A tale of two bank branches
My wife and I scooted over to the closest branch of a major bank today (an entirely different bank than the one we have all of our money with) to get a line of credit.
We were quickly told that the loan officer was booked up for the day. And wasn't in on Monday. And that the only time we could get an appointment that fit our schedule was late next Thursday. I said out loud that maybe we should try the other branch of the same bank just down the street. We were told that branch has the same hours, only only one loan officer and that we'd get in no sooner at that branch than at this one.
During this entire time, the person with whom we were dealing did not invite us to sit down while she looked over the calendar - instead she allowed us to stand awkwardly in front of her office while she shuffled about checking people's schedules. She did not inquire in any great detail about what we were looking for or why. She heard "loan" and she knew we couldn't be helped that day - or any day soon, for that matter.
So we fairly reluctantly made our appointment for next Thursday (after they took 5 minutes to find a business card for the person with whom we had the appointment) and proceeded to go straight to the other branch of the same bank just down the street.
There, we were greeted with a person who was immediately more interested in what they could so for us than what they could not. She apologized that they couldn't take us in right away, but they could see us early Monday afternoon. She thanked us for being willing to come back on another day. We were there approximately 1 minute, total, and felt more welcome in that 1 minute than in the 10 minutes or so we were at the other branch.
Same bank. Two very different branches. One wanted to do very little to help us. The other actually wanted our business. Guess which one we preferred?
We were quickly told that the loan officer was booked up for the day. And wasn't in on Monday. And that the only time we could get an appointment that fit our schedule was late next Thursday. I said out loud that maybe we should try the other branch of the same bank just down the street. We were told that branch has the same hours, only only one loan officer and that we'd get in no sooner at that branch than at this one.
During this entire time, the person with whom we were dealing did not invite us to sit down while she looked over the calendar - instead she allowed us to stand awkwardly in front of her office while she shuffled about checking people's schedules. She did not inquire in any great detail about what we were looking for or why. She heard "loan" and she knew we couldn't be helped that day - or any day soon, for that matter.
So we fairly reluctantly made our appointment for next Thursday (after they took 5 minutes to find a business card for the person with whom we had the appointment) and proceeded to go straight to the other branch of the same bank just down the street.
There, we were greeted with a person who was immediately more interested in what they could so for us than what they could not. She apologized that they couldn't take us in right away, but they could see us early Monday afternoon. She thanked us for being willing to come back on another day. We were there approximately 1 minute, total, and felt more welcome in that 1 minute than in the 10 minutes or so we were at the other branch.
Same bank. Two very different branches. One wanted to do very little to help us. The other actually wanted our business. Guess which one we preferred?
Labels: bank, customer service
posted by Mike Jenkinson at
11:43 AM
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