'How in the hell would you feel?' woman locked out of account tells PC Financial

An Annapolis Valley womanis thanking CBC News for its help after two weeks of kiosk visits and unreturned phone callsstill did not allow herto access money in a newly opened account with PC Financial.

"They had my money and I couldn't get it," Cathy Negus of North Alton told CBC.

"I don't how much longer they would have left us hanging on before we finally got our money."

Negus and her husband opened the PC Financial account Jan.31 at the New Minas Superstore kiosk because it advertised no service charges and they were tired of paying them at their current bank.

Transaction declined

They deposited $200 cash into the account at an ATM under the direction of the kiosk employee. They were told it would be fivedays before they could access it.

Once that time passed, the couple tried to use their bank card but the transaction was declined with the message that it was an invalid account.

"I kept calling PC Financial to find out what was going on but nobody would return my call. I went into the kiosk at the Superstore in New Minas mall but they couldn't help me. They'd just dial a number and give me the phone and I would leave another voicemail," Negus said.

"They kept telling me there was no way for me to get that money. They couldn't give it to me. I had to call this number for risk assessment."

Phone callrunaround

She said the couple hasnever had credit problems and always paybills on time.

"I thought, "Well, we don't have bad credit so why am I calling this number?"'

After repeated calls and unanswered voicemails, a frustrated Negus called CBC News, which contacted PC Financial.

In only a matter of hours, Negus received a call and said the matter was straightened out in under a minute.

Company blames wrong number

Negus was asked for the phone number of her previous residence.

"I gave it to her and she said, 'Oh, that was it. That's the problem. We don't have the up-to-date phone number here,'" said Negus, even though she had provided her current number.

"They said that the phone number that we gave them was not the same number that was on our [Equifax] file."

Theperson who called said she was sorry Negus was unhappy with the service.

"I said, 'Well, how in the hell would you feel? I'm supposed to be elated that you're keeping my money and won't talk to me, won't call me back?'"

PC Financial spokeswoman Lana Gogas told CBC News in an email that she was limited in what she could say because of client privacy.

"I can tell you that the overall issue at hand was between the client and the credit bureau, and we have now resolved the issue to the customer's satisfaction and apologized that we were not able to communicate a resolution to them sooner," she said.