I don’t pretend to know all of the ins and outs of the financial industry. That said, I do feel that I know enough to get by — I can make a deposit, withdrawal, and check up on things online. I can even tell you what a CD is without complaining about the rise of the MP3. You know, those pesky certificates of deposit.

That said, when I made a deposit at a Wachovia branch Tuesday morning close to CRM magazine’s world headquarters in Manhattan, the receipt I got from the half-awake bank teller at 8 a.m. said “Deposit Date: 3/17/09″ and, this is important, “Deposit Effective Date: 3/17/09″.

Now, to me, “deposit effective” means that the deposit is in fact now available for use. Later in the day, I needed to check my Wachovia account online because this was a situation in which I needed the money rather quickly, so I wanted to make sure that it was actually in my account.

Well, it wasn’t.

Being that I’ve had some really nice interactions with Wachovia’s customer service in the past, I was looking forward to having the problem rectified — or at least let me know why the deposit hasn’t shown up on my online account yet.

Well, that wasn’t to be the case. I tried to navigate the online banking’s (different from the general customer service telephone number) hellish speech recognition system, and then I was finally prompted after three minutes of options to say “representative” to speak with a live agent. They couldn’t have just offered that up front? I digress.

Finally, I get a woman who simply says that “deposit effective” means the bank will process the deposit that day — but it won’t be available for use until the next day. I quickly asked her if she thought it was misleading. “Deposit effective,” at first glance, means the deposit is good to go … to me, anyway.

Her response? “Well, it is misleading if you don’t understand what ‘deposit effective’ means.”

Uh, no kidding. By the tone of my voice she could tell that I was not satisfied with her reply, and asked if I wanted to be transferred to customer service. I agreed, and was transferred quickly.

I got another agent, and I explained my situation again. She affirmed the last agent’s response that the deposit would show up the next day. I asked again, “Don’t you think that is misleading for someone who is not attuned to the nuances of financial services?”

Her response, while said in a softer tone, was not any better. “Well, maybe with the Wells Fargo acquisition there will be a change in procedure.”

What? Why pass the buck to Wells Fargo?  Also, it’s not even a procedural issue. I have a very easy fix. On the receipt, instead of saying “deposit effective”, how about “deposit available” and then the date?

What bothered me more than the inability of Wachovia to see my point was the fact that, unless it ends up in a tagged recording somewhere, I don’t have confidence that the problem — or my suggestion — will be registered. There is no vocal suggestion box I can not-so-anonymously drop my feedback into. There wasn’t a post-call survey offered to me, either.

Essentially, I understood early on that I wouldn’t be able to use the money I deposited until the next day. What bothered me was that no one took my concern seriously. I just feel like my problem was discarded without any serious thought.

Have you run into the same problem as customers calling into contact centers? Or, on the other side, how do the customer service representatives and supervisors out there deal with calls like this? Do you have a feedback management plan in place so that calls like mine are not made in vain?