We have spent the past few weeks highlighting the loss of good customer service. I can't dispute this seems to be a growing problem.
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However, my faith has been restored in the past week after I experienced the very best in customer service from a staff member at one of the big four banks.
Admittedly it all began with poor-ish telephone service from that same bank, but I have come to realise there was good reason behind that.
The problem started when I saw a text message from the bank telling me they had seen an unusual transaction on my account and as such had put a block on my card. The unusual activity was an attempt to deduct 2 cents.
I immediately thought the text was a scam. So I went in to check my account, rather than reply to the message.
I couldn't see a 2 cent deduction but noticed an unfamiliar $180 deduction.
I then called my bank to dispute the deduction but failed the identification process. It turns out the code for the verification process was being sent to an old landline. Needless to say I wasn't receiving it and clearly appeared to be a suspicious caller to the bank representative on the other end of the phone.
They hung up on me and I was not impressed by what I considered poor customer service.
I then proceeded to my local bank branch where I was pleasantly assisted by one of the staff. She submitted a dispute notice for the unapproved deduction, blocked and ordered me a new card, taught me how to use my bank 'wallet' and tap and go transactions, gave me a business card in case I had any further problems, and removed my now obsolete landline from my account so there would be no more confusion in the future.
She also checked the original text message about a 2 cent transaction and noted it was a legitimate message. It turns out that there are people who make transactions like this to see if the account holder is paying attention. If nothing is blocked then they proceed to take more money.
It seems that in that 24 hours I could have been duped twice by fraudsters.
But thanks to the wonderful assistance of a very helpful bank staff member I am not out of pocket, I am a little wiser about my banking and my faith in customer service is somewhat restored.
It seems not all is lost in the customer service space.
Jackie Meyers, editor
