Credit Card Company v Customer Street

This week I am looking forward to Friday not just because it heralds a long weekend but because I am on holiday then for a week. Fingers crossed the sun will shine whilst I am away and I will come back with my batteries fully charged.

One of the reasons my frustration levels are running high is because of the rigmarole of having to make calls like the one this morning to an ex credit card company.

When I arrived back home last night I found a shiny new MasterCard on my doormat. The only problem was that I had cancelled the card in November last year and had written to them to specifically ask them to take me off their mailing list. I had tried once before and ended up slipping back into the trap of continuing to use the card but his was not going to happen again.

So armed with my card, new card letter and a list of helpline numbers I gave them a call this morning. The first problem was that the Customer Satisfaction phone number was not recognised! After dialling it three times I decided to give up on that one.

I then tried the Customer Service number, what the difference is between Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction I’m not too sure but I gave it a go. It rang and two key presses later I was keying in my card number and date of birth.

Yea! I would soon be sorted and get the account closed once and for all, but my MasterCard provider had other ideas. I then proceeded to be navigated through 9 different key presses and each of these having four options to listen to before I got to speak to a very helpful lady who has now assured me my card is cancelled and everything is now resolved. How frustrating is that?

People sometimes complain that when they call Customer Street their call is answered by one of our service reception team who will then raise a case for them and they then have to wait for a call back. I actually think this system is fantastic.

As soon as the call is logged and a case raised they receive, usually whilst the customer is still on the phone, a text or email to tell that a case has been raised and it also gives them an estimated call back time too which is accurately worked out on the current workload.

The thing that is great about our system is that we make sure the case raised is then routed through to a member of staff with the right skill set to deal with their issues.
Whilst I don’t propose that any system is perfect there really is no replacement for being spoken to by a real person straight away and the knowledge that your case will be dealt with, 99% of the time, by the person who can actually resolve your problems without then being passed from pillar to post.
 
In this instance Credit card company 3/10, Customer Street 10/10.