Dave sent a message to Greg D. Carmichael Chief Executive Officer of Fifth Third Bancorp Email Address that said:
Dear Mr. Carmichael,
My name is Dave, and I am writing to you on behalf of my mother, Judith Schmidt, and myself to make you aware of a very poor customer experience with Fifth Third Bank recently. The customer service page on your website says âCustomer Service is what weâre all about.â Based on our recent experiences, that does not seem to be the case.
In a nutshell, we went into your Wekiva Springs branch at 1725 S. Orange Blossom Trail in Apopka, FL, on Jan. 28 to initiate a wire transfer for $61,087 to fund an escrow account so we can close on a property weâre purchasing in Michigan. As it was toward the end of the day, we were told that we had missed the 4:30 p.m. cut-off to send the wire out that day and that it would be sent the first thing the following morning.
When we called this morning, Jan. 30, to make sure the wire transfer had been completed, we were told it had not but that if we wished to make sure it went out today, we could go to your Rock Springs branch before noon, and they could complete the wire transfer for us. However, we were also informed that we would then need to contact the Wekiva Springs branch on Monday to make sure they didnât send another wire transfer for us on Monday.
At this point, I decided to return to the Wekiva Springs branch, which was also open until noon today, to attempt to get this mess sorted out. The first employee I talked to said it was her first day and that she would not be able to help me. However, the young lady who had initiated the wire transfer request for us on Thursday, Kayla Oelhoffen, was there helping other customers. She was apparently the only teller there, and she said she had been too busy to call us and asked me to wait. I took a seat and waited for 15-20 minutes while she continued to help other customers.
At this point, growing impatient, I got in line behind the other customers. Then Kayla came out of the teller area to talk to me. She said that the bankâs wire transfer system had been down all day on Friday, Jan. 29, and that she had tried several times throughout the day to complete the wire transfer for us but had not been able to do so.
I explained to Kayla what the wire was for and that there was some urgency, which is why we were wiring the funds. I asked her why she hadnât called us Friday when she was unable to complete the wire transfer so that we could make other arrangements to get the money into the escrow account. She said âwe were very short-staffedâ and she just hadnât had time to call us. She also indicated she would be unable to complete the wire transfer today because wires donât go out on Saturday, which contradicts what your telephone customer service representative told us about going to the Rock Springs branch to get the wire transfer completed today.
Kayla said that the earliest she could complete the wire transfer at this point would be first thing Monday morning. I asked her to send it first thing Monday, left her my business card, and asked her to call me on my cell phone when it was done. She said she would, and I left.
I have to tell you, though, that I do not have a lot of confidence that the wire transfer will actually get done first thing Monday morning and that it will get done correctly. I guess I should point out at this point that we tried to wire money from this same account a few weeks ago to close on another property purchase, and apparently the wire was not done correctly and was eventually returned to my motherâs account. We ended up having to send a check via next-day delivery to fund the escrow and complete that closing.
My mother has been a customer and shareholder of Fifth Third for many years, and Iâve been your customer for several years, as well, though not quite as long as Judi. However, in short sir, these recent experiences give us pause and, frankly, if Fifth Third canât even complete relatively simple wire transfers in a reasonable amount of time, we have to question the competency of the bank overall and whether it makes sense to continue to do business with you.
Judi will be traveling out of the country on vacation tomorrow, and Iâll be handling the closing on the property in her absence, assuming we donât lose the deal because we havenât been able to fund the escrow account in a timely fashion. Upon her return, I anticipate weâll be investigating other options for our banking needs.
Regrettably and respectfully,
Dave
Cc via separate email: Judi Schmidt and Bill Muncey, manager, Wekiva Springs branch
