Capital One – Can We Dance together?

<rant> I want to share my user experience trying to update my address on my business account with Capital One.   This is a bit of a customer-journey anti-pattern…

I recently moved, so I wanted to change the address associated with my Business checking account.

First, I logged in online to the business side of the bank hoping I could change the address online.  I looked at my profile where the address is shown. It only gave me an option to phone the bank, so I did.

After waiting at least 20 minutes, I got a person who said, that I had landed on the wrong side (personal banking).  I had to call a different toll-free number for the business. So I dialed the number she gave me: 1-888-755-2172.

Again I was warned of long wait times. I waited, but while I was waiting the automated teller voice insisted on verifying my identity through SSN/EIN in combination with the pin code I must have set up when I set up the account.  I failed to recall the correct PIN, and the automated voice signaled that I would ‘need assistance’… so I continued to wait for a real person.   Eventually the person who could provide ‘assistance’ came online, but she said I was not on the business side after all.  [I had had a sneaky suspicion that I had been re-routed without being notified]

I was really losing my cool this time.  She remained very professional and calm.  She asked me what number I had dialed. I told her. She said, ‘Yes, that is the external business number.  I am not sure why you ended up with me.’  (must have been the incorrect pin attempts) ‘But, we have an internal business number I can put you through to.’   I said, ‘Well please try, but I am beginning to doubt that I will ever be able to change my address with you.  Perhaps I should just change banks.’   She said ‘I am so sorry’ again.    I waited again, for a very long time.

I am really frustrated by this experience.   If Capital One could even do something as SIMPLE as providing an email where I could send my updated VA Articles of Incorporation document which has the correct address – they could put the request into their processing queue, and I would be happy not having to experience:  Over an HOUR of waiting with the same lobby, tinny, incredibly boring music, interrupted every 2 minutes with ‘We are continuing to experience high call volumes.  Your Call is Extremely Important to us. Please continue to hold and an Associate will be with you in a moment…’

Capital One – please treat the user experience as an end-to-end process and don’t optimize for the components in the middle.  Training your phone reps well is all good, but doesn’t really add that much to my experience when I can’t get my address changed in under ten minutes.  

As I end this post, which has been written while I’ve been on hold, I have finally gotten the address updated.  I did insist that the rep notate the exact path of what happened, and forward it on to 1.) content managers for the profile/address change page and 2.) phone call routing admins who can maybe change the routing  when one is unable to authenticate on the business side – so that one lands with the business anyway.
Let’s get this system working.  And please adjust the on-duty call staff to be able to accommodate the demand on the system.  </end rant>

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