An Amazing Breakthrough in Customer Service
Yesterday I called Principal Financial for a question on a 401K I have held there. So far I’ve been pleasantly surprised with their customer service, as pretty much every other bank I’ve dealt with as had substandard service and horrible hold times. Well yesterday Principal blew me away. I went through the automated system, entering my information, and of course couldn’t get my answer through the automated system (duh, I would use the web front end if it was something simple). So after a very short wait, I get thru to a customer service rep.
Her first words: "I see here from the automated system that your acount number is 555-5555-5555, is that correct?"
My response: "......" (sound of my jaw dropping to the to floor)
I was blown away. That never happens. Normally there is the great divide between the automated systems and the human reps, so that the reps never get access to you account info that you've already entered painstakingly through touch tone. I've even previous bank reps "Don't you have my account number and security info? I just entered it ten minutes ago to the automated system" - typically the response was something lame about how the system didn't suport that. Then you end up repeating yourself for each rep you get transferred to, making you hate the company that much more.
So you get a golf clap, Principal…you have integrated something that every large financial institution should have done ten years ago.