Prime Example of Bank Failure and Poor Customer Service

I am going to keep this short, because the final chapters are not complete yet.  On behalf of a client, I submitted about 80 pages of documentation to an address provided by a customer service person.  I was submitting all the requested documentation for consideration of a short sale.  

I sent the paperwork via priority mail to a P.O. Box in Jacksonville, FL.  After waiting for 3 weeks and no calls nor messages from the lender, I decided to call the lender and see what the status was on our file.  After 45 minutes of holding and transferring and holding, it was determined that the paperwork we submitted was "lost."  Simply vanished, misplaced, misfiled, or perhaps thrown away.  We were requested to resubmit all 80 pages via fax this time, which I did.  Along with this package was a "third party authorization" which allows the lender to speak to me.  After a week of waiting, I called.  The response was "we cannot talk to you because you need to be authorized, so please fax your authorization to us."    I re-faxed it over and over and over and over again. A total of 9 times by my confirmation receipts.

I got fed up with the poor attitudes of all the customer service people I spoke to. Some hung up on me or disconnected me after a long hold.  Mind you, this company is spending millions of dollars in advertising each month.  They are advertising to Realtors.  They have no clue that their customer service department is undermining the advertising department.

I have since filed a complaint against this lender.  The complaint raised some eye brows for a minute.  I can speak directly to a customer service manager, but the system is flawed and the service is terrible.  We should have had an approval a month ago.  Because of their lack of communication skills, we sit and wait.  If I don't get an approval letter by Friday, I will have to call out the manager and have him intervene.

My purpose in telling you this?  This was one of the savings and loans that failed.  It was "gobbled" up by another bank.  I can see why the banks are hurting.  They have some of the poorest customer service people and procedures around.  Maybe the banks should revamp their policy and procedural manuals.  Once this ordeal is over, I will identify the bank, I will be more specific, and I will definitely call the Sacramento branches and let them know not to ever solicit me for their loans.  Have a great day.

July 22, 2009

I am bullish on Sacramento

David Ohara

@dwo34

dwo34@aol.com