Helpful Service from Wachovia via Twitter
Reader Mike wrote to us about a problem he was experiencing with Wachovia (now part of Wells Fargo, but apparently keeping its own identity.) A day later, he he wrote back, informing us that the problem had resolved itself via Wachovia's Twitter account. (Customers, take note: that's http://twitter.com/Wachovia.)
In the follow-up e-mail, he wrote:
I wrote yesterday... Please don't publish, as Wachovia handled it with grace once I got to higher power. Tweeted Wachovia's Twitter account and within five or six hours someone from president's office contacted me and refunded the [NSF] fees.
I'd be happy if you'd publish an item noting how responsive they were. While it would be nice if I hadn't had to go to the trouble, the bank does deserve kudos for listening to and responding to the story.
The challenge lies, of course, in reaching that higher power. I recommend meditation, fasting, and intensive customer service ninja training.
Another customer service Twitter account recently reported to Consumerist: Qwest Communications (http://twitter.com/TalktoQwest)
(Thanks, Mike and Josh!)
Post a comment
Comments:
I thought that Wachovia was bankrupt.
As opposed to their unfriendly in person service.
So how do you know if it's a legitimate Twitter account? You know what I'm sayin'?
How long until Twishing spoils the fun?
@Michael Belisle: Check out Wachovia's bio:
Bio We're here to engage with the Twitter community and, of course, our customers. Please remember to never share your account info on Twitter.
Good luck with that one.
Wachovia declined to extend the draw period on my home equity line of credit today. It only took two registered letters from me and two days of phone tag to about six different numbers to find someone who knew anything about my loan in the first place and had the information I needed.
Instead of Twittering, how about answering US (registered) Mail sent to the customer assistance address on your statements (a legal requirement per my loan agreement and the Fair Credit Billing Act, a federal law), and phone calls to your published customer service numbers first? And put some people on those numbers who are actually aware that you provided those loans in the first place?
The guy I finally reached today said, "oh no, you had to call this other number to reach us...", a number that wasn't published anywhere on my paperwork or monthly statements or online. I asked him where to set my secret decoder ring to determine how I was supposed to know that number.
@Laura Northrup: I'm not saying @wachovia isn't legit. I'm asking the question in general because there's no good were to verify that accounts on Twitter are in fact who they say they are.
I'd rather @wachovia give me a number to call (so I can verify whether or not it belongs to Wachovia) than asking me to send them contact information through an untrusted medium.
As more and more people use Twitter to reach the higher ups, the more and more delegation the high-ups will do till the service will be right back to where it was before Twitter. It was only a stop-gap. What the bank needs to do is HIRE and TRAIN caring people. Fat chance.
@Michael Belisle: If the Wach-witter account can't really be trusted (and I agree with you that none of these corp accounts should be immediately trusted), why would you trust a number that comes from that account?
Instead of getting a number from the twitter account, I think it would be a better idea to independently call a known Wachovia/WF number to verify the account before communicating.
I'm thinking that, along with fraud, it's just as likely that the magical "Twitter solution" will soon turn into the same customer service morass that is the auto-menu phone tree.
Then again, I don't use Twitter, so .. meh..
Is Wells Fargo on Twitter yet?
anyone else think this is lame? shouldn't calling them get the same results?
I have to say that the Bank of America twitter rep was very helpful. I sent him a DM,he called me and resolved my issue regarding a promotional credit. Calling them got me a runaround and no results. Same thing with email.
@brettt: Agreed. But what it boils down to is that companies simply don't want to talk to customers.
So I'll have to use Twitter to get Wachovia to ONCE AGAIN remove erroneous data from my credit report?
Please someone... explain me why we need Wachovia at Twitter in the first place, and second, why is Twitter hyped so much recently and why would anyone who's brain can think outside of 140 characters should use it... I dont get it
Eastern markets will be Wachovia-branded for at least the next 12/18 months, so it will be business-as-usual for most retail banking (checking, savings, etc).
@howie_in_az: Call the service line for your type of account (or 800-WACHOVIA if you don't have the number) and ask for a Credit Bureau dispute form. They will fax or mail at your request.
@magstheaxe: Too many characters. Maybe something like, "Home now worth less $ than loan, u froze my HELOC, I want to spend that $$! Whatz ur #?"
Regional bank 1st Mariner headquartered in Baltimore has two twitter accounts. @1stmarinerbank and @fmbcustserv
re: Wachovia keeping its own identity.
It's temporary. Bank mergers and acquisitions are usually planned for several months before the first steps are executed. Because of the circumstances in this case, W-F bought first and is now working through making them one company.
FWIW and based on nothing more scientific than this Wachovian's gut feeling, W-F looks to be a better company to work for, and happier employees usually have happier customers.
Good luck on that (or any kind of consumer level customer service) continuing now that they're part of Wells Fargo.