Wells Fargo customers: Beware!

David Lazarus of the San Francisco Chronicle points to a an alarming development for users of Wells Fargo's online banking service: According to new end-user agreements issued by the bank, customers apparently have to agree to accept Internet-only communications.

There's more. If you want paper statements, you can ask for them, but you might be assessed a fee. The agreements force you to acknowledge that online service is not guaranteed to be working "at certain times", and if that's the case and you talk with a human being via Well's Fargos phone service, you may be assessed another fee. And if you don't use online bill pay for three months, the bank might cut you off from accessing the service. Lazarus lists a bunch of other nasty surprises buried in the 11,000 words of legalese.

And if you don't like Wells Fargos new rules, or don't understand the documents, tough cookie. The only option is to accept the bank's B.S. provisions, or leave.

Fidelity Observer has pointed to problems with long or incomprehensible EULA statements. Lazarus has also been a good source of information about companies screwing over ordinary customers, as in this account involving Fidelity not properly authenticating customers and emptying accounts to con-men.

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