Bring back the service humans, dammit.

[shereads]

Bank deregulation sucks. The alarmists were right.

Remember when all of these companies were competing for business? Now there's just Bank of America, CitiBank and Bank of America II, with subsidiaries operating under different names. Like ad agencies. If you fire one agency, there's a 50% chance that your new agency is owned by the same people. They laugh when you amuse yourself by pitting one of their little slave companies against another one of their slave companies. Since they own the lion and the gladiator, they can't lose.

 

[Kassiana]

Have you talked to Customer Service recently, pornsters?

--I work as an operator in a call center . Does that help? I talk to Customer Service reps all the time, actually. Nice people. They put up with a hell of a lot of crap. A customer made the one across from me cry today. She's pregnant and the customer wouldn't stop yelling at her for something she couldn't do anything about (the customer was bitching about the badge someone was wearing...WTF?).

I begged to speak to a supervisor. There aren't any.

--Yeah. That happens a lot, especially if you call after 4:30. What the heck are we supposed to do, wave our magic wands and produce one? My supervisor told me directly that I should transfer people through to customer service or tell them there's no supervisor available and ask them to call back later.

"The Correspondence Department handles all of our mail."

--Yeah. The correspondence department is where all our faxes go. And yes, there is no information about them in my computer records.

The purpose of modern business is not to offer service, but to make money.

--Yes. And, sadly enough, the only people you can get through to are people who can't do anything to help you, because if we try, we'll get fired because we're so low on the totem pole that we can't influence the higher-ups any way at all.

Yes. A lot of us do care. Sadly, those of us who do can't help. I wouldn't be surprised if that poor woman you talked to was left adrift as I am every day after 4:30. At least she could look at your account. I have no account access. All I can do is give you phone numbers and transfer you. Even then, the phone system cuts off a large number of people.

 

[Boxlicker101]

No, in fact this was a company I've used most of my adult life because they gave excellent service. Until recently.

They have my homeowners insurance and my mortgage, and the first sign that the Bobs had been there ("Bobs" are "Office Space" talk for efficiency consultants) was when the insurance half of the company warned me that the mortgage half of the company was late with the insurance payment that comes out of my escrow account each year, and that even though the two divisions are in the same building, they are on different floors and can't contact each other.

You might be well advised to go with a different insurance company. The mortgage company can require you to have insurance but they can't require you to have insurance with their subsidiary. It's probably worth your while to avoid an escrow account also, if you can. Pay a set amount into an interest bearing account , pay the insurance when it is due and make a small amount of interest.

 

[msboy8]

Suppose you recieved a letter from your mortage company demanding a chunk of change substantial enough to temporarily stop your breathing and make your eyeballs pop from their sockets on cartoon springs.

Suppose the letter explained that you were being charged a stack of "late fees," even though you pay your mortgage automatically each month and all of the payments have been processed on time.

If you are like me, you might pause for a moment before advertising your kidney on e-bay, and call "Customer Service."

Have you talked to Customer Service recently, pornsters? If you have, then you can just scroll past my rant and post your kidney offer, because you know what happened to me this afternoon and how many hours it took.

You probably know that the young girl in Iowa (the second one) was in tears by the time she explained that the late fees have been accruing, with interest, for three months because yes, my payments were received on time, but no, they were not for the new, inexplicably higher amount, which means they were considered partial payments are went into a special "holding account" rather than being credited as payments, so that - by the way - credit agencies will probably have been instructed to add me to their list of deadbeats because, technically, I haven't made a mortgage payment in more than three months.

So great. Perfect. I've made a perfectly lovely girl cry, and I don't have a clue how it was decided that my mortage payments should have been several hundred dollars higher than they were. I only know that I have to give the mortgage company a lot of money or the pile of late fees will grow and the money I've been calling a mortgage payment will continue to rest in the special holding account.

Why is she crying? She gets to keep both kidneys.

I begged to speak to a supervisor. There aren't any.

My late fees were enrichiing the company coffers with accrued interest, and the girl was crying, and I was desperate to end our standoff. It was time to Write The Letter.

In pioneer days, The Letter was guaranteed to get a response when nothing else did. The Letter has presence. It looks like evidence. If it names names, people are held accountable. I hate to write letters because that means looking for stamps. But it was time.

When I told the girl I wanted to write a letter to someone who could explain what's happening, she sounded so relieved I wanted to give her a hug.

"Yes, you can write to the Correspondence Department."

"Actually, I want the name and title of the person I should write to."

"The Correspondence Department handles all of our mail."

"Who will they refer the letter to?"

"They don't need to give it to anyone else. They can look at your file."

"Like you did?"

"Yes, ma'am."

(uncomfortable pause; sounds of more crying)

"Let me get this straight: when the Correspondence Department receives an irate letter from a customer alleging that your company has made a costly mistake, and that Customer Service, although perfectly nice, was not able to make me understand the problem or suggest any solutions other than sending more money, the next step is just like this step? But without the phone?"

"Y - yes." (She chokes back a sob)

"There is no URGENT COSTLY MISTAKES Department where letters go when the Correspondence Department senses desperation or even pending legal action?"

"All of our mail is handled by the Corresondence Department."

She and I are both too tired to cry at this point. I take a deep breath and one last shot:

"Do they have a supervisor?"

"No, ma'am."

You must have the same mortgage company that I do, hahaha. It's a wonder that these companies don't go belly-up. Considering how they are run.

 

[Huckleman2000]

--I work as an operator in a call center . Does that help? I talk to Customer Service reps all the time, actually. Nice people. They put up with a hell of a lot of crap. A customer made the one across from me cry today. She's pregnant and the customer wouldn't stop yelling at her for something she couldn't do anything about (the customer was bitching about the badge someone was wearing...WTF?).
...
Yes. A lot of us do care. Sadly, those of us who do can't help. I wouldn't be surprised if that poor woman you talked to was left adrift as I am every day after 4:30. At least she could look at your account. I have no account access. All I can do is give you phone numbers and transfer you. Even then, the phone system cuts off a large number of people.

I know, Kassiana.
I've spoken to many customer service people who are sensitive, caring, and empathetic. And, unfortunately, totally unhelpful, despite their good intentions. I really try not to be too hard on them - I tell them to bring my complaints up at the next meeting, and ask for the contact information for the Ombudsman. I always thought that there were laws that banks had to have an Ombudsman, to resolve these sorts of issues; but if that's true, no one seems to have ever heard the term. There are State Regulatory Agencies that deal with Banking, but they seem to be toothless. It's not like cable companies or utilities, that have to resolve complaints to get their liscences or franchises renewed. Besides, when it gets ugly, it's not as though you've been saving every phone call or correspondence that has led to the ludicrous situation.

All along, you are led to think that your complaints might make a difference, or that you need to wait until someone else reviews the situation. By the time you realize that you're screwed, it's likely that you haven't kept track of all the degrees of penetration that have been perpetrated, so suddenly you're balls-deep and you didn't even realize your underwear had been invaded.

moreover, the whole ordeal is so gawdawful depressing... I don't answer my phone anymore. Sometimes, I can pay them, but then they say they will charge me for a check by phone! My cable company, my phone company, my electric and gas company... none of them charge me for a check by phone. But a fucking BANK!!??!!!???!!!!! Who is the ONE ENTITY IN THE CHAIN THAT SAVES MONEY BY DOING CHECKS BY PHONE!!!!???!!!! THEY WANT TO CHARGE ME $7-$15 FOR PAYING THEIR GODDAM FUCKING 28% INTEREST, $35 LATE FEE, $35 OVERLIMIT FEE, MINIMUM PAYMENT FOR AN ACCOUNT THAT HAS MORPHED INTO A LEGAL SHAKEDOWN!

Seriously, I empathize with anyone that has been driven to depression by this unconscionable situation - I know I have! And unless someone has slipped into this rabbit hole, it sounds completely unreal! My friends that have been fortunate enough to hold jobs and income through the last several years are incredulous at my stories, which only makes me feel more alienated.

On my last business trip, my unit VP asked me casually about dating, if there was anyone I was seeing... I just replied that I really hadn't been able to do much dating for last several years - being middle-aged and unemployed isn't exactly the chick-magnet you might think I just meant it as a statement of fact, but he later came back and tried to apologize! I said, it's nothing to apologize for, and I apreciate the concern, but that's just how it works out if you don't have a spouse's job to fall back on, or you aren't a young worker, or don't have exactly the qualifications on the HR person's checklist. He's just around 40, with a 2 yr old, and another on the way, and his wife has left the workforce for the time being, and he's always been pretty successful, and he looked at me like I'd just told him that an MBA isn't the ticket that he'd been led to believe. Like, "I've worked, educated myself, put in my time, now I'm starting a family at the age of 40, and I STILL can't enjoy it!??" I didn't mean to burst a bubble, but... it's filtering into the classes that never used to be concerned, and, given what they've ceded to the system over the years, I can't help but think these people aren't going to be REALLY PISSED OFF as the hard times start to affect them.

 

[Guest]

Sher,
what sounded like crying was really laughter. i think the girl handles so many calls that she has perfected that 'laughterwhichsoundsliketears' persona to make people feel badly for being upset.



or is that just something i would do?

 

[impressive]

I made this girl cry. I felt like an ogre. And I wasn't even in Full Bitch Mode.

I hope you at least invited her to Lit to make up for it.

(Good luck with the mortgage bit.)

 

[rgraham666]

I am now recalling exactly why the business world drove me insane.

I'm never going back.

 

[Kassiana]

I am now recalling exactly why the business world drove me insane.

I'm never going back.

This reminded me of the grandfather, Martin Vanderhof, in the play "You Can't Take It With You." He walked off the job one day because he hated it and he never looked back.

He also managed to fake being dead to avoid income tax, but alas, that's probably not possible in real life.