So, my last two customer service posts were about my positive experiences with Amazon. While I have had a number of other good customer service experiences (I have written about multiple ones on my blog), more often than not it seems like the trend lately is that I have to complain and/or make multiple contacts, with the company I am dealing with, to resolve a not so good customer service experience .
In fact, to date, I have e-mailed seven CEO’s, one of them twice (I believe one was actually a President and COO) to resolve customer complaints. When I tell people this, as well as the fact that I received quick responses to these e-mails, most of those people look at me in disbelief.
One of the primary reasons I have e-mailed these senior executives, is that I have found it to be the best way to avoid making multiple contacts to resolve one issue. In my next two posts, including this one, I will be talking about issues with several different companies, in which I had to make multiple contacts to resolve one issue.
Just as with my two posts about Amazon, I decided to split up this post, about my poor customer service experiences, into two parts, to make it more reader friendly. Those of you who read my posts know I usually have a lot to say, whatever the topic, so I’m hoping that splitting this post up will make the two parts easier to digest.
Experience Number 1: Probably the worst example of these experiences involved my bank, which, paradoxically, is a company I used to think provided excellent customer service (I blogged about their formerly stellar service in the past). The issue involved my not receiving a new debit/credit card.
For some reason (I’m not sure why), my bank decided to switch their card from a Visa to a Mastercard. As I believe the expiration date, on the “old” card was 8/31/23, I became concerned when I didn’t receive the card before I moved, at the end of July.
On my first contact, prior to moving, I called the bank’s customer service department, and they recommended I go to the local bank branch, to re-order the card, if I didn’t receive the new one by the beginning of August. When I did not receive the card, by the beginning of August, I immediately went to the local branch.
The teller I met with suggested waiting till the end of the week. Although I was still concerned, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to allow a few more days. On my second visit to the bank (contact number three, if you’re keeping track), I was advised to allow till August 15.
I truthfully fault myself a little as this seemed like cutting it a little close and, in retrospect, I wish I had asked to speak to a manager at that point. When August 15 rolled around, and I still hadn’t received my card, I went back to the branch a third time (contact number four).
On this visit, I recall being pretty vocal in my complaint. I think I may have muttered something about whether I needed to speak to a manager and, again, I am truly sorry I didn’t.
As the third teller was very courteous and professional however, and, I believe, called the bank’s ATM department, I decided to let her assist me. So, what was the outcome of my third visit?
You guessed it. I still did not receive the card. What made this experience particularly frustrating is that my bank used to give one a temporary bank card, in cases wherein a new card needed to be ordered (so that one could still access their money via an ATM), but the bank no longer does this.
By this point, I came very close to e-mailing the bank’s CEO, even looking up his name and e-mail. When I went into the bank the fourth time (contact number five), I believe I even grumbled about considering e-mailing the bank’s CEO, even mentioning his name. The teller nearby seemed to hear me, as I saw him glance in my direction.
The fourth teller who waited on me didn’t get flustered, but he seemed to be a little embarrassed, looking down a little bit. I’m not sure if his embarrassment was a result of my complaining or the fact that he had to tell me the previous teller had entered my address incorrectly into the system (I believe she had reversed two of the numbers).
So I did end up getting my card, just in time, but I feel this is largely due to my persistence. I should mention that my bank had just completed a merger and at least one of the four tellers, with whom I spoke, claimed all of their procedures had changed as a result. I do not think this is an adequate excuse though, as having new cards issued is a pretty standard procedure, for any bank.
And the merger certainly doesn’t excuse the third teller for entering my new address, incorrectly, into their system. But, as always, I welcome any candid constructive feedback.
I feel a bit like Julie in the biopic Julie and Julia. At one point early on in her blog, I believe Julie queries something like “Is anybody out there? Is anybody listening?”. I really want to know. What would you have done, other than switch banks?
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