To transfer money from a Washington Mutual account opened in WA state into a Washington Mutual account opened in California, one needs to go through a layer of automated voice response system, get to the first human representative, then hear that “those are different companies”, be transferred to some higher-level support representative, and then get the transfer started. Net cost to Washington Mutual – roughly 5 minutes of phone support time with 2 different reps.
The main reason for the same bank being “two different companies” is the mega-merger mania, of which Washington Mutual has been a part of, buying smaller and equal-size banks left and right. As a result, there are several active account tracking systems, several customer support groups, several account numbering schemas, and very few people having complete overview of the big picture.
Another mega-company that’s fought its way to multi-billion dollar valuation through acquisitions is Comcast. I remember being told once that customer service reps in California and on the East Coast have access to two disparate customer support systems. They share information every once in a while, but if you call Comcast to place an order, successfully get it in the system, and then several hours later decide to call them back to make some modifications, a customer rep located in different area cannot see your order.
Just had to deal with this during my move from Texas to California. SBC was not only unable to transfer my account, the (presumably) west-coast agent was also unable to help me close my Texas account.