I called my old bank this afternoon because Amazon.com sent my monthly commission payment to a business account that I closed last month. I was routed to a customer service representative who asked me for my account number, which I didn’t have with me. I said, “I don’t have my account number, what do you need to look up the account?”
She said, “I have to have the full account number to look up your account.”
Whaaaa???
I said: “You can’t look up the account by my name or EIN?”
Her: “No, I have to have the full account number or check card number.”
Me: “So you’re telling me there is no way in your system to look up my account without one of those two numbers?”
Her: “Right.”
Me: “No one there can look up my account?”
Her: “No”
Me: “Let me speak to your supervisor, please.”
Supervisor: “Hello sir can you give me your EIN so I can look up your account?”
When you’re dealing with customers, don’t say you can’t do something if you technically can. Don’t say something isn’t possible if it is. Don’t lie to your customers.
I specifically asked her if it was technically possible to look up my account another way and she told me no. She also told me no one else would be able to help me. Two blatant lies.
Had she told me it was simply a policy not to look up accounts with anything other than an account or check card number, I would have asked for her supervisor much quicker (and more pleasantly) and the overall experience would have been completely different.
By the way, that’s one of the main reasons I’m no longer a customer of said bank.
I was in a department store shopping for a dress shirt some time ago and happened to see a book that caught my eye. 