This really happened to me:
Yesterday morning I got a phone call from the bank that has had my business account for over fifteen years. It was “Linda” and she said that our account had a negative balance and there were two items being presented. She was unfriendly to say the least and said I had until 1 pm at the latest to straighten it out.
That account is closely managed so I knew something was wrong, but it is always possible that I made an error, so I ran to the bank to make a deposit, asked if Linda was there and to let her know (turned out Linda was the drive up teller), and asked for a printout so I could see what happened since the account was recently balanced. The teller just kept her head down the entire time, obviously trying her best to avoid confrontation with me. I remained cheerful.
There were people waiting behind me who heard the whole conversation.
Once back to the office I checked the printout which showed a deposit made on Sep 9 for $.02 instead of the correct amount of $500, and $60 in overdraft fees. We were able to get a copy of the front and back of the check and I took it in to the branch this morning. I again had to approach the teller line because there was no one on the platform again (there was a woman in an office on a personal phone call, presumably the branch manager). This time I had to endure “Patty”, who also treated me like a derelict and made a face when I explained the problem, again with a line behind me. She left her station to check on it, and finally came back to ask if she could research it and call me back. I told her that I made the deposit good yesterday, I only wanted the overdraft fees reversed. She said she’d check it out and call me and I said “Thank you, have a great day.”
She did call later on and finally apologized for the error. But, it’s too late. I’m in the process of taking my account someplace else, because even though I realize that everyone makes mistakes, it’s how they handled it that counts. Every customer must be made to feel appreciated and important even when there is an overdraft situation, or some other error, and it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. The bank should always give the benefit of doubt and apologize up front - it just makes the customer feel better. This approach does not alienate the customer, and gives the bank the opportunity to shine brightly and create a Fan for Life! And to have this kind of situation going on within hearing distance of other customers is just unacceptable. It was embarrassing. What is this bank thinking????
No customer hugging going on here, and it’s too bad, because this is one of the few independent community banks existing in our marketplace.
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