Working in a call center has given me so much new-found respect for tech support. If we get a call about online banking and it's something "simple," we're supposed to talk the customer through the process. For example, if they just need to know how to set up a profile or where to click to get to Bill Pay or something like that. We're only supposed to transfer to Tech Support if they need to reset their password or something else we just don't have access to complete.
I spent over 40 minutes the other day helping a customer get to our main site page to log in.
A brief synopsis of our conversation:
Me: It sounds like you're looking at the results for a search engine page and not our main site. Can you make sure you've typed thebank.com into the address bar?
SC: How do I do that?
Me: If you go to the top left-hand corner of your browser, there should be a long box you can type the address in.
SC: It just says Mozilla Firefox and then Yahoo but I can't type anything on it!
Me: How about below that?
SC: Below that it says File...Tools...etc...
Me: Is there a box below that line?
SC: Where it says http:// www .yahoo .com?
Me: Yes! That's the address bar. Ok, click on that, and type in thebank.com.
SC: Okaaay...and I leave the letters that are already there, right?
Me: No, no, no. Delete all of that. Delete everything, and type in www dot thebank dot com.
SC: Okaaayyy...
Me: OH! And make sure you don't have any spaces between the words. Just, "wwwDOTthebankDOTcom" with no spaces at all, ok?
SC: Ohhhkay...OH! There it is! Why did you guys change it?
Why do people think that if they refuse to verify account information I'm just going to let that slide? Like if they yell at me or threaten to close their account I'll just suddenly bypass all of the government-regulated security measures and do whatever they want to the account?
This lady called in today who claimed to be the authorized user on the account. The phone number she was calling from was not on file for the account, so I have to ask a security question. I asked her for the DOB of the primary cardholder, which was 2/4/1956.*
"2/8/1956," she says. Keep in mind that the authorized user on this account is the WIFE of the primary cardholder.
I asked her if she could verify the last 4 of his SSN. She cannot. As I'm reviewing the account to see what else I can use for verification, she blurts out his mother's maiden name.
Why oh why do people do this? I cannot accept any piece of information which is offered by a caller. So now we are down to virtually nothing that I can use for traditional security verification...and I haven't even asked her if she has the card to verify the CVV. If she doesn't have that, then I'll have to verify a non-traditional question as well.
She makes some comment about how she doesn't understand why I'm asking her so many questions when she already gave me his birthdate. I apologize and explain that it didn't match the DOB on file.
"2/4/1596?!" she exclaims.
"That is not what you told me earlier, ma'am," I deadpan.
"Oh, I'm sorry! I'm just so nervous!" she's suddenly trying to be meek and mild. Please explain to me why the wife of a cardholder, who is herself authorized on the account, would have any reason to be nervous.
"I apologize for the delay, but I'm going to need to place you on a brief hold while I bring an associate on the line to assist me with the security verification." When I can't authenticate a customer I have to conference in someone from the fraud department, but of course I'm not telling her that. I just say I need assistance.
She gets very aggravated and informs me that she'll just have "him" deal with this later. Then she hangs up the phone.
Whatevs, bitch. I take account security very seriously. Account documented and frozen for potential fraud.
Then there was the alleged wife who was not authorized on the account and became so angry when I politely informed her that I could not perform account maintenance or release account information without speaking to the cardholder that she yelled, "That's fine! We'll just call back later and close this account, how about that!"
First of all, cuntmuffin, I don't know who this "we" is of which you speak. There is only one person listed on this account and he is not you. Secondly, if you think that I personally care whether or not your husband maintains a credit card with a $5000 limit, you have huffed too much paint thinner today. Zero fucks were given about this conversation, although I did comment the account that an unauthorized person attempted to get account information.
This is getting into TL;DR territory, but maybe tomorrow I will tell you the tale of the "cardholder" who was unable to verify her own DOB correctly...and told me that she would have to retrieve her tax records to give me her SSN.
*Not his real DOB, in case you thought I was completely insane.
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!
I took a call from a customer today who had paid off the balance on her credit card last month. During that same billing cycle, a second payment came through, which caused an overdraft on her checking account.
She had that checking account linked to this credit card for overdraft protection. $100 was charged to her credit card and the funds were transferred into her checking account to cover the overdraft.
She wanted the charges removed because "the account was already paid off. I really didn't think you guys would take a payment for an account with no balance!"
There are a number of things wrong with this argument:
- The account did, in fact, have an outstanding balance after the first payment had posted. She had paid the statement balance, not a payoff to include residual interest.
- That account balance had never been paid in full before and she never requested a payoff estimate. What reason would we have to assume that she was suddenly going to stop using this card?
- We did not "take" the second payment. She had her checking account set up to transfer a set amount of money to her credit card on the same day each month.
- $100 was transferred into her checking account. It was never returned to the credit card by deposits or paid back by the customer.
- The last associate she spoke with about this had already credited her account for the ODP transaction fee, as well as the interest she had been charged, as a courtesy.
Me: "Ma'am, that payment was not a debit from us. That was a monthly transfer that you set up with your checking account. You have to stop those transfers through your checking account."
SC: "I know but I don't understand why you didn't stop the transfers after I paid off the card! Why should I have to call someone about my checking account to stop payments to a card that's already paid off?!"
Me: "We don't have access to your checking account, and even if we did, we can't make those types of changes without your permission."
SC: "Well that just makes no sense! The Bank is The Bank; you should all have access to everything! This is just ridiculous that I have to call someone else about my checking account. You need to remove that $100 charge because that payment should never have been taken from my checking account in the first place to make it overdrawn!"
How about, no? The money was deposited into her checking account and she kept the money. And BTW, I really don't have access to checking or savings accounts, but I can see the account numbers and balances for verification purposes, and guess what? That $100 is gone.
After a week filled with suck, I thought I would share something positive for once. I had an awesome day at work yesterday!
Saturdays are usually terrible. Everyone is in a hurry. They just want to activate their card or get their balance and get off the phone. They get upset that they even have to talk to a rep in the first place, so good luck getting a sale out of these people!
Yesterday, though, I had my game face on. I wasn't afraid to ask my customers probing, open-ended questions. I wasn't afraid to come right out and talk about external debt that showed up on their credit history. By the end of the day, I had 7 (seven!) balance transfers and direct deposits processed for a total of $32,000.
As I was getting ready to log off and go home, my phone system messed up and allowed another call to come through. Crap! Oh, well...
It was a woman calling to activate a card. This card had a credit limit of $25,000 with a zero balance. I flat-out asked her about balances she was carrying with other banks and she said, "Yes, and I do need to transfer some balances over to this card, but I don't have everything ready right now. I'm going to have to call back later when I have more time."
Oh, hell no.
Because it wasn't a brand new card, the activation didn't come standard with a promotional balance transfer rate. However, we have special promos that we can attach to some accounts but they have to be activated during that phone call.
"I can process that for you in about two minutes and I can get you a lower rate."
"Well, what kind of rate are you talking about?"
"I can get you a promotion for this phone call that will give you zero interest until December 2014."
"...Hang on. Let me get my statements."
20 minutes later, I had processed three balance transfers onto her account for a grand total of $22,000.
Total cash sales for the day: $54,000
Daily goal for my shift: $15,000
CHA-CHING! 
I answered a call on Monday from a woman who started screaming at me the moment she heard my voice. She was upset because the automated phone system didn't give her a menu option to make a payment and instead asked her to hold for a representative. Lucky me!
I apologized for the inconvenience and explained that I would be happy to process her payment; there is no additional charge for that service. Not good enough. She wants to know WHY. "WHY can't I make a payment through the automated system? WHY do I have to talk to YOU? WHAT is WRONG with your system? Is there a PROBLEM with my account that I need to know about? WHAT is the PROBLEM? WHAT is wrong with my account? WHY did I get transferred to YOU?!" 
There wasn't anything wrong with her account and there isn't anything wrong with our phone system. Sometimes, accounts are routed to a rep for any number of reasons. In my department, it's normally because they're considered to be a valuable customer because of their positive relationship with the bank. We're trying to give these people excellent customer service, but let's be for real: we know when they have outstanding debt with another bank. We want to transfer that balance over here, and we're willing to do it for 0% APR for up to 18 months.
But I digress. I couldn't get a word in edgewise with this nutcase. It was seriously unnerving to be screamed at like that for absolutely no reason. Did the bank mess up her account? Did we charge her a late fee? Lose her payment? No. She completely lost her shit, simply because the phone system routed her to me.
I finally said, "I don't know!" I did know, but fuck that. I was not about to try to make a sale with someone so unhinged. I just wanted to process her payment and end the call! "I don't know why the automated system didn't give you the menu option to make a payment. I don't have an answer for you. There is nothing wrong with your account. Would you like me to process your payment, or not?"
Suddenly she got very quiet and said yes. I took care of her payment and asked her if she had any other questions about her account. She said no like that was an insane question. I asked her if there was anything else I could help her with, and she answered no again. So I wished her a very nice day and she hung up the phone.
When I got to work today, I had an email from my manager. Guess who got a fucking survey?
That bitch gave me a 1 in every category. In the comment section, she claimed that she asked me several times why she got routed to a rep and I wouldn't answer her. She finally asked to speak to someone else. Then I admitted that I didn't know. "It was weird!"
Liar, liar, pants on fire! Her score brought my customer satisfaction average down to a 75%. I hope it burns when she pees! 
