Service Apologies

For some businesses and in particular financial institutions, it is hard to apologize for customer mistakes. Another recent example just came to my attention from a wealthy young man and one of Canada's large banks. An officer in the bank's largest branch made a commitment to a customer to process a significant payment against a mortgage. At about the same time, the officer was transferred or left and the transaction was not made. When the customer approached the Manager he did not believe the customer and was not going to look for confirmation so the customer subsequently produced e-mails proving the commitment. The branch finally processed the payment months late but has yet admitted to reimburse the customer for the associated extra interest cost incurred. Even with support from the Private Banking personnel, nothing has been forth coming.

Years ago I had introduced this customer to the bank and I am now embarrassed that the three basic steps of handling complaints were not followed by the premier branch of this large institution:

(1) Thank the customer for bringing the concern to your attention and promise to research the complaint and be back to him/her in 48 hours

(2) When it was the bank's fault, apologize

(3) Ensure that the correction action meets with the customer's satisfaction

The customer has now requested a meeting with various parties from the bank and outside. As one can appreciate what should have been corrected quickly and properly will now be a conversation cancer shared against the bank unnecessarily leading to an erosion of confidence and, yes, business. Obviously, the branch manager is not the professional needed to lead a retail unit in any business. We can only hope that this is not indicative of the new compliant culture at the bank!

Pat Palmer | Tuesday, December 13, 2011 | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink