Rhonda Reynolds sent a message to Greg D. Carmichael - Chief Executive Officer of Fifth Third Bancorp - Email Address that said:
Mr. Carmichael,
I read your recent interview with Business First with the announcement of Francie Henry as your Market Manager for the Central Ohio area. In that article you said, its really about serving the customer and taking care of the customer and how the customers view us, is how I view success.
As a former customer who recently transfered two brokerage accounts from your bank into another institution due to poor customer service, I thought you should know that Ms. Henry is facing an uphill battle in this market.
About two years ago we worked with one of your brokers to set up a trust fund for my parents who are in an assisted living community. We wanted to protect the bulk of their money while investing it to make some income for their living expenses. The broker we worked with at the time was so helpful and the returns we received were so impressive that my husband and I decided to invest a good bit of our savings with him as well. Unfortunately about a year later he left your organization and was replaced with a new broker, Ed Zimmer.
I did not know this right away because nothing was sent out from 5/3 to announce the change, so I had no idea who the new broker was or how to contact him. When I needed his assistance I had to call several people there and leave messages. Eventually Kelly Norris, who had assisted us in setting up the checking account for the trust, contacted me and gave me Eds phone number. I left multiple messages for him which were not returned, forcing me to call Kelly again for aid in reaching him. She finally got him to call me back, but he acted as ig I was troubling him and wanted to know why Id called. I said that I had heard he had taken over our account and wanted to touch base with him, assuming that I would have the same level of consideration from him as Id had with the previous broker who had contacted me frequently to see if the accounts were working properly and to ask if I had any questions or needs. He asked if everything was okay with the account. When I said yes, he said to call him again if there was a problem and hung up.
Several months went by with no further contact from him. Eventually I did need to speak with him again, though, and each time I had to go through Kelly to get any response. It normally took several days before I would hear from him, if ever, and only after much frustration and threats to move our money if he did not call me back.
After another year of this treatment we finally did remove both brokerage accounts to another institution. I cannot begin to convey to you the amount of time and frustration this has caused. While I understand that ours was not a multi- million dollar account as some of the business accounts your bank deals with, our money was substantial and very important to us. My contacts in the industry tell me that 5/3 is more interested in those large business accounts and are not as interested in personal accounts. After our treatment I believe this to be true.
Sincerely,
Rhonda Reynolds
