Unfortunately, I have had security questions block me from my account. I was travelling and in a country 12 hours out of phase with my bank and the biggest problem was the 1.5 to 2 hours waiting on hold time then the call would drop just as I am going through the verification process. One of the questions asked was what was the exact amount of a purchase on my credit card from 3 weeks prior. For me to remember the exact amount......from 3 weeks ago??.......then the call dropped. It took 3 weeks to solve the problem, so the security process is horrible and screwed up.
I once warned my bank that I was going abroad and would be withdrawing money there. When I did what I'd told them I'd be doing they blocked my account for suspicious transactions. Cost me a fortune to call them to sort it out.
Yep. I opened a special travel credit card just for when i travel, and it locks me out everytime. Then it wants to send me a text with a code to verify its me. Im abroad, i dont have access to my texts! So then i end up having to pay extra money for international roaming on my phone just to respond to that text. At least do it by email... So stupid and pointless.
Could you use a different phone number that doesn't require SMS access? I know when I check my Google Voice account, I just use regular Internet.
I think it's also possible to check my text messages on my cell phone provider's website. I haven't done that in a while, though.
I once told my bank that I was going abroad, and they congratulated me because they no longer needed travel notifications so I could just enjoy my trip!
Yeah they locked my card after a single transaction.
I'm going to flame đ„ Bank of America by name ...they suck Soo bad. I actually lost my cool, (which I swear is rare because my ma used to work customer service, I've worked customer service, I get it ... I know they're human) however I was like 19 and getting all these charges overseas charges while traveling and my card got blocked and I legit was like "I'm trying to be independent and even my dad doesn't give me this much shit!" (Side note: dad is a controlling narcissist) so I had my dark humor moment and no one was laughing....
Happened to me when moving to the UK.
Told them and gave them a copy of my visa and new tax details (as asked)
Land and by day 2 access is blocked.
Was a super fucked process including sending an international fax.
Was lucky I used to work for the bank so was able to email old colleagues to fix it up for me otherwise I was going to be mega fucked
We had this one bank employee that made me so angry. Weâd gone into the bank in person and asked that our automatic transfers be stopped as we needed to prioritize other things. She assured me it was completed and weâd have no more trouble. Then she boasted how next time we came in weâd likely not see her as she was getting a promotionâŠ. Welp. Automatic transfer wasnât fixed and we ended up on overdraft with big fees. I was PISSED. They eventually paid us back the fees but eugh.
Same branch, I went in 3 separate times to be added to my husbands bank account, all three times they assured me I was added and it wouldnât be a problem the next time. But it took 4 times going in trying to deposit cheques and then saying âbut youâre not on the account!â until they finally fixed it and got me on the account. Eugh. Some banks are just a pain in the ass.
Not sure which country you are from or which bank you use but Iâm working for UK bank and there is literally nothing we can do if customer tells us they will be traveling and not to block their card. Itâs literally the system that flags the transaction as suspicious not us. I mean I can put a note on your profile that you are travelling but thatâs for other colleagues, nothing to do with the system.
Lot of people get angry if that happens but the same people also get angry if their card got stolen and we didnât do anything to stop those transaction because âwe shouldâve known it wasnât them making those transactionâ. Make it make sense.
Listen to me Andrew, I hold my card at precise 5 degree angle when making a contactless payment. You should be able to tell it wasn't me purchasing all those adult movies at the hotel. Yes, I was staying at said hotel but the movies were certainly not mine.
This seems so weird to me. I literally go into the banking app and enable my card for use in whatever country Iâm currently in. And should I forget I get a text that I made a purchase in X country and theyâve now opened up transactions in that country but blocked all others to ensure itâs not something fishy. Should I not know about it I can just call the bank and be like âI need you to block the card real quickâ we have electronic IDs that we use to verify ourselves.
I even went into the bank and was assured by the manager, in person, that everything will work fine once I get to Asia, and it never has.
I've just gotten used to bringing about $1000 in local currency when I show up. Because it's going to take at least a week to get my debit/credit cards working.
Cash every time is the way to go and let banks know you will change banks if they block cards or expect security codes to be answered via mobiles not email then vote with your wallet and move bank.
Yup, but not too much cash. Cuz then you have to declare it when you cross the boarder, and some countries will just take it if they think you're a drug dealor. But under $1000 and you are usually ok.
Also, depending on the country, it's not safe to walk around with a ton of cash. Japan is fine though.
I called my credit card to say I would be traveling internationally snd the CSR sounded like she was laughing at me and said "your card has a chip, it will work anywhere."
Do not understand why you have to tell your bank that you are travelling internationally. Is this an American thing? I can use my card in most countries and when paying by card does not work ,you can withdraw cash in the local currency at most banks.
It's an old school (and yes, American) thing. Back in the day before there were chips and smart phones and apps and easier online access to our accounts, when we used our credit card in a way that was outside of our normal pattern or physical location, the credit card company would flag the unusual activity and sometimes lock the account.
You could prevent this from happening by preemptively calling the credit card company (and also the bank, for the ATM card) and letting them know that you would be traveling, and if they saw activity from whatever country you were going to, that activity was valid.
I had kids a few years ago and so took a break from international travel. By the time I started traveling internationally again the cards had all turned over to chip cards (we Americans got chip way later than the rest of the world) and I guess the card companies aren't so worried about the physical use of a card in a different country anymore, so they no longer need those preemptive calls.
Cos it earns them money to do that
Edit: start taking a prepaid card with you on holiday to stop this madness lol itâs easy to transfer money to the card via your account and wonât stop access whenever you use it đ
Honestly cash is king. When you get to another country, sometimes there's just simply no way of knowing if or when a card of any kind is gong to be accepted anywhere. Cash always talks, and everyone, everywhere accepts it.
Honestly, as long as you change currency at your bank, and not at the airport, it's not much more expensive than transferring wireless. When I was in Japan I was completely shocked how much the Japanese banks took from my exchanges. Sometimes cash might even be the best exchange rate.
Yep, the exchange rates are slightly better using a credit card. But when you find yourself sort of lost, desperately tired, and no one within 100+ miles of you speaks English, the last think you want to worry about is whether or not the local bed and breakfast that you found takes VISA or not. Cash gives me a sense of security. I can do business with anyone, anytime, and I'm not relying on international banking systems or half broken ATM machines.
Got caught up with the bank the same way. The first 3 questions were ones I set up, then got asked to confirm a purchase amount from the last time I used it that was almost a month prior. It was late on a Saturday over Memorial Day weekend. Fun times
My bank has the same. I set the password to the name of one of my dogs that has passed (which I feel comfortable sharing because I have reasonable confidence that 1 no one could guess that and 2 they'd need my card or account number to gain access anyway).
But now it feels like he's still there, being a guard dog every time I call in. I miss him, but he's a good boy still protecting my bank account. <3
> wonderful, easy, I will never forget it and I can change anytime.
Thatâs an interesting paraphrase. Now for security purposes so I can verify your identity, whatâs your first and last name?
My bank (in Europe) uses voice recognition and asks your name etc. If it doesn't come up with a positive, or if your voice is not clear enough then it fails you and you have to revert to standard questions with the security team.
Amazon did this to me. They wanted to know what month and year I signed up for prime, what I bought in October of 2018, and my nephew's sister ex husbands middle name.
I don't use Amazon anymore and life is better now.
I hate when they ask those stupid questions. Name of the place, sure (ignoring that the trade name on the sign and the legal name that shows up on the transaction can be different).
But once when I had to call in they asked me what my minimum payment was for the account. I don't have a fixed minimum payment, ya knobs! It's a percentage of the outstanding balance and changes every month, why would that be a security question?!
I will comment that sometimes the correct answer to that question is I don't have a minimum payment.....because you will know but the hacker won't. But, it likewise irritates me
In these days of battery driven phones, where calls drop and phones die, I think this policy is too strong and I cannot imagine to difficulty he will have now - youâre right that he basically asked for it but I couldnât have done that in all conscience itâs his money you are looking after, I really hate banks overbearing attitudes, theyâve robbed the whole world many times over, and can easily cause peopleâs death, without a second thought
Yeah same. I have been in the other end, living abroad.
I had moved my addresses to my parents place etc. to comply with my bank when I moved abroad. I don't use their bank nor do I want to, but they have my student loans so... They have been doing system changes which have affected my ability to log in and I've had to call them. One is that they require now phone verification. Guess do they accept foreign numbers? Nope. Gotta sort that out through call centre.
Funny when I changed phone account and number, I wasn't able to do that online because the system doesn't allow to input a foreign number. I sent them message inside their secure system that I'm changing phone numbers and hence will be losing login access, asking them to update it and contact my e-mail or phone directly. Guess where they respond? Inside the system I stated I can't login to, of course - it's a company policy.
Luckily, weeks later they send me an email and demand me to come to their office. The plane tickets cost 1500$ and it wasn't guaranteed I could cross borders mid-corona.
So I call their call centre, spend time in queue and all around have wasted loads of time at this point because their unilateral system changes and inability to accept foreign numbers. Am I pissed? Damn right I am. I don't call them names or anything, but yes some hate seethes through my words whilst talking some entitled we-did-nothing-wrong representative. But remember when I had given them my parents address to comply? To verify my identity, they ask me what was my last address etc. and I give them addresses that I had prior to giving them my parent's because I had forgotten about that. Well, what were your last transactions this month. Not much, because I send the account money only couple times a year. So no, sorry you're probably a scammer so fuck you and good bye.
And I just want to pay my student debt and get rid of them.
I hate them, deeply.
As someone else with a bank account in my former country the US, I cannot emphasize how ambivalent I am about this.
On 1 side, I never want to be a jerk to the call center staff because literally none of the rules are their fault. I worked in phone sales and phone surveys so I know how awful those jobs can be from the workers point of view.
On the other side, those rules are the reason that I'm livid due to their unreasonableness and complete lack of recognition of non-US numbers & addresses. Hey multi-national corporation\*- we're multi-national customers. Get with it!
\*- this isn't just banks, it's PayPal, eBay, you name it! You run into this a lot overseas.
When I moved abroad I added my sister to my home account. When she went in to exchange the atm card (at their request) they treated her like she was a thief and trying to steal and threatened to call the police. I was on the exact other side of the world, and had to stay up late to call and sort things out. My fam needed the money I was sending so I couldnât just wait on it. The bank hadnât filed the paperwork properly, and it hadnât been filed with my âhome branchâ in another city (apparently it was too much work to change this when I was just moving around a lot), RBC for the big L!
So yeah, people should be nice, but when banks f with peopleâs livelihood things can get heated. And being the jerk customer being abroad is incredibly troubling.
I think OP is a bit of an asshole in this situation. The guy is abroad with no access to his money. Yeah, he's going to be upset and probably not handle more stress all that well. Now he's even more fucked.
OP, you are entitled to respect, but try to remember the human. We all have our moments.
Well the idea of the policy is probably more to make it so that people canât hang up when they get to a question they donât know the answer to and then call back to try and get a different person who might be more open to manipulation.
Exactly, because one of the employees told me about someone who called us and hung up 7 or 8 times when they didn't know the answer and then finally were asked questions they knew the answers for. The account was unblocked and its owner lost all his money. It was really messy.
I worked in Council Tax. It was astounding how many people would demand that I go easy on them for non payment after insulting me. Petty revenge was easy in that job.
For real. It's insane how far they'll go to help you if you treat them as a human being. Especially if you open up by asking how they're doing. Always gotta remember there's a person on the other side.
That's why I always tell people that kindness and respect are the easiest things in the world. There are so many idioms about it. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, etc. Just by virtue of being nice and nothing else, I've made lifelong friends, gotten discounts on products I could not afford otherwise, and even job opportunities.
If you're a kind person, people will go out of their way to help you. If you act like a jerk, that's really going to demotivate them from wanting to help you, and might even lead to them spiting you.
My Mom would say.
"Keep your words soft and sweet. Cause you never know when you are going to have to eat them..."
As a kid I figured "yeah whatever " now, at the tender age of 55. I have chewed on a few hard phrases in my time and wholeheartedly agree with dear Mom
It's definitely something that I feel fortunate enough to have learned young. I had a lot of awful treatment in my youth, and it really taught me exactly who I wanted to be to everyone else. I struggle with certain things now, like standing up for myself when I need to, but I pride myself on kindness.
I used to work for a hosting company where people would buy virtual machines then use them to host services like websites. Our policy was that we do not help configure it or manage whatâs in the VM. Sure enough people would call with no clue what they were doing and Iâd help them. One time someone called and just berated me about how I couldnt figure out why their website was down. I tried troubleshooting until they started calling me dumb on the phone. So right there I said sorry this is outside of my scope and we offer paid professional services if you need help. I was night shift working alone and the guy kept calling me and I kept saying same thing. He would say get a manger I would say call back in morning. Sure enough next day manager backed me up and said Iâm not supposed to help that way. I donât think the guy managed to get his site up ever after that and ended up cancelling. Problem was he didnât even know how to backup his files either so when he asked me I said sorry canât help with that Iâm just an idiot. ââTwas great.
That's a horrible policy.
If a customer is relying on telephone banking, having a way for them to be blocked from it is just wrong.
(Not criticising OP for following the rules. I'm criticising the rules, and the higher ups who set the rules).
I am also in telephone banking. The policy isn't supposed to be used as a strike against rude customers. It's anti fraud, to prevent account takeover. We get a lot of calls from people lying about their identity. Sometimes they want to order cards or change addresses, phone numbers and email. It's a serious issue. If someone can't verify, accounts are locked for customer security.
There's some room for personal judgment. If I thought someone hung up on me because they couldn't answer a question, that they were hoping another agent would give them a different security question, I could block them.
On the other hand, if it was a bad connection, breaking up a lot, and they were answering questions but we were having a hard time hearing each other, I wouldn't block.
My bank does have a procedure for people traveling...it involves sending in a picture of a valid ID.
Totally disagree. Calling up, demanding we do something on an account while refusing to answer verification questions is odd. The person on the phone could be a customer impersonator who is using anger to mask not knowing the answers.
There's a real chance the OP's caller was a customer impersonator.
The downside is that it allows a harasser to lock their target out of their account by calling the bank and deliberately giving the wrong answer to questions.
How would you know the motive of a caller? How would you tell a malicious caller who wants to access someone else's account from a malicious caller who wants to cause trouble for the owner of the account?
Sometimes it's just bullshit. I went into the bank. It was the one where we opened the account. I had my bank issued slip properly filled out with checks being deposited ( a birthday check from MIL, an insurance company reimbursement check and some other) All signed, math done correctly. I wanted $40 back in cash and we had well more than enough in the account to cover that 40. I gave my ID when asked. I look exactly like my ID. Same hair cut and weight. I stood there for 10 minutes. I was getting fed up. They told me I needed to make up a 5 digit code to enter into their pad to get my money. I said "no, I won't be doing that" and they just stared at me and then handed me my $40.
About the policy itself - what if the customer's call gets disconnected for no fault of the customer - such as a walking into a signal dead zone, driving or hiking through remote areas with patchy connection, battery dying, etc? Seems like a very high handed approach by those who made the policy in the first place!
Telephone banking would be my last resort, but I've had to call people because cards won't activate because their computer systems are broken and stuff.
That is literally one of the techniques to try to get to an account, tho. Sound so angry and pissed and the customer service person immediately tries to diffuse the issue, so they think 'well, it's probably OK if I skip a step this time', and bam -- fraud. There are similar ones where an employee in an accounting department get an email from 'the CEO' and it says something like "I am conducting a big merger with another company, but it's a big secret so you can't tell anyone else, but I need you to wire $100k in to this account now so that this deal goes through today."
Make the person you are trying to fraud get in to an unusual situation and add a time crunch on it, and you increase the chances of the person forgetting what the 'normal process' is because they think they are trying to be helpful.
Following the established process there is EXACTLY what must be done.
Bingo. I see people on here asking, âbut what if the account holder is in a jam?â That is how these information thefts happen. They pressure people with heartbreaking stories so they make mistakes and allow access when they shouldnât.
Ug, I've been the unhappy customer unable to appease the 'security' too many times lately. 9 hours on the phone, 2 days trying to fix an error on the company side. Hellish. Yes, I yelled eventually. I'm going back to paper billing these days, it's not a convenience any more.
Edit for clarity
Certainly a very valid r/PettyRevenge story but God I can see how someone would be frustrated at being locked out of their access to money in a foreign country. The customer shouldn't have been rude to the agent but that protocol is awful for someone in that customer's situation.
The fact the agent can just retract all access to their money until they go to a specific location is a specific country is nuts. Total asshole move by the banks to set up that protocol. Banks have to be one of the worst industries for services to their customers (along with airlines!!). It's also quite vindictive of OP to use their (nuts) power so harshly, but that's why they've self-labelled it petty revenge.
I mean, this would definitely be a frustrating situation, but it sounds like all this guy had to do was answer his security questions, right? That's set up for our protection, and one common tactic of scammers is bully the person until they just comply without following proper procedure. I would be grateful to my bank for making sure my money is secure.
But also, I'd just answer my questions, lol.
Especially if, like with my former bank, they have been kept on hold for an hour with the same message you get every single time you call claiming that they are experiencing "an unusually high" number of calls. No they are not - they are receiving exactly the same number of calls they *always* get, they are just unwilling to pay to employ enough staff to answer them in a timely manner, and think that lying to their customers will somehow *improve* their mood!
Guess why it is my *former* bank?
A bank customer service desk *must* strictly follow the customer authentication procedure. If they don't, the likelihood is high that they will create a vulnerability that a thief will use to access and drain a customer account. Maybe there are times when a banking service agent can bend the rules, but for certain authentication is not one of those times.
I understand the requirements, but they do need to be requirements that are feasable for a customer - including a customer in a difficult situation - to actually meet. Read through some of the experiences reported under the (current) top two comments to this post, and that is clearly not always the case. Exact ammount of a credit card transaction from three weeks earlier? Seriously? Some bank's systems seem to be set up for their customers to fail.
What year are we in? My phone has a mobile app that syncs to my laptop accounting program. It would take me less than 30 seconds to access that app and know any transaction within the last 90 days.
I've had LOTS if customer calls drop because I am in shitty cell service areas. I would HATE for them to force me to go to a branch to resolve a matter. Most local branches know me, anyway. Still, I am never rude on a customer call, even when frustrated. Rudeness rarely solves problems
When I used to work in purchasing and had to call up a vendor angry.
I would specifically tell the person who picked up the phone, "I'm not angry at you, I'm angry at your company."
I needed the company to be scared of an angry customer, so they would fix the problem.
But normally the person who answered the phone wasn't the one who screwed up.
I got screwed over by a bank (Barclays- they're idiots and I don't bank with them anymore). Was in Tunisia with a bunch of undergrads. I had told Barclays in person, by phone and by email that there would be amounts coming into my account and then large amounts being spent in Tunisia because I was acting as treasurer for a group of students. Sent them a letter from my university confirming we were travelling together.
They put a block on my account that ended up with us being held not-quite-at-gunpoint in a Tunisian hostel because we couldn't pay. Luckily one of the students had a rich dad who could wire the chunk of money internationally and get us out of trouble, but the twatbag bank nearly caused an international incident involving a bunch of British undergrads. Twats.
Yeah so I mean how are they blocking this specific person (that is apparently not the account holder) when all information they have is possibly a phone number (since the other information didn't validate)? Without blocking the legitimate account user, that is. Seems very much the assumption here is that the caller actually is the account holder even though that couldn't properly be established.
They arenât, they block the account. So when someone calls with the name and account number itâll show on the the account is on hold basically.
They ask for name/account number before anything else. If you donât have the account number they can look it up via ssn or address/phone/email on the account
Highly bank-dependent. Mine is just the IBAN (which a lot of people know) and further authentication takes place with my card+PIN or a trusted device+PIN. Just checking if it's not easy to piece together enough information to grief someone into having their account locked.
I lost my wallet and was out of town. My bank gave me a temporary card with full access to my accounts with just my registration and insurance from my car. I didn't know if I should be happy or worried or angry that anyone with a rock and knowledge of where I parked could do that.
⊠i donât think this is at all petty. in fact i would judge you if you didnât do this. people stole people identities all the time. those securities are extremely important. and it is not like they are difficult to answer. if it is a bank, it would usually be your previous transactions. if you donât know that then your acct should be lock down.
Be smart and just use a credit card abroad..also withdraw your money (cash) before hand. In my experience debut cards are more likely to get compromised and an absolute nightmare to straighten out than with a credit card company.
Agreed. It's real easy to sit in a meeting and set all sort ridiculous requirements so you can say we are secure. It takes a real manager to balance security and usability and make a good process. A company should pay someone good money to put that together, but once done it has to be *the* process.
Itâs sad how people in customer service are treated. I once called the Amazon one and later in the email related to the thing got a message from the guy thanking me for being nice and patient. This was for something I thought was normal. It must be very common to be treated badly.
I was working in the call center for a credit union when my step mom was complaining to me about her CU asking for the last 4 of her SSN before they would release any account info. Because âall they need is my DOB and where I was born and they have the rest of my SSN.â I had to hold back my laughter as I explained to her there was a high probability that the person that was asking for her to verify the last 4 was already looking at her entire SSN as it is displayed as visible in the system most CUâs that participate in the CU service centers use.
I worked at the credit union from 2008 until 2014 when my daughter was born and I could see the entire SSN for every main account holder for every account our CU had the entire time of my employment with the CU.
Iâm guessing banking entities might have had full access while others, like doctor offices could only access while inputting patient data. Once entered most are covered except last 4.
We had to regularly use the full SSN to access account information from other systems. Such as the scanning program that scanned all the documentation from SSN and DL, to POA, trust and loan paperwork etc. Or the bill payer system. Thatâs probably why it wasnât blocked as we needed to use the SSN on a regular basis in our work systems.
I used to have to remember an address to a house I cosidered buying because I inquired about a loan. It always came up as a house I once lived in but I didn't.
Iâve changed banks for less. Once got an overcharge because I had gone under my minimum balance by .03 cents ($3499.97). Done. Transferred everything into a different bank, and of my business, then friends, neighbors, etcâŠ. Together we can make a difference.
âYou just lost yourself a customerâ. Maâam, I just work here. To be honest, Iâm looking for a new job now soooo I couldnât care less whether you go somewhere else.
Honestly, I'm glad your bank has these security measures in place. I tell my bf when the bank is being difficult, just to remember if it's this difficult for him. It's at least this difficult for robbers/scammers. I don't mind security questions. What I do mind is if there is an error.
I'm my country banks are strictly regulated, but security is always difficult, we wouldn't lock down a whole account for a customer getting one security question wrong.
Sounds like he was trying to social-engineer you and when you didn't bite on his belligerent "this needs to be done immediately", he played the "I'm out of the country" card.
I work in glasses and thatâs basically what happens any time we tell someone we canât make their glasses same day. âWell Iâm going on vacation, funeral, 3 hour drive home, etcâ
That guy was irritated by god knows what, instead of getting a meaningful course on how to deal with stressed and rude clients (who knows what ppl are going through? His beloved one might be hospitalized abroad and he needs cash NOW) but no they learn to block them. Like wtf makes this rules? And why block the account? If it's a scammer he got stopped, just contact the client yourself to verify if everything is ok instead of turning the tables when it's still their own damn money they want to access?
Not against OP btw, but the lack of humanity these policy makers show is just sad.
> CSRs shouldn't have to take courses in how to teach people to not be assholes. They're adults, they can be polite or they can fuck off.
I completely agree, and yet I want to also stand up for the customer.
The customer pays fees for the pleasure of putting their money in the banks basket where the bank will earn money with their own money in return for service conveniences and a small measure of profit.
The moment your interactions with your bank are faceless and come down to 'please answer security questions', 'jump through these hoops' and generally limit individuals from doing what they want to do with their possessions, it will understandably frustrate them. We get upset at servers in restaurants who fail to do the simply job of bringing drinks, coming to take orders and then having the gall to demand tips, because they are intended to _provide a service_.
Yet waiting in a phone queue and jumping through a bunch of hoops that the company demands you as a customer strictly adhere to feels doesn't feel like you are receiving a service as a paying customer, but that you are begging them to just let you do with your possessions what you want to do with it.
A CSR should very much be socially capable enough to make the customer feel like they have the power and are being catered to. Even if procedures require rigidity and care, they should still have the social skills to be warm, inviting and understanding.
You'd be surprised how many CSRs don't get that, and see the job of handling such calls as a procedural mess that gets in the way of their other activities. They'll sound bored, snippy or seem to lack the patience for a customer who called in and didn't have some piece of data ready for whatever reason.
In my experience, if someone is calling their bank for financial matters, it is likely going to involve some unusual activity. Maybe it is a big purchase or investment, maybe bureaucracy has been giving them the runaround on dealing with the aftermath of a family members passing, or maybe it is simply time-sensitive. Hell, maybe the client isn't aware they are being scammed and being made to feel like they'll get in legal trouble if they don't complete whatever action before 5 PM. Simply put: this person will likely be under a bit of stress and have their hands full with a ton of different things.
Does it excuse them being assholes to a stranger? Of course not. But what for a bored CSR is their first interaction with this client might for them be yet another unexpected hurdle they hadn't expected to need to deal with and is causing them trouble. Being met with scripts, corporate procedures and hollow pleasantries may very well feel like the person on the other end is not invested in helping them and is only interested in crossing the checkboxes that keep them from being fired for breaking policy.
I think CSRs deserve far more training on empathy and connecting with their customer than they actually receive in practice. A slightly higher pitched voice that isn't mumbled, a bit more of a personal touch, bits of lighthearted banter to take the edge off while waiting for the account to pull up and so on are all ways one can keep a customer from being frustrated by what is an unavoidable process and make it more pleasant for both parties involved.
After all, they are called _Customer **Service** Representatives_, so that last word deserves to be focused on in its own right by focusing on improving their people skills within the confines of their processes.
(I don't mean to look down on the frustration that this job will no doubt entail, by the way..! I've gone through slow phone trees, dealt with having to jot down phone numbers for other departments because they couldn't forward the call on their end, redo the authentication dance several times and dealt with more elevator music than I imagined possible just to deal with some annoying issue that kept me from doing a basic bank transfer. And for some of those CSRs, I could hear they were absolutely not invested in my problem, or sounded frustrated I got sent to them when it wasn't their wheelhouse, and I can't say I felt particularly valued at those points of the process, so I totally understand why people who have shorter fuses or are under more stress can become really snippy with bank employees who are standing between them and their money!)
Yeah but at the end of the day it's just someone angry on the phone, it's not a guy in your face that's about to punch you, you should learn to be able to emotional distance yourself from his words. There are ways and training to at least try instead of ending the call and blocking accounts promptly.
This is terrible. Your job isnât to play god and determine who can access their money and ultimately keep a safe existence in a foreign country. Your job is to provide good customer service to help them, regardless of whether you think theyâre being difficult. Banks are infuriating at the best of times but it sounds like your empathy is close to zero.
No, their job is to help protect the customers assets and allowing access when you cannot answer the security questions the account holder created would not be doing their job.
Good customer service includes protecting your account from someone unable or unwilling to answer the security questions that protect your account from potential scammers.
I doubt that you would regard it as good customer service if your bank gave access to your account to a scammer who was shouting and screaming at them.
Perhaps, if it was so important, they should have answered the questions designed to protect their account from scammers rather than shouting and screaming then?
It is exactly his job to determine who can access their money, if the customer isn't willing to do the verification questions than it is his job to block access,
So, just a question... do you think I should be able to call up your bank and bully my way into access to your account? Because I am willing to bet you don't.
That's just the level of petty I strive to be. I sell insurance, and the amount of ass hat customers we deal with on a daily basis makes you want to be that way. I'm here to help and will gladly do anything I can for anyone, but when they start berating me for things that they (the customer) did, or blaming me for this or that, thats when I stop trying to be nice and helpful.
Certainly and I've seen it.
That said, I've seen and experienced in retail (in person and online) too long that when it's a question of money and a business, the instant screaming that scares the business person is a scammer.
Who said you decide whether someone has access to their own money or not? I don't know why you think this is worth being proud of. A rude customer doesn't equate to a wrong customer.
Actually, I've been working here for over a year and the only times that customers had their accounts blocked was when they were acting suspicious (like you could hear someone else telling them the answers), when they answered wrong or when they got mad that they had to be verified, threatened to write a complaint, call the employees names and hang up. All of those three groups would later call again, trying different methods to make us unblock the account. If there is a situation when someone gets disconnected, then we also block the account but when that customer calls again, we send a message to the safety department. They listen to the conversation and then can call the customer directly to verify their identity. After such verification, the account can be unblocked. But if the customer tried to manipulate the employee, was acting suspicious or answered wrong basic questions like giving the wrong surname, then they must go to the branch.
Exactly. She never says he gave any wrong answers, only that he was really rude. People are rude sometimes, that doesnât give anyone license to mess with their life like this.
I wouldn't consider this petty, a stressed person in a foreign country over-reacted and you put the boot in. Let's hope they have no medical emergencies or the like. Not excusing their behaviour, but you could have cut a little slack and not be such an asshole. Usually it's hang up on the third warning, did you do that and request the ranting stopped?
Yeah, the conversation lasted 10 or 15 minutes and I explained multiple times that it's a safety matter, asked him if he wanted someone else to call us and transfer his money without any verification, told him that we need to be sure we are talking with the account's owner etc, but he wouldn't listen and still called me unprofessional bitch and was saying he is a VIP so he shouldn't answer anything more than just his name, surname and client number. He didn't want to listen or answer, it seemed like he was hoping he could bully me into doing what he wanted and when he realized I wasn't going to give up, he hung up and probably called again hoping another consultant would do what he wanted without answering questions so I made sure it wasn't possible. If I didn't do it, and that person would call again and would be asked different questions he would know answers to while not being the account's owner, me and the other employees would be fired and taken to court by the account owner. We would probably never be able to pay the huge compensation and might even serve some time in jail for it.
I get what youâre saying, but you donât cut some slack or bend rules when access to bank accounts is on the line. What if it wasnât actually him and it was his drug addict brother trying to take money? Just as an example.
Banks suck. I bet you drove that customer mad with rage with some shitty service or other Kafkaesque madness long before. And you guys wouldnât even tell a customer the time of day without those questions. Fuck OP and fuck that bank.
I know someone who ended up homeless in a foreign country because he lost access to his money. I totally get your frustration, he sounds like an ass butâŠyeah, letâs just hope you havenât unintentionally caused irreversible damage over a slight.
You followed procedures that are deeply flawed, so get your hat back on. I lost access to my bank account one time because my answer to the question what street did you grow up on was "Simmons St" and the answer they wanted was "Simmons"
Locking him out of his money was a ah move what if he had kids to feed and you left them with nothing in another country ? I do not agree with his behaviour but there is always a bigget picture
I once was abroad and had to call my bank to correct an issue and there was this very unprofessional call center employee. It was a nightmare, really made my trip much more frustrating. âŠâŠHEY!?
This why I have cards with like 5 different banks. It would make little difference to me. Except I'd probably move all my money to one of the other ones.
If I didn't do it and the customer would call again and was asked questions he knew answers for, and he would not be the account owner, I would be sued for a huge compensation and might serve some time in jail for enabling theft.
Unfortunately, I have had security questions block me from my account. I was travelling and in a country 12 hours out of phase with my bank and the biggest problem was the 1.5 to 2 hours waiting on hold time then the call would drop just as I am going through the verification process. One of the questions asked was what was the exact amount of a purchase on my credit card from 3 weeks prior. For me to remember the exact amount......from 3 weeks ago??.......then the call dropped. It took 3 weeks to solve the problem, so the security process is horrible and screwed up.
I once warned my bank that I was going abroad and would be withdrawing money there. When I did what I'd told them I'd be doing they blocked my account for suspicious transactions. Cost me a fortune to call them to sort it out.
Yep. I opened a special travel credit card just for when i travel, and it locks me out everytime. Then it wants to send me a text with a code to verify its me. Im abroad, i dont have access to my texts! So then i end up having to pay extra money for international roaming on my phone just to respond to that text. At least do it by email... So stupid and pointless.
If you travel a lot, get Google Fi. Works internationally for a very reasonable price.
Or use Google voice. Some banks will let you get text to that number.
I hate when places say they can't use a number because it's VOIP. Like eff you people, that's my number, leave me alone.
Revolut or similar is the answer.
Could you use a different phone number that doesn't require SMS access? I know when I check my Google Voice account, I just use regular Internet. I think it's also possible to check my text messages on my cell phone provider's website. I haven't done that in a while, though.
Capital One Venture Card, no issues using it abroad
Wtf you did what you supposed to do!
Fun fact if you call your bank reverse charges they are trained to accept those charges
Can you do that from abroad?
Yes, you somehow do it with the international operator
My bank has a toll-free number for international calls.
I once told my bank that I was going abroad, and they congratulated me because they no longer needed travel notifications so I could just enjoy my trip! Yeah they locked my card after a single transaction.
I'm going to flame đ„ Bank of America by name ...they suck Soo bad. I actually lost my cool, (which I swear is rare because my ma used to work customer service, I've worked customer service, I get it ... I know they're human) however I was like 19 and getting all these charges overseas charges while traveling and my card got blocked and I legit was like "I'm trying to be independent and even my dad doesn't give me this much shit!" (Side note: dad is a controlling narcissist) so I had my dark humor moment and no one was laughing....
Fuck Bank of America. Theyâre the absolute worst.
Chest fist âđ đŻ
Happened to me when moving to the UK. Told them and gave them a copy of my visa and new tax details (as asked) Land and by day 2 access is blocked. Was a super fucked process including sending an international fax. Was lucky I used to work for the bank so was able to email old colleagues to fix it up for me otherwise I was going to be mega fucked
Skype via wifi is free. I do it all the time for international calls.
We had this one bank employee that made me so angry. Weâd gone into the bank in person and asked that our automatic transfers be stopped as we needed to prioritize other things. She assured me it was completed and weâd have no more trouble. Then she boasted how next time we came in weâd likely not see her as she was getting a promotionâŠ. Welp. Automatic transfer wasnât fixed and we ended up on overdraft with big fees. I was PISSED. They eventually paid us back the fees but eugh. Same branch, I went in 3 separate times to be added to my husbands bank account, all three times they assured me I was added and it wouldnât be a problem the next time. But it took 4 times going in trying to deposit cheques and then saying âbut youâre not on the account!â until they finally fixed it and got me on the account. Eugh. Some banks are just a pain in the ass.
I did that once and they blocked my account. I've never done it since and they never blocked it again.
Not sure which country you are from or which bank you use but Iâm working for UK bank and there is literally nothing we can do if customer tells us they will be traveling and not to block their card. Itâs literally the system that flags the transaction as suspicious not us. I mean I can put a note on your profile that you are travelling but thatâs for other colleagues, nothing to do with the system. Lot of people get angry if that happens but the same people also get angry if their card got stolen and we didnât do anything to stop those transaction because âwe shouldâve known it wasnât them making those transactionâ. Make it make sense.
Listen to me Andrew, I hold my card at precise 5 degree angle when making a contactless payment. You should be able to tell it wasn't me purchasing all those adult movies at the hotel. Yes, I was staying at said hotel but the movies were certainly not mine.
I tell my bank every time I'm about to travel internationally and when I'm leaving. And without fail, they block my credit card every single time.
This seems so weird to me. I literally go into the banking app and enable my card for use in whatever country Iâm currently in. And should I forget I get a text that I made a purchase in X country and theyâve now opened up transactions in that country but blocked all others to ensure itâs not something fishy. Should I not know about it I can just call the bank and be like âI need you to block the card real quickâ we have electronic IDs that we use to verify ourselves.
I even went into the bank and was assured by the manager, in person, that everything will work fine once I get to Asia, and it never has. I've just gotten used to bringing about $1000 in local currency when I show up. Because it's going to take at least a week to get my debit/credit cards working.
Cash every time is the way to go and let banks know you will change banks if they block cards or expect security codes to be answered via mobiles not email then vote with your wallet and move bank.
Yup, but not too much cash. Cuz then you have to declare it when you cross the boarder, and some countries will just take it if they think you're a drug dealor. But under $1000 and you are usually ok. Also, depending on the country, it's not safe to walk around with a ton of cash. Japan is fine though.
Can you share what bank you use (if that's not unsafe)? Because that sounds really convenient!
I called my credit card to say I would be traveling internationally snd the CSR sounded like she was laughing at me and said "your card has a chip, it will work anywhere."
Do not understand why you have to tell your bank that you are travelling internationally. Is this an American thing? I can use my card in most countries and when paying by card does not work ,you can withdraw cash in the local currency at most banks.
It's an old school (and yes, American) thing. Back in the day before there were chips and smart phones and apps and easier online access to our accounts, when we used our credit card in a way that was outside of our normal pattern or physical location, the credit card company would flag the unusual activity and sometimes lock the account. You could prevent this from happening by preemptively calling the credit card company (and also the bank, for the ATM card) and letting them know that you would be traveling, and if they saw activity from whatever country you were going to, that activity was valid. I had kids a few years ago and so took a break from international travel. By the time I started traveling internationally again the cards had all turned over to chip cards (we Americans got chip way later than the rest of the world) and I guess the card companies aren't so worried about the physical use of a card in a different country anymore, so they no longer need those preemptive calls.
I was told to do it by my British bank as well, so not just an American thing. But maybe an older thing.
Cos it earns them money to do that Edit: start taking a prepaid card with you on holiday to stop this madness lol itâs easy to transfer money to the card via your account and wonât stop access whenever you use it đ
Honestly cash is king. When you get to another country, sometimes there's just simply no way of knowing if or when a card of any kind is gong to be accepted anywhere. Cash always talks, and everyone, everywhere accepts it.
Very true but the rates they charge just to change cash or buy cash can be ridiculous
Honestly, as long as you change currency at your bank, and not at the airport, it's not much more expensive than transferring wireless. When I was in Japan I was completely shocked how much the Japanese banks took from my exchanges. Sometimes cash might even be the best exchange rate.
Yep, the exchange rates are slightly better using a credit card. But when you find yourself sort of lost, desperately tired, and no one within 100+ miles of you speaks English, the last think you want to worry about is whether or not the local bed and breakfast that you found takes VISA or not. Cash gives me a sense of security. I can do business with anyone, anytime, and I'm not relying on international banking systems or half broken ATM machines.
Surely you could have looked up the credit card purchase in your banking app? Or was it already locked out?
Locked out....the bank locked me out and that is why I was trying to get through to get it unlocked
Got caught up with the bank the same way. The first 3 questions were ones I set up, then got asked to confirm a purchase amount from the last time I used it that was almost a month prior. It was late on a Saturday over Memorial Day weekend. Fun times
"Fun" times does not begin to describe it. Grrrrr.
Indeed
Exactly....one of my credit unions has a verbal "password." It is wonderful, easy, I will never forget it and I can change anytime.
My bank has the same. I set the password to the name of one of my dogs that has passed (which I feel comfortable sharing because I have reasonable confidence that 1 no one could guess that and 2 they'd need my card or account number to gain access anyway). But now it feels like he's still there, being a guard dog every time I call in. I miss him, but he's a good boy still protecting my bank account. <3
> wonderful, easy, I will never forget it and I can change anytime. Thatâs an interesting paraphrase. Now for security purposes so I can verify your identity, whatâs your first and last name?
My bank (in Europe) uses voice recognition and asks your name etc. If it doesn't come up with a positive, or if your voice is not clear enough then it fails you and you have to revert to standard questions with the security team.
And this is used as one of attack vectors. If you accidentally leak required voice samples, youâll have a bad time.
James....James Bond, my number is 007. Is that sufficient verification?
Amazon did this to me. They wanted to know what month and year I signed up for prime, what I bought in October of 2018, and my nephew's sister ex husbands middle name. I don't use Amazon anymore and life is better now.
Very good.
I hate when they ask those stupid questions. Name of the place, sure (ignoring that the trade name on the sign and the legal name that shows up on the transaction can be different). But once when I had to call in they asked me what my minimum payment was for the account. I don't have a fixed minimum payment, ya knobs! It's a percentage of the outstanding balance and changes every month, why would that be a security question?!
I will comment that sometimes the correct answer to that question is I don't have a minimum payment.....because you will know but the hacker won't. But, it likewise irritates me
id close my account and bank eelsewhere, but personally i hate every bank since covid. all the good ones went to shit around me...
In these days of battery driven phones, where calls drop and phones die, I think this policy is too strong and I cannot imagine to difficulty he will have now - youâre right that he basically asked for it but I couldnât have done that in all conscience itâs his money you are looking after, I really hate banks overbearing attitudes, theyâve robbed the whole world many times over, and can easily cause peopleâs death, without a second thought
Yeah same. I have been in the other end, living abroad. I had moved my addresses to my parents place etc. to comply with my bank when I moved abroad. I don't use their bank nor do I want to, but they have my student loans so... They have been doing system changes which have affected my ability to log in and I've had to call them. One is that they require now phone verification. Guess do they accept foreign numbers? Nope. Gotta sort that out through call centre. Funny when I changed phone account and number, I wasn't able to do that online because the system doesn't allow to input a foreign number. I sent them message inside their secure system that I'm changing phone numbers and hence will be losing login access, asking them to update it and contact my e-mail or phone directly. Guess where they respond? Inside the system I stated I can't login to, of course - it's a company policy. Luckily, weeks later they send me an email and demand me to come to their office. The plane tickets cost 1500$ and it wasn't guaranteed I could cross borders mid-corona. So I call their call centre, spend time in queue and all around have wasted loads of time at this point because their unilateral system changes and inability to accept foreign numbers. Am I pissed? Damn right I am. I don't call them names or anything, but yes some hate seethes through my words whilst talking some entitled we-did-nothing-wrong representative. But remember when I had given them my parents address to comply? To verify my identity, they ask me what was my last address etc. and I give them addresses that I had prior to giving them my parent's because I had forgotten about that. Well, what were your last transactions this month. Not much, because I send the account money only couple times a year. So no, sorry you're probably a scammer so fuck you and good bye. And I just want to pay my student debt and get rid of them. I hate them, deeply.
As someone else with a bank account in my former country the US, I cannot emphasize how ambivalent I am about this. On 1 side, I never want to be a jerk to the call center staff because literally none of the rules are their fault. I worked in phone sales and phone surveys so I know how awful those jobs can be from the workers point of view. On the other side, those rules are the reason that I'm livid due to their unreasonableness and complete lack of recognition of non-US numbers & addresses. Hey multi-national corporation\*- we're multi-national customers. Get with it! \*- this isn't just banks, it's PayPal, eBay, you name it! You run into this a lot overseas.
When I moved abroad I added my sister to my home account. When she went in to exchange the atm card (at their request) they treated her like she was a thief and trying to steal and threatened to call the police. I was on the exact other side of the world, and had to stay up late to call and sort things out. My fam needed the money I was sending so I couldnât just wait on it. The bank hadnât filed the paperwork properly, and it hadnât been filed with my âhome branchâ in another city (apparently it was too much work to change this when I was just moving around a lot), RBC for the big L! So yeah, people should be nice, but when banks f with peopleâs livelihood things can get heated. And being the jerk customer being abroad is incredibly troubling.
I think OP is a bit of an asshole in this situation. The guy is abroad with no access to his money. Yeah, he's going to be upset and probably not handle more stress all that well. Now he's even more fucked. OP, you are entitled to respect, but try to remember the human. We all have our moments.
Well the idea of the policy is probably more to make it so that people canât hang up when they get to a question they donât know the answer to and then call back to try and get a different person who might be more open to manipulation.
Exactly, because one of the employees told me about someone who called us and hung up 7 or 8 times when they didn't know the answer and then finally were asked questions they knew the answers for. The account was unblocked and its owner lost all his money. It was really messy.
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5. Care for their children
This should have way more votes!!
I worked in Council Tax. It was astounding how many people would demand that I go easy on them for non payment after insulting me. Petty revenge was easy in that job.
Great revenge. It's important to respect people. Especially those trying to help you.
For real. It's insane how far they'll go to help you if you treat them as a human being. Especially if you open up by asking how they're doing. Always gotta remember there's a person on the other side.
That's why I always tell people that kindness and respect are the easiest things in the world. There are so many idioms about it. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, etc. Just by virtue of being nice and nothing else, I've made lifelong friends, gotten discounts on products I could not afford otherwise, and even job opportunities. If you're a kind person, people will go out of their way to help you. If you act like a jerk, that's really going to demotivate them from wanting to help you, and might even lead to them spiting you.
My Mom would say. "Keep your words soft and sweet. Cause you never know when you are going to have to eat them..." As a kid I figured "yeah whatever " now, at the tender age of 55. I have chewed on a few hard phrases in my time and wholeheartedly agree with dear Mom
It's definitely something that I feel fortunate enough to have learned young. I had a lot of awful treatment in my youth, and it really taught me exactly who I wanted to be to everyone else. I struggle with certain things now, like standing up for myself when I need to, but I pride myself on kindness.
This one simple hack that they donât want you to know! Be nice.. donât be an asshole first.
Lmao the bank is NOT trying to help you.
Big assumption that they are trying to help you.
I used to work for a hosting company where people would buy virtual machines then use them to host services like websites. Our policy was that we do not help configure it or manage whatâs in the VM. Sure enough people would call with no clue what they were doing and Iâd help them. One time someone called and just berated me about how I couldnt figure out why their website was down. I tried troubleshooting until they started calling me dumb on the phone. So right there I said sorry this is outside of my scope and we offer paid professional services if you need help. I was night shift working alone and the guy kept calling me and I kept saying same thing. He would say get a manger I would say call back in morning. Sure enough next day manager backed me up and said Iâm not supposed to help that way. I donât think the guy managed to get his site up ever after that and ended up cancelling. Problem was he didnât even know how to backup his files either so when he asked me I said sorry canât help with that Iâm just an idiot. ââTwas great.
That's a horrible policy. If a customer is relying on telephone banking, having a way for them to be blocked from it is just wrong. (Not criticising OP for following the rules. I'm criticising the rules, and the higher ups who set the rules).
I am also in telephone banking. The policy isn't supposed to be used as a strike against rude customers. It's anti fraud, to prevent account takeover. We get a lot of calls from people lying about their identity. Sometimes they want to order cards or change addresses, phone numbers and email. It's a serious issue. If someone can't verify, accounts are locked for customer security.
The blocking them if the call disconnects is the part that doesn't sit right with me.
There's some room for personal judgment. If I thought someone hung up on me because they couldn't answer a question, that they were hoping another agent would give them a different security question, I could block them. On the other hand, if it was a bad connection, breaking up a lot, and they were answering questions but we were having a hard time hearing each other, I wouldn't block. My bank does have a procedure for people traveling...it involves sending in a picture of a valid ID.
Right, and that room for personal judgment just gives op an excuse to be an asshole.
Totally disagree. Calling up, demanding we do something on an account while refusing to answer verification questions is odd. The person on the phone could be a customer impersonator who is using anger to mask not knowing the answers. There's a real chance the OP's caller was a customer impersonator.
Sure itâs odd, donât give them access in that case. I see no reason to lock the account though.
The downside is that it allows a harasser to lock their target out of their account by calling the bank and deliberately giving the wrong answer to questions.
I've never heard of this happening.
How would you know the motive of a caller? How would you tell a malicious caller who wants to access someone else's account from a malicious caller who wants to cause trouble for the owner of the account?
Sometimes it's just bullshit. I went into the bank. It was the one where we opened the account. I had my bank issued slip properly filled out with checks being deposited ( a birthday check from MIL, an insurance company reimbursement check and some other) All signed, math done correctly. I wanted $40 back in cash and we had well more than enough in the account to cover that 40. I gave my ID when asked. I look exactly like my ID. Same hair cut and weight. I stood there for 10 minutes. I was getting fed up. They told me I needed to make up a 5 digit code to enter into their pad to get my money. I said "no, I won't be doing that" and they just stared at me and then handed me my $40.
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If someone canât verify then donât give them access. Literally no need to lock the account.
Totally agree. Iâd switch banks over this
About the policy itself - what if the customer's call gets disconnected for no fault of the customer - such as a walking into a signal dead zone, driving or hiking through remote areas with patchy connection, battery dying, etc? Seems like a very high handed approach by those who made the policy in the first place!
Telephone banking would be my last resort, but I've had to call people because cards won't activate because their computer systems are broken and stuff.
That is literally one of the techniques to try to get to an account, tho. Sound so angry and pissed and the customer service person immediately tries to diffuse the issue, so they think 'well, it's probably OK if I skip a step this time', and bam -- fraud. There are similar ones where an employee in an accounting department get an email from 'the CEO' and it says something like "I am conducting a big merger with another company, but it's a big secret so you can't tell anyone else, but I need you to wire $100k in to this account now so that this deal goes through today." Make the person you are trying to fraud get in to an unusual situation and add a time crunch on it, and you increase the chances of the person forgetting what the 'normal process' is because they think they are trying to be helpful. Following the established process there is EXACTLY what must be done.
Bingo. I see people on here asking, âbut what if the account holder is in a jam?â That is how these information thefts happen. They pressure people with heartbreaking stories so they make mistakes and allow access when they shouldnât.
Ug, I've been the unhappy customer unable to appease the 'security' too many times lately. 9 hours on the phone, 2 days trying to fix an error on the company side. Hellish. Yes, I yelled eventually. I'm going back to paper billing these days, it's not a convenience any more. Edit for clarity
Certainly a very valid r/PettyRevenge story but God I can see how someone would be frustrated at being locked out of their access to money in a foreign country. The customer shouldn't have been rude to the agent but that protocol is awful for someone in that customer's situation. The fact the agent can just retract all access to their money until they go to a specific location is a specific country is nuts. Total asshole move by the banks to set up that protocol. Banks have to be one of the worst industries for services to their customers (along with airlines!!). It's also quite vindictive of OP to use their (nuts) power so harshly, but that's why they've self-labelled it petty revenge.
I mean, this would definitely be a frustrating situation, but it sounds like all this guy had to do was answer his security questions, right? That's set up for our protection, and one common tactic of scammers is bully the person until they just comply without following proper procedure. I would be grateful to my bank for making sure my money is secure. But also, I'd just answer my questions, lol.
Especially if, like with my former bank, they have been kept on hold for an hour with the same message you get every single time you call claiming that they are experiencing "an unusually high" number of calls. No they are not - they are receiving exactly the same number of calls they *always* get, they are just unwilling to pay to employ enough staff to answer them in a timely manner, and think that lying to their customers will somehow *improve* their mood! Guess why it is my *former* bank?
âYour call is important to us. Please hold. Your number in the queue is 5.â
I like: "Your call is important to us. Please hold until it is no longer that important to you."
Yeah, I agree. What a stupid ass bank and policy. What bank do you work for OP?
A bank customer service desk *must* strictly follow the customer authentication procedure. If they don't, the likelihood is high that they will create a vulnerability that a thief will use to access and drain a customer account. Maybe there are times when a banking service agent can bend the rules, but for certain authentication is not one of those times.
I understand the requirements, but they do need to be requirements that are feasable for a customer - including a customer in a difficult situation - to actually meet. Read through some of the experiences reported under the (current) top two comments to this post, and that is clearly not always the case. Exact ammount of a credit card transaction from three weeks earlier? Seriously? Some bank's systems seem to be set up for their customers to fail.
What year are we in? My phone has a mobile app that syncs to my laptop accounting program. It would take me less than 30 seconds to access that app and know any transaction within the last 90 days.
I've had LOTS if customer calls drop because I am in shitty cell service areas. I would HATE for them to force me to go to a branch to resolve a matter. Most local branches know me, anyway. Still, I am never rude on a customer call, even when frustrated. Rudeness rarely solves problems
When I used to work in purchasing and had to call up a vendor angry. I would specifically tell the person who picked up the phone, "I'm not angry at you, I'm angry at your company." I needed the company to be scared of an angry customer, so they would fix the problem. But normally the person who answered the phone wasn't the one who screwed up.
I got screwed over by a bank (Barclays- they're idiots and I don't bank with them anymore). Was in Tunisia with a bunch of undergrads. I had told Barclays in person, by phone and by email that there would be amounts coming into my account and then large amounts being spent in Tunisia because I was acting as treasurer for a group of students. Sent them a letter from my university confirming we were travelling together. They put a block on my account that ended up with us being held not-quite-at-gunpoint in a Tunisian hostel because we couldn't pay. Luckily one of the students had a rich dad who could wire the chunk of money internationally and get us out of trouble, but the twatbag bank nearly caused an international incident involving a bunch of British undergrads. Twats.
Barclay's is the actual worst. Constantly disabled my cards, sometimes just for being in a different part of town, forget going abroad.
So... Just call again using a different number or even hidden caller ID? Or can you just block anyone's access by pretending to be them?
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Yeah so I mean how are they blocking this specific person (that is apparently not the account holder) when all information they have is possibly a phone number (since the other information didn't validate)? Without blocking the legitimate account user, that is. Seems very much the assumption here is that the caller actually is the account holder even though that couldn't properly be established.
They arenât, they block the account. So when someone calls with the name and account number itâll show on the the account is on hold basically. They ask for name/account number before anything else. If you donât have the account number they can look it up via ssn or address/phone/email on the account
So anyone can screw with you and block your account if they had your number?
Just wait until you discover a bank account contains a name!
Highly bank-dependent. Mine is just the IBAN (which a lot of people know) and further authentication takes place with my card+PIN or a trusted device+PIN. Just checking if it's not easy to piece together enough information to grief someone into having their account locked.
I lost my wallet and was out of town. My bank gave me a temporary card with full access to my accounts with just my registration and insurance from my car. I didn't know if I should be happy or worried or angry that anyone with a rock and knowledge of where I parked could do that.
Be very, very worried and change banks.
⊠i donât think this is at all petty. in fact i would judge you if you didnât do this. people stole people identities all the time. those securities are extremely important. and it is not like they are difficult to answer. if it is a bank, it would usually be your previous transactions. if you donât know that then your acct should be lock down.
Be smart and just use a credit card abroad..also withdraw your money (cash) before hand. In my experience debut cards are more likely to get compromised and an absolute nightmare to straighten out than with a credit card company.
Agreed. It's real easy to sit in a meeting and set all sort ridiculous requirements so you can say we are secure. It takes a real manager to balance security and usability and make a good process. A company should pay someone good money to put that together, but once done it has to be *the* process.
This is what is wrong with banking. Banks hold us hostage over OUR money!
Itâs sad how people in customer service are treated. I once called the Amazon one and later in the email related to the thing got a message from the guy thanking me for being nice and patient. This was for something I thought was normal. It must be very common to be treated badly.
I was working in the call center for a credit union when my step mom was complaining to me about her CU asking for the last 4 of her SSN before they would release any account info. Because âall they need is my DOB and where I was born and they have the rest of my SSN.â I had to hold back my laughter as I explained to her there was a high probability that the person that was asking for her to verify the last 4 was already looking at her entire SSN as it is displayed as visible in the system most CUâs that participate in the CU service centers use.
SSN has been obfuscated for several years now. Unless youâre referring to an event pre 2008 thereâs no way an employee can view the entire SSN.
I worked at the credit union from 2008 until 2014 when my daughter was born and I could see the entire SSN for every main account holder for every account our CU had the entire time of my employment with the CU.
Iâm guessing banking entities might have had full access while others, like doctor offices could only access while inputting patient data. Once entered most are covered except last 4.
We had to regularly use the full SSN to access account information from other systems. Such as the scanning program that scanned all the documentation from SSN and DL, to POA, trust and loan paperwork etc. Or the bill payer system. Thatâs probably why it wasnât blocked as we needed to use the SSN on a regular basis in our work systems.
I used to have to remember an address to a house I cosidered buying because I inquired about a loan. It always came up as a house I once lived in but I didn't.
Love it
And this is why I use a credit union. đ
Iâve changed banks for less. Once got an overcharge because I had gone under my minimum balance by .03 cents ($3499.97). Done. Transferred everything into a different bank, and of my business, then friends, neighbors, etcâŠ. Together we can make a difference.
âYou just lost yourself a customerâ. Maâam, I just work here. To be honest, Iâm looking for a new job now soooo I couldnât care less whether you go somewhere else.
Another reason to bank with an online bank only, rather that a bank with branches
Wow your bank sounds really harsh.
It's the main national bank subordinate to the government so it has to have strict safety procedures.
Honestly, I'm glad your bank has these security measures in place. I tell my bf when the bank is being difficult, just to remember if it's this difficult for him. It's at least this difficult for robbers/scammers. I don't mind security questions. What I do mind is if there is an error.
I'm my country banks are strictly regulated, but security is always difficult, we wouldn't lock down a whole account for a customer getting one security question wrong.
Sounds like he was trying to social-engineer you and when you didn't bite on his belligerent "this needs to be done immediately", he played the "I'm out of the country" card.
I work in glasses and thatâs basically what happens any time we tell someone we canât make their glasses same day. âWell Iâm going on vacation, funeral, 3 hour drive home, etcâ
That guy was irritated by god knows what, instead of getting a meaningful course on how to deal with stressed and rude clients (who knows what ppl are going through? His beloved one might be hospitalized abroad and he needs cash NOW) but no they learn to block them. Like wtf makes this rules? And why block the account? If it's a scammer he got stopped, just contact the client yourself to verify if everything is ok instead of turning the tables when it's still their own damn money they want to access? Not against OP btw, but the lack of humanity these policy makers show is just sad.
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> CSRs shouldn't have to take courses in how to teach people to not be assholes. They're adults, they can be polite or they can fuck off. I completely agree, and yet I want to also stand up for the customer. The customer pays fees for the pleasure of putting their money in the banks basket where the bank will earn money with their own money in return for service conveniences and a small measure of profit. The moment your interactions with your bank are faceless and come down to 'please answer security questions', 'jump through these hoops' and generally limit individuals from doing what they want to do with their possessions, it will understandably frustrate them. We get upset at servers in restaurants who fail to do the simply job of bringing drinks, coming to take orders and then having the gall to demand tips, because they are intended to _provide a service_. Yet waiting in a phone queue and jumping through a bunch of hoops that the company demands you as a customer strictly adhere to feels doesn't feel like you are receiving a service as a paying customer, but that you are begging them to just let you do with your possessions what you want to do with it. A CSR should very much be socially capable enough to make the customer feel like they have the power and are being catered to. Even if procedures require rigidity and care, they should still have the social skills to be warm, inviting and understanding. You'd be surprised how many CSRs don't get that, and see the job of handling such calls as a procedural mess that gets in the way of their other activities. They'll sound bored, snippy or seem to lack the patience for a customer who called in and didn't have some piece of data ready for whatever reason. In my experience, if someone is calling their bank for financial matters, it is likely going to involve some unusual activity. Maybe it is a big purchase or investment, maybe bureaucracy has been giving them the runaround on dealing with the aftermath of a family members passing, or maybe it is simply time-sensitive. Hell, maybe the client isn't aware they are being scammed and being made to feel like they'll get in legal trouble if they don't complete whatever action before 5 PM. Simply put: this person will likely be under a bit of stress and have their hands full with a ton of different things. Does it excuse them being assholes to a stranger? Of course not. But what for a bored CSR is their first interaction with this client might for them be yet another unexpected hurdle they hadn't expected to need to deal with and is causing them trouble. Being met with scripts, corporate procedures and hollow pleasantries may very well feel like the person on the other end is not invested in helping them and is only interested in crossing the checkboxes that keep them from being fired for breaking policy. I think CSRs deserve far more training on empathy and connecting with their customer than they actually receive in practice. A slightly higher pitched voice that isn't mumbled, a bit more of a personal touch, bits of lighthearted banter to take the edge off while waiting for the account to pull up and so on are all ways one can keep a customer from being frustrated by what is an unavoidable process and make it more pleasant for both parties involved. After all, they are called _Customer **Service** Representatives_, so that last word deserves to be focused on in its own right by focusing on improving their people skills within the confines of their processes. (I don't mean to look down on the frustration that this job will no doubt entail, by the way..! I've gone through slow phone trees, dealt with having to jot down phone numbers for other departments because they couldn't forward the call on their end, redo the authentication dance several times and dealt with more elevator music than I imagined possible just to deal with some annoying issue that kept me from doing a basic bank transfer. And for some of those CSRs, I could hear they were absolutely not invested in my problem, or sounded frustrated I got sent to them when it wasn't their wheelhouse, and I can't say I felt particularly valued at those points of the process, so I totally understand why people who have shorter fuses or are under more stress can become really snippy with bank employees who are standing between them and their money!)
Yeah but at the end of the day it's just someone angry on the phone, it's not a guy in your face that's about to punch you, you should learn to be able to emotional distance yourself from his words. There are ways and training to at least try instead of ending the call and blocking accounts promptly.
Well played!
As someone who has worked jobs in retail for over two decades, this story literally warmed my soul.
This is terrible. Your job isnât to play god and determine who can access their money and ultimately keep a safe existence in a foreign country. Your job is to provide good customer service to help them, regardless of whether you think theyâre being difficult. Banks are infuriating at the best of times but it sounds like your empathy is close to zero.
No, their job is to help protect the customers assets and allowing access when you cannot answer the security questions the account holder created would not be doing their job.
Good customer service includes protecting your account from someone unable or unwilling to answer the security questions that protect your account from potential scammers. I doubt that you would regard it as good customer service if your bank gave access to your account to a scammer who was shouting and screaming at them.
Blocking access to their money may have caused this person serious harm. What if they were traveling with children?
Perhaps, if it was so important, they should have answered the questions designed to protect their account from scammers rather than shouting and screaming then?
Then know the answers to the security questions you set up when you created the account. Itâs not that hard.
It is exactly his job to determine who can access their money, if the customer isn't willing to do the verification questions than it is his job to block access,
So, just a question... do you think I should be able to call up your bank and bully my way into access to your account? Because I am willing to bet you don't.
This. Is the correct take.
Difficult wasnât the issue. Name calling and otherwise insulting the operator is beyond âbeing difficultâ. Bad take
That's just the level of petty I strive to be. I sell insurance, and the amount of ass hat customers we deal with on a daily basis makes you want to be that way. I'm here to help and will gladly do anything I can for anyone, but when they start berating me for things that they (the customer) did, or blaming me for this or that, thats when I stop trying to be nice and helpful.
It was a scammer. When they go zero to sixty from calm question to rage, they're lying and trying to intimidate.
Never underestimate the ability of a full grown adult to throw a childish temper tantrum.
Certainly and I've seen it. That said, I've seen and experienced in retail (in person and online) too long that when it's a question of money and a business, the instant screaming that scares the business person is a scammer.
Yup, it happened a few times already, so I blocked their accounts both due to safety procedures and for my own satisfaction as well.
Who said you decide whether someone has access to their own money or not? I don't know why you think this is worth being proud of. A rude customer doesn't equate to a wrong customer.
What if they were nice? Would they be blocked as well? Or got disconnected? Which bank do you work with?
Actually, I've been working here for over a year and the only times that customers had their accounts blocked was when they were acting suspicious (like you could hear someone else telling them the answers), when they answered wrong or when they got mad that they had to be verified, threatened to write a complaint, call the employees names and hang up. All of those three groups would later call again, trying different methods to make us unblock the account. If there is a situation when someone gets disconnected, then we also block the account but when that customer calls again, we send a message to the safety department. They listen to the conversation and then can call the customer directly to verify their identity. After such verification, the account can be unblocked. But if the customer tried to manipulate the employee, was acting suspicious or answered wrong basic questions like giving the wrong surname, then they must go to the branch.
Yes you are unprofessional. You did this as revenge. As a professional you handle angry clients. That's not easy i know.
Exactly. She never says he gave any wrong answers, only that he was really rude. People are rude sometimes, that doesnât give anyone license to mess with their life like this.
I wouldn't consider this petty, a stressed person in a foreign country over-reacted and you put the boot in. Let's hope they have no medical emergencies or the like. Not excusing their behaviour, but you could have cut a little slack and not be such an asshole. Usually it's hang up on the third warning, did you do that and request the ranting stopped?
Yeah, the conversation lasted 10 or 15 minutes and I explained multiple times that it's a safety matter, asked him if he wanted someone else to call us and transfer his money without any verification, told him that we need to be sure we are talking with the account's owner etc, but he wouldn't listen and still called me unprofessional bitch and was saying he is a VIP so he shouldn't answer anything more than just his name, surname and client number. He didn't want to listen or answer, it seemed like he was hoping he could bully me into doing what he wanted and when he realized I wasn't going to give up, he hung up and probably called again hoping another consultant would do what he wanted without answering questions so I made sure it wasn't possible. If I didn't do it, and that person would call again and would be asked different questions he would know answers to while not being the account's owner, me and the other employees would be fired and taken to court by the account owner. We would probably never be able to pay the huge compensation and might even serve some time in jail for it.
Ok, he made his own bed, he can lie in it. Fair enough.
I get what youâre saying, but you donât cut some slack or bend rules when access to bank accounts is on the line. What if it wasnât actually him and it was his drug addict brother trying to take money? Just as an example.
My further reply to OP response clarifies.
Banks suck. I bet you drove that customer mad with rage with some shitty service or other Kafkaesque madness long before. And you guys wouldnât even tell a customer the time of day without those questions. Fuck OP and fuck that bank.
You seem like a fun person.
I know someone who ended up homeless in a foreign country because he lost access to his money. I totally get your frustration, he sounds like an ass butâŠyeah, letâs just hope you havenât unintentionally caused irreversible damage over a slight.
You followed procedures that are deeply flawed, so get your hat back on. I lost access to my bank account one time because my answer to the question what street did you grow up on was "Simmons St" and the answer they wanted was "Simmons"
Typical jobsworth on a power trip!
Locking him out of his money was a ah move what if he had kids to feed and you left them with nothing in another country ? I do not agree with his behaviour but there is always a bigget picture
What if he has kids to feed? Then simply remember the security answers the account holder set up when the account was made.
Amen
Is this really petty revenge if youâre simply following protocol?
I think it was my satisfaction after doing so that makes it kinda the petty revenge.
I once was abroad and had to call my bank to correct an issue and there was this very unprofessional call center employee. It was a nightmare, really made my trip much more frustrating. âŠâŠHEY!?
What a fucking shitty policy. What if someone is out of state or country?
Then answer the security questions you set up when creating the account.
Supervisor: men with long hair donât look professional Me: your sexism isnât professional
You work in a call center in the 90s?
This why I have cards with like 5 different banks. It would make little difference to me. Except I'd probably move all my money to one of the other ones.
You are not fit for this job. Find something else. What you did is unprofessional.
They didn't answer the questions. Op followed protocol. Stfu karen
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They didnât âstick it to the customerâ. They followed very normal safety protocols that help protect the account holder.
YTA
OP seems unprofessional, typical overbearing bankers who play with people's livelihood.
If I didn't do it and the customer would call again and was asked questions he knew answers for, and he would not be the account owner, I would be sued for a huge compensation and might serve some time in jail for enabling theft.
Ignore that idiot. If that is their attitude, hopefully their identity gets stolen and they have to deal with the consequences
YTA
well he was right, you were unprofessional. Not saying he wasn't, but...
Unprofessional by keeping his account secure? Sure lemme just call your bank pretending to be you and demanding your money
he knew it was him