You never forget some callers

I worked in a call center for a major bank in their credit card department. I still remember some calls as if it were yesterday. Some of the beauties… (C=Customer, M=Me)

1) C:”Why am I being sent this bill?” M: “You made a charge last month” C: “I don’t owe you anything” M: “Did you go to and make a purchase?” C: “Yes, I bought a dress, but I paid for that” M: “How did you pay?” C:”With my credit card” M:”Yes, this card, and this is the bill for it” C:”But I paid for that at the store” ….it went on and on

2) C:”Why did you raise my interest rate? M:”We didn’t raise your rate, your rate went up because the Prime Rate went up. Your rate is based on Prime, which is controlled by the government (Note: please don’t correct this. I know this statement is a bit flawed, but sometimes an ounce of misinformation is worth a pound of explanation). C:”Don’t try to give me that. I know what your bank is doing, and if you keep it up, I’m going to close my account” M:”…”

3) C: I’m having problems making a purchase online with my credit card” M:” Let me look into that, what’s your credit card account number?” C: “QXMZ….” M: “Ma’am, that isn’t your account number, I need the 16 digits off the front of your card” C: “Okay, QXMZ…” M:” Ma’am, do you have your actual credit card in front of you?” C:”Yes” M:”There should be 16 numbers on the front of it, beginning with either a ‘4’ or a ‘5’, what is that number?” C: “QXMZ….”

4) Before the CARD Act of 2010, payments would be applied to the lowest interest rate items first. A good way for banks to screw customers. C: “A friend told me if I wrote the letter ‘C’ on the memo line of my check the payment would be applied to the highest rate items first” M: “What???”

5) Some idiots stole some guy’s credit card and went on a spending spree. It had a $50K limit and so far they spent like $14K dollars (How the account didn’t get flagged amazed me). They went into a bookstore and tried spending like $100, and after the card was swiped the cashier asked for ID, which prompted them to grab the card and run out. The manager called in and I answered the phone. The card was blocked. They idiot had made their way from Miami to Charleston, SC (location of the bookstore) and after this incident were now stranded. They called in several times per day for a few weeks to get the card unblocked. They got nothing.

6) Guy calls in furious over his interest rate. He demands a lower rate. He isn’t eligible to speak with our retention department to see if we can accommodate him. I tell him “sorry” and he demanded that I then close his account. I did (no choice…following his instruction). About a half hour later I fielded a call from the same guy calling in apologizing, asking for his account to be reopened, with obviously a very different tone in his voice (I transferred him to a different department, which I think was able to resolve his “mistake”)

Geez, it’s been nearly 15 years for me. I bet we could publish a series of books with the content in here.