The growing headwinds against bad bank customer service
It’s one thing for people to complain amongst themselves. It is another thing for people to complain on the internet where anyone can read it. But when journalists start writing their columns around bad bank customer service, like this recent article in my local daily print only paper, it makes me wonder if the contempt of retail banking by the public is reaching the point where Congress will start to notice and propose even more legislation to keep them in line. Chase is one of the chief culprits in the article. Among the authors complaints:
- Being overly marketed to by bank employees
- Pathetically low interest rate on what Chase calls a “high yield” savings account (0.045%)
- Taking way too many people and way too many days to answer a simple question
- Fees that are “accidentally” and inappropriately applied
In the end the author concludes that banks have lost their fiduciary morality. I would go as far to say that banks want our capital without the hassle of actually having us as customers anymore. Perhaps banks simply see customers like a factory farm dairy sees cows, and we see how well that has worked out for the cows (not well).
What is the solution? Well, for one, find yourself a bank that does actually want to be in retail banking. You are most likely to find this at a smaller bank such as a credit union or community bank. Second, when your bank does something ridiculous and inappropriate, hold them accountable, even for the smallest infraction. If enough people did this, banks simply would find it unprofitable to try and cheat us in all the ways they do.
Customer service, Ineptitude | admin April 19, 2010
