First off, I’m writing to complain…and I think it’s imperative that you understand why – Greg D Carmichael email address

Daryl sent a message to Greg D. Carmichael – Chief Executive Officer of Fifth Third Bancorp – Email Address that said:

First off, I'm writing to complain...and I think it's imperative that you understand why my complaint precedes the moving of our joint account. We are one small checking account, to be sure...however I've been a customer for over 25 years

To the point....I attempted to log in today to pay a $25 bill on line. I was then immediately forced to enter a process of questions and answers in order to get there. I refused, several times, by restarting my session and each time I was put into the same do loop. I decided to go to the on line customer service....and write my irritation at such BS. I identified myself as a current customer....voila...back into the do loop of changing my log on things before I could even let you know how irritating your bank has become. (As an aside, I spent well over thirty years in tech at various companies in the Silicon Valley, so I'm well aware of the impact of techno geeks who have run amok due their prima donna self import coupled with the unbridled gift of no life experiences or interaction with people that aren't also techno geeks. A form of workplace interbreeding.) So, I restarted my session as 'not a customer  and filled out the contact form to explain my irritation, which as you can see by now was more than one sentence long. Hit send....and was given a page that apologized for  experiencing technical difficulties at this time' and would I come back at another time...or I could call an 800 number. I could have called the 800 initially, but I wanted something in writing that would be fed up the food chain if I could force the issue.

Clearly your entire customer experience on the Website is a farce.

Look....If, as a customer, I either caused problems or experienced problems with on line banking, then I can see the point of putting me onto an exception management plan of correction with all the B/S log in fixes...however...thats not the experience we're talking about here. In fact, since 53rd log in banking started in what, 1994?... there's never been an issue with my account from an on line perspective. My wife and I are retired. We travel. We log into the account from wherever, whenever....and on computers that aren't ours and aren't located in our house....so the IP address will always confuse your log in algorithm and send us off to filling in the blanks. I'm 67 and quite frankly, I don't want to play 20 questions every time I want to pay a bill from my motor home or from the public library in Rogers City, MI, or from the beach outside of Merida, MX. We don't carry smart phones for the purpose of replacing computers in our lives since A. believe it or not, cell phone coverage isn't ubiquitous and B. did I mention my age, 67, cataracts, bifocals and general curmudgeon personality traits keep us from engaging in a life based on micro-print on a tiny screen thank you very much, a 15 inch screen is mandatory.

In a nutshell, I'm telling you this, not because I want you to beg me to come back as a customer, but I think you have a much bigger problem if your intent is to be a bank for people. I'm at the front edge of the Boomers. Baby Boomers will all suffer the same issues as they age and many will also resent being put into do loops that our 20 year old grandchildren take for granted and embrace. Your problem is that those kids don't have any money for you. Many of the Boomers will migrate away from you to parts unknown as they age for the same reasons as I give. This is why, when a company allows itself to either take itself too seriously, or allows dumb ideas to be internally sold up the food chain based on bits and bytes....not users, you end up with user barbaric products that no one wants. Good luck with that.

Experience is what you get when you dont get what you want. As another aside....my son, Dustin Lucien, is the Chief Technical Officer of Betterment....the darling of Wall Street, Robo Investing firm located in Manhattan. I taught him well. Check out their offerings and how you interface with them.

Daryl

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