refund was in the account for maybe a day before it got stolen. They put it all back then someone
took it all out again. They sat on an empty bank account for a week waiting for me to show up at
the branch. And then on January 11 Royal Bank removed another $11.95 giving the account a
negative balance.
Royal Bank couldn't keep its dirty paws of my cash. $14,359.97 had been stolen from the account,
about twice as much money as I'd had in the account when this fiasco began. I wrote up a second
criminal fraud complaint explaining Royal's actions since the last complaint with all of Royal Bank's
e-mails attached and mailed it off to the Vancouver police.
The branch manager sent me an e-mail later that day saying the refund was now available for
pick-up from the front desk and my account would be closed. I went in the next day and picked it
up. When I received the monthly statement in the mail I found out that on January 14 another
$1,908.73 had been taken from the account. While this figure coincides with the partial refund I
received, the payment I picked up, in the form of a bank draft and a money order, was not drawn
on my account. I didn't withdraw the funds and no one else had authority to access my account.
It's unknown who the recipient of the withdrawals from my account was. In total $16,268.70 has
been unlawfully removed from my personal chequing account. $16,268.70 that I know of.
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