Recently,
Union Bank of California made a significant change to how they handle customer service. Over the past few months, customers of the bank may have noticed a new customer service system. Callers are now treated to a new virtual queuing system by Virtual Hold Technology Inc., in which callers are given the choice to stay on the line by hearing an extremely accurate prediction of the wait time, or they can choose to have the company call them back when their turn in the queue comes up. The logic behind the technology is that customers will not become aggravated waiting on the line, and the customer service representatives will be able to better handle the calls, and handle much more call volume. While we have heard of similar technologies being used at other companies, the question is, could a large company use the same technology, and if so, why wouldn't they just buy a company like Virtual Hold Technology?
No one likes to wait in customer service lines, (Hello? That's why this website was started), so why wouldn't a company like Bank of America add this kind of technology to their customer service? Lord knows they have the cash flow to make an acquisition. The only logical reason we can come up with is that the technology, while effective for a smaller bank, may not be able to be scaled up to the mega-firm scale of a Bank of America or Citizens Bank...yet. Many customers we hear from are frustrated with their bank, and it's no coincidence that customers are pulling their money from the larger banks and finding smaller banks such as
Union Bank, for reasons as simple as the reduction in wait times for customer service agents. If Bank of America or any of the other largest banks want to keep their customers happy and keep their money in their bank, they should follow the example of the smaller banks, and simply buy the technology and start offering it to their customers, or buy the technology and figure out how to ramp up the scale to fit their size. Otherwise they are going to continue to see the flight to quality as more customers seek a happier and less aggravating experience at a smaller bank.
For more on the newest use of technology in the banking sector,
click here.
Union Bank Phone Number & Customer Shortcuts, Ratings & More ›
Posted by GetHuman on Thu, 20 Jan 2011 3:39pm