A friend of mine, who had never had an account at a credit union before, decided he wanted to be a part of a credit union. He did some research and headed over to his local credit union so he could switch banks. He also thought it would be wise to open up an investment account as well.
Now, he didn’t know much about this credit union (or any credit union for that matter), only what he had read online. He also didn’t know what it meant to be a part of a credit union. But, he decided not to worry because the person he spoke with at the branch would fill in the blanks for him.
When he returned from the credit union, his wife asked him to see the information the bank gave to him. She also asked if the account manager was able to answer all of his questions.
“You know what? The person I spoke with didn’t give me information about their bank. Hm? What was her name? I don’t have her card. And you know what, I don’t even know my account number!”
As he told his wife about his experience, it dawned on him that the account manager he spoke with at the branch simply went through the motions of opening up his accounts, had him sign the paperwork, and left him with more unanswered questions than he went in there with!
His wife was a little uneasy about it. She said it was a little off putting that the account manager failed to provide information about their bank and the accounts her husband had opened. Her husband didn’t even come back with a folder of information, a business card, nothing!
She told my friend he should go right back there, take his money and his investment accounts out of the bank and go to another bank.
While he thought his wife was right about that, he did something that not many people I know would do. He decided to give the credit union a second chance! He told his wife that he would go talk to someone at a different branch and if his questions were not answered, he would do what she said and switch banks, again.
Now, most people I know would not give the credit union a second chance. Would you, after having a not so informative and not so pleasant experience?
What made my friend go to another branch? Perhaps he did not want to go through the hassle of closing a bank account and going somewhere else. Maybe he believed another branch would give him a different experience?
But, if you think about it, how does my friend know if his future experiences will be better? He doesn’t.
I agree with his wife. If it were me, I would go straight back there, close my account and find a bank that would take care of me and be on my team for the long haul. Nothing about the above experience screams “I want to continue to do business with you!”.
A week later, my friend went to a different branch to give them an opportunity to salvage the relationship. To have a (hopefully) better experience.
Next week, I will give you the inside scoop on what my friend went through the second time around!
In the meantime, what are your thoughts? What do you think happened? Would you continue to to business with a company if they treated you like a transaction?
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