Chase lied about grandfathered WAMU accounts; they WILL start charging for non-Chase ATM use. What's a customer to do when a corporation reneges on its promises?

The only reason I opened two accounts with WAMU (1 personal and 1 joint account) was because of the free, unlimited ATM use at any ATM. When the merger was announced, I called several times to both banks and was assured that WAMU customers would keep the features they signed up with. They called it “grandfathering” the accounts.

Today, I got a letter stating that by February of next year, Chase will not be covering non-Chase ATM use anymore. When this kind of thing happens, I feel so helpless; after being reassured several times that this would not happen, it did happen. I made a point to ask a Chase rep today if they were going also going to take away my free checkbooks. He claimed that “there are no current plans at the moment to change any other account features.” Why does this not inspire any confidence for me?

I know that the best way to fight back is with my money, by closing my account and taking my business elsewhere. But what’s a couple of accounts when they have hundreds of millions of accounts (maybe even billions)? What can I do to spread the word and let other grandfathered WAMU account-holders know they are being screwed? I already sent an email to http://consumerist.com, who usually do a pretty good job of letting people know what’s going on about financial matters.

Still, even if I manage to spread the word and get lots of people to close their accounts in protest, the reality is that I’ve lost the feature that is most important to me in a bank. And it sucks.

Is the legal route the only way to keep corporations in check? What chance does a person stand against high-priced corporate lawyers? Is there even a case when all you have to go on is what a customer rep told you?

Anyways, I’d like to hear what people think about this situation and others like it. How do consumers protect themselves from being lied to? How do we hold corporations responsible for their promises? What mechanisms are in place to enforce responsibility? Do they work?