Friday, May 31, 2013

Technically Not Supportive

I had an experience today with a "coworker" that still has me shaking my head.

Customer calls in who is an authorized user on the account. I get her fully verified with no problems whatsoever. She explains that she had set up a direct deposit online and wanted to know how much longer it was going to take. There is no direct deposit on the account. I check the comments and can see that it was entered through online banking enough days ago that it should at least be showing up in a pending status. There are no notes following the initial request; nothing to indicate it had been rejected due to a bad checking account number or anything like that. 

After scouring the account for clues and coming up empty-handed, I place the customer on hold and call over to one of our tech support departments which specializes in this area. First, our lovely phone system kicked me over to deposits even though that associate confirmed I had dialed a completely different phone number. She was kind enough to transfer me directly to the correct department, and this is where the real fun began.

I explained to my "coworker" that I was trying to verify whether or not this direct deposit was going to be processed. As soon as he learned that I had the authorized user on the phone, and not the primary cardholder, he refused to give me any information. I am fully aware that our online banking support will not speak with authorized users, but I didn't need him to talk to her or process anything. I just need to find out the status of this transaction. We circle around for a minute before he finally agrees to check the account for me, as long as I agree not to reveal any of this information to the customer. Right, okay. 

Despite the fact that this individual works in online banking technical support, and the account comments are clearly stamped by OLB, he keeps asking me if I'm sure that there was a direct deposit processed online. FTR, he has access to the same system I use, which he confirmed and was allegedly using to review the account. Then he "informs" me that there have been a lot of problems for customers trying to process balance transfers and direct deposits online. O RLY? This is news to me. He says, "We really don't recommend that customers process those transactions online (bullshit!), because we have a special department that handles that. That's really who you need to talk to."

 "I happen to work in that department, and that transaction is not pending in the system. I need to know if it was cancelled before I can process a direct deposit for her over the phone." Technically, this is not true, but it is what was right for the customer. I didn't want both transactions to suddenly process at the same time, depleting their available credit and putting them in a position where they have to call back again try to have one or the other reversed.

After being placed on hold multiple times and experiencing further examples of this "coworker" trying to avoid doing any actual work, he comes back on the line and tells me that the direct deposit requested online was not going to be processed. "It looks like it backfired for some reason." I found his choice of words to be extremely odd. It backfired? Is this a new technical term with which I am unfamiliar? Because it sure as hell is not banking terminology! He can't give me any particular reason why itbackfired, either. Nothing wrong with the checking account information. It's just not going to go through.

Ultimately it all worked out for the best. I was able to process the direct deposit for the customer and ensure that they got the best promotional rate available. I was able to discuss the terms of the transaction and make sure everything was processed correctly. Thankfully the customer was very patient and understanding throughout, but I am still left wondering, "WTF?!" about the whole exchange!

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