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Loonie said
Thanks for the ideas, guys.
As far as I can determine, Meridian and Motus both have their HQ in Etobicoke (Toronto), near the Islington subway station, same floor, same building.

Thanks, Loonie, for the geographic orientation as to Meridian and Motus' shared corporate offices. I've never been to Toronto, or Ontario for that matter. I assume that's the 3280 Bloor St. West address? Indeed, Meridian and Motus exist in the same building; possibly they operate on separate floors. Whether it amounts to an outsourcing of their Ombudsman, since they share a common executive management team (and, indeed, many of the same board members), I think it's more akin to Scotiabank and Tangerine, perhaps, sharing the same procurement or human resources department personnel.

Interestingly, Meridian's head office is 70 Corporate Park Drive, St. Catharines, Ontario, which is in the Niagara region as I understand it. That's why I'm wondering if that's where your package ended up?

Motus' head office is the Bloor St. West address, which is Meridian's executive offices. So, I'm wondering where Motus' and Meridian's call centre is. Is it in St Catharines or Toronto? If the former, then it's unlikely that your package ended up at Meridian's head office in St. Catharines as they could, presumably, just inter-office the darn thing upstairs (or downstairs).

The outsourcing of ombudsman-like complaints seems to be a trend. I recall that we noticed this earlier with some of the Big Banks. it was felt that they were trying to avoid the existing complaint ladder for some reason. At least this my recollection.

Banks and federally-regulated institutions still have to have internal Ombudsman offices, which are the final decision-making level before going to an external Ombudsman like ADR Chambers or OBSI. Indeed, a few years ago, they started having to produce annual internal Ombudsman reports outlining number of complaints, complaint resolution levels, and the number of escalated complaints.

I wasn't aware of their obligation to report privacy breaches. Can you show me a link about that?

I think this is it.

https://www.priv.gc.ca/en/opc-news/news-and-announcements/2018/nr-c_181029/

I doubt very much that I will ever know where this package went. Nobody said they would tell me - yet.

That's a shame...I hope you do find out where it ended up and whether it was tampered with (i.e., opened).

I am going to check whether Meridian has a branch in the municipality in question.

I agree that it's a serious privacy breach. I'm sure there is enough info there for identity theft. It's just a question of where it's gone.

Yeah, I bet they probably do, but if it wasn't sent to St. Catharines, to Meridian's head office, I doubt it went to a Meridian branch.

Motus' effective lack of substantial response has made me feel powerless. I ask, but nothing happens, repeatedly.

It's now 3 hours since I talked to the last person, and nothing has happened. That's plenty long enough for a supervisor to get back to me on an "expedited" basis, and I haven't gone anywhere or engaged the phone. It's long enough unless their whole system is breaking down. Im going to be home all evening.  

Indeed...very frustrating! I can't imagine your nerves right now. 🙁

Phone them back and tell them you're not going to disconnect until they connect you with a supervisor. You're willing to sit on hold for hours, whatever it takes.

Cheers,
Doug

Doug, I don't think my phone battery would last long enough for a supervisor to come on! Part of me wants to know how long it will take them. at their own speed. They are digging themselves in deeper all the time.

Thanks for the info.

It didn't go to St. Catharines head office as that is not the city it went to. I agree that a branch seems unlikely.
Purolator's tracking record shows me that the package originated in Toronto but does not specify the address.

As far as I can make out, Motus and Meridian are both on the seventh floor of the building, although they may occupy more floors.

You're quite right that your SIN should not appear on your profile, threeoakwest; and there is no reason for it to be there at all. I would have to check to see if they have removed that as I rarely look at my profile.

A small update: I heard nothing further by any medium from anyone at Motus last night. This morning, just after they opened, I sent a secure message asking for urgent attention in finding out where my package is, what condition it is in, and getting it returned to me without delay in the condition in which they receive it. I made it clear that this is a breach of my privacy and security and leaves me open to identity theft. I also made it clear that there has been no available and accessible mechanism for me to escalate my concern, and expressed my considerable dismay as an "owner" of this bank. They can send Bill Maurin personally to my house if they want. I don't care how they get the package here, but they need to pull out the stops.

The auto-responder advised that it would take them up to two business days to respond - that will be five days from now, bringing us to next Wednesday morning. I can't get past that barrier. I have communicated the issue in the ways available to me, and have documented the case by writing.

I get the impression that Motus has set themselves up not for customer service but for keeping customers at bay. This is a most unfortunate trend among so many businesses. Their attitude is not "yes, I'll fix that for you, whatever it takes to make it right", but "no, here are umpteen reasons why I can't do anything, not my problem, I have no authority." It's sad to see this negative culture emerge so early in Motus' life.

Loonie,

Have you considered contacting the manager of your local Meridian branch in the hopes that your personal contact there might ignite an urgent response using a back channel route initiated by the local Meridian manager?

Stephen

Thanks for your further responses, Loonie. 🙂

Regarding your earlier post in reply to me above, yeah if it your package wasn't delivered to "St. Catharines," then it sounds like somehow - perhaps they got your postal code wrong and Canada Post delivered it to the incorrect postal code instead of to the street address on the package - got into the hands of someone unintended.

As far as your phone battery dying before you'd reach a supervisor, that seems likely. While I am sure you said that in jest, at least somewhat, don't you have a corded phone you could pull out and dust off?

As to your being an "owner" of Motus Bank, technically, Motus customers are not themselves "owners" of Motus Bank. Indirectly, through your member equity share in Meridian Credit Union, you do own Motus Bank - it's just a very indirect ownership in that Motus' sole shareholder is Meridian Credit Union. Speaking of which, that gave me a potential avenue of getting someone, a Motus manager or supervisor, on the phone, although it would require you potentially ruffling a few feathers with those at your Meridian credit union branch with which you deal: go in to your Meridian credit union branch, ask to speak to the branch manager who recognizes you as a member but doesn't necessarily know your name, and state the problem. Tell him (or her) that you know Meridian and Motus are separate entities, but that you are having difficulty reaching a Motus Bank supervisor or manager with the authority to look into and provide you answers into a potentially very serious data and privacy breach. And, since Meridian and Motus share many of the same systems, technologies, management team, and even processes, you imagined they would have a shared internal corporate directory. And, you're wondering if that Branch Manager can sit down with you, look up in their shared corporate directory to find out who are the supervisors or managers of the Motus Bank Contact Centre and/or even their back-office processing department. That way, even if you can't reach a supervisor or manager (unlikely you would), at least you've got name(s) and direct numbers with which you can leave voicemail messages, repeated if necessary. You could also potentially get their e-mail address(es).

As to the complaints resolution process, you don't necessarily have to follow that in sequence - you can bypass (or Cc:) certain steps. However, this is a privacy-related matter, a potentially serious one, so I would urge you to Cc: Motus/Meridian's shared Privacy Officer, possibly with a dual Cc: to the Privacy Commissioner of Canada. Interestingly, since Meridian is provincially-regulated, they would be overseen by the Ontario Privacy Commissioner whereas Motus would be overseen by the federal one. So, they may not be aware of their obligation to report this data breach if Ontario doesn't have a similar reporting requirement. 😉

Cheers,
Doug

Thanks for the responses, Doug.
With Stephen's urgings, I called my Meridian manager who called me back within 10 minutes. She understood the problem readily and is making it a priority to get something done about it and will get back to me as soon as she has got someone on the case. What a wonderful person!

I would think they would see the negative responses to this subject and would pull all stops to correct the problem. I would not be surprised if some of the people reading this string of problems may be discouraged from joining motus.

As i said before, I'm getting a bit concerned myself.

My TSFA transfer form was prefilled and also sent by Purolator, just needed my signature and then I mailed it too Canadian Tire Financial. Canadian Tire Financial has since removed my TFSA account so I know they got the form, just waiting for my money to show up in Motus Account. I called yesterday and they said it could take up to 20 days to complete transaction. Going smoothly so far...

It's time you visited Ontario, Doug! You need to become personally acquainted with this part of the of the country. You can check out the Meridian offices; and everyone should see Niagara Falls at least once. Save your pennies!

Yes, there is a place called Niagara-on-the-Lake. There is also a city nearby called Niagara Falls, as well as the body of rushing water by the same name within the City. Niagara-on-the-Lake, St Catharines, and Niagara Falls form, roughly, an equilateral triangle in terms of proximity to each other.

The Purolator tracking system says this package went from St Catharines to Niagara-on-the-Lake in 2 days. Specific addresses were never revealed and I did not ask anybody about this at any point. I was just very glad to hear that my papers had been safely located by Motus. I recall that this fellow I spoke to at Motus in St Catharines today did give their address and that it was not Corporate Park Drive but I did not pay close attention. I don't know what his official capacity is, only his first name. He is NOT the Director of Member Services, as that person is a woman but I don't know her name. He said he would send me a follow-up email but that has not arrived.

I did not contact Purolator. I wanted to leave my phone line open for Motus.

I don't think anything will happen to the matured GIC if Oaken has not received instructions by then. They might phone me. I think it will just wait, without interest. They don't offer 30 day RIFs and I don't want one.
I'll deal with any issues around this when and if I have to. Oaken has a pretty good reputation for quick transfers.

My local Meridian manager really shone. I have received 3 emails from her and 2 phone calls by way of follow-up, making sure everything turned out, well beyond her obligations. I have never used this emoji before, but she deserves it!

Thanks, everyone, for listening to my story and all the advice. I truly hope this story doesn't have any more exciting episodes. I'll keep you posted.

Loonie said
It's time you visited Ontario, Doug! You need to become personally acquainted with this part of the of the country. You can check out the Meridian offices; and everyone should see Niagara Falls at least once. Save your pennies!

Yes, there is a place called Niagara-on-the-Lake. There is also a city nearby called Niagara Falls, as well as the body of rushing water by the same name within the City. Niagara-on-the-Lake, St Catharines, and Niagara Falls form, roughly, an equilateral triangle in terms of proximity to each other.

The Purolator tracking system says this package went from St Catharines to Niagara-on-the-Lake in 2 days. Specific addresses were never revealed and I did not ask anybody about this at any point. I was just very glad to hear that my papers had been safely located by Motus. I recall that this fellow I spoke to at Motus in St Catharines today did give their address and that it was not Corporate Park Drive but I did not pay close attention. I don't know what his official capacity is, only his first name. He is NOT the Director of Member Services, as that person is a woman but I don't know her name. He said he would send me a follow-up email but that has not arrived.

I did not contact Purolator. I wanted to leave my phone line open for Motus.

I don't think anything will happen to the matured GIC if Oaken has not received instructions by then. They might phone me. I think it will just wait, without interest. They don't offer 30 day RIFs and I don't want one.
I'll deal with any issues around this when and if I have to. Oaken has a pretty good reputation for quick transfers.

My local Meridian manager really shone. I have received 3 emails from her and 2 phone calls by way of follow-up, making sure everything turned out, well beyond her obligations. I have never used this emoji before, but she deserves it!

Thanks, everyone, for listening to my story and all the advice. I truly hope this story doesn't have any more exciting episodes. I'll keep you posted.  

Thanks, Loonie, I'm glad that it all worked. Sounds you might have to take your Meridian Branch Manager a Starbucks coffee, or maybe even take her for lunch. 🙂

I can see the point in Meridian and Motus being separate entities and not having Meridian branches perform transactions for Motus accounts, but Meridian management (who, for the most part, hold dual managerial roles of Motus) might be wise to consider leveraging Meridian branch staff to help onboard Motus customers. It's clear that Motus has serious back-office processes and technology limitations (i.e., automated EFT processing) that need major work - and, fundamentally, they do need to streamline their RIF application process, beginning with at least making the application forms available online in a fillable format with easy-to-use instructions for those that need them. That would've saved you a lot of hassle. Anyway, my point is, until they improve those processes, they could leverage Meridian staff members to assist with the Motus onboarding and document couriering (could save money, too, since they could inter-office signed documentation) process.

You're right, the transfer should go smoothly and if you lose a week or two's worth of interest, at the end of the day, it's not material relative the GIC rates on offer at Motus. When your transfer is completed, I do hope you'll consider writing to the Motus senior leadership team (I would go with their COO, David Baldarelli), to make them aware of all the problems that you encountered and pointing out that if it weren't for a Meridian Branch Manager intervening and locating the correct Motus management team member in their Corporate Directory, you were all set to abandon the RIF transfer process.

Cheers,
Doug