Don’t Marry Your Bank
We recently had an experience with our bank that either taught us some new lessons in customer service or, at least, emphasized ones we already knew. It wasn't a good experience but we're probably better off in the long-run.
Jason and I have had a business for a few years. It never went anywhere, but we did all the stuff that you have to do when you start a legitimate company: file paperwork with the state, apply for a federal tax ID with the IRS, write an operating agreement, and get a bank account.
I didn't do a ton of research into our options, thinking instead that one bank is probably as good as another. Rather than looking at marketing materials or fee schedules, I used the incredibly scientific method of choosing the bank with a branch geographically the closest to where we intended someday to have an office. Not the closest to where I happened to live, but the closest to some arbitrary, hypothetical place that only existed in our dreams. Whatever. I picked one.
Most small bank branches have one person dedicated (or semi-dedicated) to its business customers. Anything more complicated than depositing a check or getting some petty cash is done through this person rather than going to a teller. As a very-small-corporate customer, I always got a kick out of being treated like the bank might actually care about my business.
Walk in. Handshake. Offer of an in-cubicle chair. Down to business.
Unfortunately, the turnover of vice-presidents (everyone at a bank is vice-president) in this position is incredibly high, so the chance of getting someone who's a real A-hole increases with every promotion or layoff.
That day finally came when we changed the name of our business to 13 Guys Named Ed, LLC and we needed to make the necessary account changes at the bank. Unfortunately, our new, personal vice-president was an in-genuine, lazy, sniveling liar. No, I don't think I'm being too harsh. We'll call him "V" (not his real name.)
A common interaction:
Me: "I need X done, please."
V: "Yes, sir. No problem, sir. I'll take care of that."
Me: "By when? End of day tomorrow?"
V: "Yup."
Me: "So, you'll call me when it's done, right?"
V: "Yup."
Four Days Later Me:
"You didn't call me, did you do X?"
V: "…"
Me: "You said you'd do X and call me."
V: "…"
It was annoying, but I didn't feel like telling the guy to go to hell and switch banks over someone who may have just been exceptionally lazy. I understand lazy. But, the straw that broke the Ed's back was when Jason did not receive his new bank card. It was supposed to be mailed to his Chicagoland address well before he made the big trek down to Florida, but it had not arrived with only a few days to go. Wondering where the card was, Jason called V and asked him.
Turns out, V never ordered the card.
Typical. Jason told him he really needed the card as he was going to be on the road for the better part of a week before he got somewhere with a real address. In an uncharacteristic move, V ordered a "replacement" card to be overnighted to Jason's Chicagoland address. Sure enough, the card showed up shortly thereafter.
Everybody's happy… until I check our bank statement and see a $25 charge for an expedited bank card replacement.
No big deal, I think. I'll just go and talk to V and have him credit the charge. After all, the bank's just fixing a problem they caused in the first place.
"I don't know," he says. "I'll have to speak with the manager. It's out of my hands."
"Really," I respond. "I don't care what you have to do, but you have to make that charge go away."
I wasn't trying to be a jerk about it, but I've always believed that customer service has very little to do with the problems that happen. Problems always happen. Customer service is about how you FIX those problems. Companies that are incapable of fixing their problems suck at customer service.
Needless to say, it's been nearly two months and despite several "hey dude, WTF?"s, we have't heard a thing. The charge is still on our account. It seems kind of harsh to go through the headache of creating new accounts, closing old ones, and condemning a whole bank with over 27,000 employees because of one idiot. I even had a little bit of corporate loyalty, but in the end we've given up on it and decided to switch banks altogether.
Just as we were bellyaching about the situation we happened to run into Eric Hollar of BB&T, a regional bank with several branches around here. They're not as big or as fancy as V's bank, but they seemed to WANT to do business with us. In fact, they seemed downright eager.
We'll see how it goes. The bank might get bought out, get taken over by the FDIC, or Eric could get promoted out of our branch. At least now I know we can just take our business somewhere else.
I happened to tell this rambling story to my old boss who's been in the financial services business for a long time. He told me, matter-of-factly, "Man, never marry your bank."