Bank of America Customer Service Issue – Update
Someone has been listening at the Bank of America corporation.
Last night, I got a call from Tara ***** (last name blanked out to protect identity), from the Executive Relations and Office of the Chairman. She read my blog after receiving the email from the PR/Communications team and called me to profusely apologize for the issue. She said that the 0% APR reinstatement and the $39 fee are unrelated, i.e., just because the 0% was reinstated, it doesn’t mean that the $39 fee cannot be refunded. She also said that the representatives (the one that threw me off the line and the other who would only give me 1/2 fee off because he was not “authorized” to refund the whole fee) AND the manager who never called me back, will be coached. Apparently, representatives are permitted to refund this fee.
Not only did Bank of America refund the other half of the fee, but it also has extended a $50 Amazon gift card as an apology for the inconvenience. Of course, Tara also made sure that I understood that I will need to make payments after the 22nd, which believe me, I will not forget! And if I do forget and end up committing the same mistake, then shame on me.
Here are some take-aways from this situation and I think it applies to both small and large businesses:
1. People generally at the top (either as pure managers or as owner/managers) care about what others say.
2. Everything is radically transparent: Information on LinkedIn helped me contact Bank’s Communications team
3. Don’t be a brat when trying to solve a problem – remember the person at the other end is just like you.
4. The web is POWERFUL!
I say the take-aways are similar for large and small companies because I faced a similar situation a month ago. A client of my employer’s wanted us to make good on a consulting engagement that was not completed as promised. While they had approved the work after it was done, they soon realized that it was actually incomplete. Now, I could have hemmed and hawed like a colleague of mine did when she heard this news, but my focus was crystal clear – we have to do what it takes to satisfy this client because it is about the overall relationship. It is never about this one transaction so while in the short run we lost some money, in the mid to long term, we have generated extremely positive brand recognition.
So, thank you Tara for the pleasant call last night and acknowledging that there was no logic behind what transpired. You are the right person to call in such situations because you could have been nonchalant about it, but you were not. You said the right things and hopefully learned a little from this situation as well. Please feel free to send in a comment on the issue.
A hearty thank you for everyone who commented on the previous posts – I believe in the power of us.
Wanna bet?
Interesting article on CNN/Money/Fortune about betting that Palin is going to drop out of the veep nomination.
The Google Browser
Chrome, is the new project that Google is working on, set to deliver a new browser that will take advantage of the media rich internet.
I am a little intimidated because as of today, Google is able to track my search patterns and tries to deliver advertisements that it thinks I might click on. You have my word that I have NEVER clicked on even one, intentionally anyways. But now with a dedicated Google browser, how deep is their view into my browsing habits? While many books and theories out there suggest that people are irrational and can be directed to move in a certain way (and marketers thrive on this notion), I find it hard to imagine that Google and it’s data driven analysis of my searches makes my browsing and Internet experience any better. While it is undeniable that Google opened up the Internet through search, I am not so sure it improves or customizes my search experience.
In any case, as a one-trick pony, what is next for Google? How long can they continue feeding off of their ad revenue and funding these pursuits? Or is there nothing to be worried about?
