ING Direct and the Value of Customers

When you call your bank, it gives you the opportunity to ask questions pertaining to changes on your account, to inquire about new bank features and to check the status of transactions. It also gives your bank the opportunity to sell you on other products and new features. Calling customer service is very crucial to the bank and customer relationship.

What if you received a letter from your bank telling you that if you continue to call customer service your accounts will be closed? That is exactly what I received from the financial institution that I had been with for years. Now, I understand that it is not a usual bank, however, I was understandably shocked and upset. While they offer higher interest rates than usual bank branches, there is no other way to talk to someone when you truly have an issue with your account.

This was more of a shock, because I am not the type of customer that would call on a daily basis. I enjoy the features available online and I utilize them to the fullest extent. However, like any customer, if there is a problem that can not be resolved online, I turn to customer service to assist with the issue. It is rare that I actually call and speak to someone, so it was quite upsetting to receive a letter stating.....

"Dear Melissa,

We noticed you call us a lot and wanted to share some suggested alternatives for managing your account...............................

...............................If you do not want to use our self-service options to cut back on the number of times you call, we will have to close your account(s) -and that's not something we want to do!

............................................

Thank you

ING DIRECT

Jim Kelly

Chief Operating Officer"

My immediate response was to close all of my accounts (checking, savings, mutual funds and IRA), cancel direct deposit, call everyone that I referred to the company to inform them of the letter and to write an article. As you can see, I am completing my last task with this article.

ING Direct should take a nice hard look at why they are in business and realize that it is because of the customers.