“We are affiliates.” We hear this day in and day out. What does it even mean? I will tell you what it means to the people who try to use the services of these affiliates. Being an affiliate means you share a name, and you can tell us how we can get to the other affiliate whose name is on our bank card, but you can’t help us in any other way. So, let’s see, I want to deposit some money into my PNC Bank HSA account but if I go to a PNC bank, they can’t help me. AWESOME. BUT, they CAN give me a phone number and a website that I can go to and follow the instructions to transfer money from my checking account into the HSA account that will only take a few days to show up in my HSA account.
Thank you. I will go to my doctor’s appoint right now, tell him I will have his money in a few days after I’m done transferring money from another bank’s account, oh, yeah, after I link that account with my HSA account at a different bank, THEN I will be able to pay him for the services he is providing me today. That’s awesome. They always go for that. Doctor’s offices are run by the most understanding people in the world. I should have NO PROBLEMS.
I think I’m going to pick my bridge instead. It is almost an easier option than using the convenient HSA account I can’t use. Why does it have to be this way?
Another thing about affiliates that I truly LOVE is this quote, “We are not responsible…” Seriously? I thought you were affiliated? Why would you be affiliated if you have nothing to do with the other party? When I grew up the saying was “guilt by association.” Now it seems to be “not responsible by association.” It is just insanity.
Someone I know always says, “People complain, but they never offer a solution.” Well, here is my solution. Be honest, call yourself what you truly are and stop affiliating yourselves with bigger names, so you look like you belong to them. It is not only false and misleading, it also aggravates the people trying to use the services. It confuses people and causes more trouble than it is worth. People are walking away and ARE finding other ways to get around the hoops these big names expect us to jump through.
Hey affiliates, if you want people to stop yelling in your face and telling you where to go because you cannot help them, start making an honest living doing your own thing and maybe people will have a little more respect.