Customer Disservice
I was looking at my bank account online, and noticed a pending charge for $41.66. I keep track of what I spend and periodically reconcile my account to my statement, but at any given moment I don’t necessarily know what’s up with my account. The vendor and amount looked unfamiliar, so to be safe I called the bank.
I asked the woman who answered if she could give me some info about the charge.
“Oh, a fraudulent charge?” she inquired. “We can fix that.”
“No, I just want to know what it is.” I replied.
“Let me see, I can take care of that. I will just click here and, oh…oops! I just cancelled your personal account’s debit card. I meant to cancel the business account, since that’s the one the charge posted to.”
At this point I was in shock. I told her “No, wait…you don’t understand. I don’t want to cancel anything. I just want to find out what it is about.”
Apparently oblivious to me, she said “Okay, I went ahead and cancelled the business card, too. Sorry about accidentally canceling the personal card. We’ll send new ones out in two days. You should have them in three to five business days.”
I was speechless. I just wanted to find out where the charge came from, and now I was suddenly faced with up to a week without access to either of my bank accounts.
“Is there anything else I can help you with?” she politely asked me. Fearing any further questions might lead to her transferring my money into someone else’s account, I politely thanked her and hung up.
The next day I looked at the web page and the charge was gone. Most likely it was some vendor verifying the account before a smaller charge went through. I’ll never know. I’m scared to ask.
Meanwhile, I’m broke until my new ATM cards come, and I’m supposed to meet a friend for lunch tomorrow. I don’t want to cancel on him, so I’ll look in the cushions of my couch for loose change so I can pay for my share of the meal.
Today’s Question: What has been your worst experience with customer service?
Thanks for the visit. I know my site’s not much now, but feel free to visit anytime. Customer service over the phone always seems to be the worst. No matter how technological the company may be, you have to repeat all of your information to every person you speak to because for some reason, you never make it to the right department on your first try.
It gets better when they don’t mail the new card in 2 days….
Man…i tried to make an appointment this morning and they put me on hold for 30+ min and i still didn’t get through…i had to run, so i hang up.
Oh lordy, let’s not even go there – I’ve had a lot of bad customer service, especially over the phone.
customer service? oh you mean lack of customer service?!? yeah. it makes me wonder what employers are settling for these days. anytime someone says “oops!” when they’re working with you, you know if’s time to switch providers/companies/shop elsewher/etc. haha. i don’t have a particular story, but there have been many occasions where i’ve wanted to yank a customer service rep’s hair out. =) but usually i’m passive aggressive.
2 e-props for knowing a line to the Three Musketeers. So Achilles huh? Good luck with those hightops. Don’t ever take them off – not even for a piece of candy or Gucci shirt.
You’ve hit the nail right on the head Peasprout! Customer service has gone way down hill. People just don’t care like they used to. I want the days to come back when thank you’s, how may I help you’s and service above and beyond were the norm.
Hey! Found your site from the “Young Prof…” blogring. Anyhoo, I just thought I’d let you in on a little banking knowledge, since I work for one. Ok, so you basically hit it right on the nose when you said that vendors verify that you have the funds in your acct. before the actual charge posts to your acct. This means that they might verify that you have the funds in your acct. with anything from $1 to $50+. It scares a lot of clients when they see this type of thing on their acct., which is very understandable. It can take anywhere from 2 to 5 days for this “acct verification debit” to be taken off of your acct., so next time, don’t be too alarmed! And about the ATM card…you should have called back and spoken with someone else so they could have cancelled the cancelling of your ATM card. Trust me, it could’ve been done! One more thing…clients NEVER receive their card in 3 days. More like 5-7 business days. Ok, this was a little too long. Take care. *richard*
Visit a small town and that kind of “can I help you” (with a smile on their face) kind of service still exists. But you’ll have to slow down and be patient cuz we are laid back and enjoy life at a slower pace.