Chase (or the decline of customer service)

Tonight I canceled my Chase credit card. I have been a member for about a decade. I canceled my account because of a terrible experience I had with customer service.

My isssue;

I have been using online bill pay for years to pay my Chase card. This month I used the same online bill pay service, and an error somewhere along the way created a situation where “Chase was told by my bank that my account could not be located”. Payment was not rendered and I suffered a late charge. Since the “error” was not on the Chase side they declined to refund my late charge. I explained that my bank account was still active, I have made multiple payments before, never been late, etc… all to a indifferent supervisor reading from a script… At the end of the call I asked to cancel my card – to which the supervisor had no problem doing. Although I should not complain at the ease at which he canceled, there was not a hint of customer retention other than scripted “thanks for being a customer” lines. Since I feel the need to share my disdain I even went so far as to explain to the supervisor that my impression of Chase was ruined and I could not believe the lack of service. He was again indifferent as his script did not have a flowchart for him to work with.

Why share my story? (or why you may think it is silly to blog about this)

I wanted to share my story here to highlight a growing trend of indifference of customer service agents and the discontent I have heard from others (and as promised want to share here) I have found a larger number of companies and customer service agents unwilling to break from scripts and flow charts of problem solving to really understand the needs of customers. This year especially I have been exposed to a higher number of customer service lines due to a number of factors and consider myself an expert at getting things done. Whether it is a wireless company, local utility, mortgage company, service provider, or your average credit card – I have talked to them all. I wonder if the parent companies are at fault, the training facilities, or just the lack of leadership at the call center. Regardless of who is to blame, this is a growing problem.

Since the problem is growing and we continue to enter a period of economic slowdown – I wonder what trends we will see come out of this. The toleration for poor service continues to decline, while the expectation for immediate service is on the rise. Many people share my feelings (another reason to share all this here) and there is no end in site. As a platform for my thoughts this writing served its purpose. The sad part is that I am not looking to gain anything from this post, as my card is in fact canceled, but hopefully this is a warning to others.