Online banking gives you the option to transfer money to your friends’ accounts through their account numbers as well as through their phone numbers, as long as their phone numbers match what the bank has in their profile. You would think that is common sense, right!!
Certain customers of mine refuse to do online banking and prefer to come to the branch and sit down waiting for me, sometimes for hours, to check their recent transactions. Some of them come every day, I kid you not, every day. When they don't find me, they tell me next day that they came and I was NOT there, oooooh, how dare I?
One of them was apparently more sophisticated and was able to break that myth and utilize online banking. His friend gave him his account number and specifically asked him to transfer money to his account online via that number. He however was adventurous and decided to use a phone number instead of the account number and now the money is lost.
I asked the customer, why did you choose to use your friend’s phone number for the transfer when you have his account number?
I did not use my friend's phone number.
But you just said to me that you did!
I said I used “A” phone number
Interesting, what phone number did you use?
I used my friend’s friend's phone number.
Oh, and now why would you do that?
My friend was with his friend so I used his friend’s phone number.
Wait, what? why?
because they were hanging out at the time of the transfer
Ummm, meaning because when you wanted to transfer, your friend and his friend happened to be physically in the same place?
Yes!
Oh, well that explains it. It makes perfect sense. Please don't do it again!
After one hour over the phone, and three different departments with three different associates who did not understand why would a customer use a random phone number to do a transfer, we located his money and returned it to his account. I thought to myself I will never win, if I push them to do online banking, they will create a mess that I have to clean, and if I don't encourage them to do the online banking, I will spend all my day going through their transactions, which they always do not remember at first then the minute I tell them I have to put them on the phone to file a claim, they magically remember. What is the opposite of a win-win situation? Whatever that is, it is MY situation!
