You Won’t Believe What Happened!
I was dealing with family administrative business yesterday, you know, my favorite part of being a Mom. We have two bills for two separate accounts to the same insurance company. I was having trouble in my on-line banking software saving two payees with all of the same information except the account number. I saw the customer service number right there with the error message, so I gave it a call and you won’t believe what happened…
A person answered. Right away. No automated system with lots of questions. No waiting on hold. No entering in my account number, just to be asked for it again when the representative answers.
I was unsure what to say to this person. I didn’t know which number I should press. I wasn’t sure of all the options. I hesitated.
Remember when answering machines first came out and it was so awkward to figure out what to say to a machine? Well, I have come all the way around now, because I was awkward trying to figure out what to say to a real live person.
I finally got it together and said ‘hello.’ Then I told him that I couldn’t believe he was real. Finally I explained the problem I was having. He said he understood, but he would have to put me on hold for a minute. So I waited.
I waited about ten seconds, then he was back. He said, yes, the system isn’t able to save two payees that are exactly the same except for the account number. Since the payee names can’t be edited, he recommended creating two new payees with slightly different names. He said he would wait on the line while I do this, to be sure it works.
Back in my software consulting days, I worked on a project for a banking call center where customer interaction was very efficient, with each representative handling tons calls made as short as possible, while being careful to not get caught visiting with the older people who were lonely. But this guy was hanging out patiently while I typed in all the information twice. We chatted about where his was located (San Antonio, Texas) and what the weather was like (the same for both of us, in the eighties!). The two payees saved fine. I told him I loved him. Well, not LOVE, but something like it.
In case you are wondering, bank is Frost Bank, a regional Texas bank…
with a cool building in downtown Austin…
and a pretty loyal customer.
