Manhattan Retail Banking---Adventures with the Goliaths
Everybody knows it. Service at the newer small banks invading Manhattan can't possibly be worse than what the big banks offer, and is by most accounts much better. This comment is anecdotal and not a suggestion on which stock to buy or sell, or who makes more money. It's just first hand documentation of a widely observable and inexorable trend. But let's get to it.
This morning I was rushing around Manhattan doing errands that needed to be done before heading to Virginia tomorrow. I needed to transfer money from a Citi account to a Chase account. To start, I went into a Citi ATM center at 7th Ave. and 34th St. to move funds into checking. I did the deal on an ATM, but it shut off on me before confirming or giving me a receipt. I couldn't log back into that machine for some unknown but disconcerting reason, so I moved to the next one, logged in, and was informed that it couldn't access my account and I had to use the handy phone and give them a code the machine gave me to go forward. I did so(sorry, I know this is tedious, but that's part of the point). The service line picked up, put me on hold for awhile, and when they actually picked up they had no interest in my problem or my code number. They needed my ATM card number, they needed my name and the spelling of my last name, they needed my wife's name, and then they asked if I was a Gold account member. Get this---I'm in a hurry, I want to know where my blinkin' money went and why I can't get to my account, so to the last question I said "Please just tell me...", but she interrupted me and said, "You are a Gold account member". I have to transfer you to Gold service. Ahhh, "NO" came out of my mouth in a uncontrolled burst and I hung up. I have a service problem and they want to translate it into a marketing opportunity. CROSS SELLING GONE MAD equals CUSTOMER GONE MAD. I regained my composure, logged into a third ATM, got into my account this time, reentered the transaction hoping it wasn't a duplication, and got a receipt with ink so imperceptible that I had to squeeze lemon juice on to read it. Perhaps it was done.
I walked to Chase at 34th and 5th Ave. to deposit several checks including one drawn on Citi that I hoped would work. I am fourth or fifth in line. Three tellers are working, and three supervisory types are roaming around behind, probably discussing where to go for lunch, and just more or less getting in the way. How many Chase bankers does it take to...?
After about ten minutes I reached a teller window, and the teller proceeded to look at her screen and not glance up at me for about two minutes. I finally asked if I should leave. Looking clearly annoyed, she said "in a minute". Soon she slowly dealt with the deposit and then gave me a receipt without the appropriate information. I pointed that out and she said that I should have asked for it beforehand, but she would do it. I said "don't trouble yourself" and walked away. Two obvious bankers, a man and a woman both in nice business attire, were standing in the middle of the lobby. I walked up to them and said "The service is terrible here". The man, apparently senior, said "that's what I've been trying to tell her" and walked away. She apologized, and I felt like I'd larrydavided this woman who was probably trying to implement a hopeless strategy designed by those above her, and got the added bonus of my inopportune comment. I got bad service, and I left feeling guilty.
So two simple transactions at the two biggest retail banks in Manhattan, two transactions completed without full documentation, two transactions that aggravated me, two anti-service transactions, BUT I am afraid that I am what they count on. I am a customer who is sticky. Unless they club me with a baseball bat in the lobby or steal my money outright, I probably won't deal with the paperwork of moving the accounts, with the direct debits and direct deposits attached, primarily because of the annoyance of the transfers but partially because of the fear that something would get screwed up.
But Commerce, North Fork, others, they will slowly but surely take away market share that is very meaningful to them and, in the short term, not especially painful to the big ones.
I must add that my suburban Chase and Citi branches are totally different. My Chase branch is exceptional with excellent service, almost no waiting because they are staffed with enough efficient people, not because the branch is not busy. The branch manager will even step behind a teller window if need be, and she's at the customer service desk running the show half the time and not back hiding in an office. And an added bonus is that, even though I'm in there just twice a quarter at most, they greet me as if they know me, or do a great job pretending they do. The Citi branch is definitely not so stacked with intelligence and it seems a little shabby but they get the basics done pleasantly and the number 2 banker there always greets me by my first name on my occasional visits.
This morning I was rushing around Manhattan doing errands that needed to be done before heading to Virginia tomorrow. I needed to transfer money from a Citi account to a Chase account. To start, I went into a Citi ATM center at 7th Ave. and 34th St. to move funds into checking. I did the deal on an ATM, but it shut off on me before confirming or giving me a receipt. I couldn't log back into that machine for some unknown but disconcerting reason, so I moved to the next one, logged in, and was informed that it couldn't access my account and I had to use the handy phone and give them a code the machine gave me to go forward. I did so(sorry, I know this is tedious, but that's part of the point). The service line picked up, put me on hold for awhile, and when they actually picked up they had no interest in my problem or my code number. They needed my ATM card number, they needed my name and the spelling of my last name, they needed my wife's name, and then they asked if I was a Gold account member. Get this---I'm in a hurry, I want to know where my blinkin' money went and why I can't get to my account, so to the last question I said "Please just tell me...", but she interrupted me and said, "You are a Gold account member". I have to transfer you to Gold service. Ahhh, "NO" came out of my mouth in a uncontrolled burst and I hung up. I have a service problem and they want to translate it into a marketing opportunity. CROSS SELLING GONE MAD equals CUSTOMER GONE MAD. I regained my composure, logged into a third ATM, got into my account this time, reentered the transaction hoping it wasn't a duplication, and got a receipt with ink so imperceptible that I had to squeeze lemon juice on to read it. Perhaps it was done.
I walked to Chase at 34th and 5th Ave. to deposit several checks including one drawn on Citi that I hoped would work. I am fourth or fifth in line. Three tellers are working, and three supervisory types are roaming around behind, probably discussing where to go for lunch, and just more or less getting in the way. How many Chase bankers does it take to...?
After about ten minutes I reached a teller window, and the teller proceeded to look at her screen and not glance up at me for about two minutes. I finally asked if I should leave. Looking clearly annoyed, she said "in a minute". Soon she slowly dealt with the deposit and then gave me a receipt without the appropriate information. I pointed that out and she said that I should have asked for it beforehand, but she would do it. I said "don't trouble yourself" and walked away. Two obvious bankers, a man and a woman both in nice business attire, were standing in the middle of the lobby. I walked up to them and said "The service is terrible here". The man, apparently senior, said "that's what I've been trying to tell her" and walked away. She apologized, and I felt like I'd larrydavided this woman who was probably trying to implement a hopeless strategy designed by those above her, and got the added bonus of my inopportune comment. I got bad service, and I left feeling guilty.
So two simple transactions at the two biggest retail banks in Manhattan, two transactions completed without full documentation, two transactions that aggravated me, two anti-service transactions, BUT I am afraid that I am what they count on. I am a customer who is sticky. Unless they club me with a baseball bat in the lobby or steal my money outright, I probably won't deal with the paperwork of moving the accounts, with the direct debits and direct deposits attached, primarily because of the annoyance of the transfers but partially because of the fear that something would get screwed up.
But Commerce, North Fork, others, they will slowly but surely take away market share that is very meaningful to them and, in the short term, not especially painful to the big ones.
I must add that my suburban Chase and Citi branches are totally different. My Chase branch is exceptional with excellent service, almost no waiting because they are staffed with enough efficient people, not because the branch is not busy. The branch manager will even step behind a teller window if need be, and she's at the customer service desk running the show half the time and not back hiding in an office. And an added bonus is that, even though I'm in there just twice a quarter at most, they greet me as if they know me, or do a great job pretending they do. The Citi branch is definitely not so stacked with intelligence and it seems a little shabby but they get the basics done pleasantly and the number 2 banker there always greets me by my first name on my occasional visits.
posted by John Borden at 3:17 PM
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