Hello, I contacted you today (Friday, May 19 2006) about a negative/debit transaction showing up on my account’s online banking for over $1300 on May 19. The largest withdrawal that I have made recently was for $100 at an ATM in Brooklyn. I simply wanted to confirm that the information shown on your online banking website was correct, and if it was- I wanted to find out what I could do to prevent this money from being stolen from my account, or at least find out what the transaction was for so that I would know what had happened to my account.
I am profoundly deaf and cannot hear over the phone. Multiple representatives of Commerce Bank illegally refused to speak to me through my interpreter. This went on for over a half an hour as we were asked to hold time and time again. Had any random female called up with the information that we provided, the information would have been given to us long ago, and your representative confirmed this to be true. Because my interpreter was a male, your represenatives refused to accomodate my disability in any reasonable way. I offered to verify my information in multiple ways–the number that we called from is the number on the account, we asked them to call back at that number. I spoke into the phone and identified myself as Sara *** (name deleted), and stated that I am deaf. I offered to verify my information in any way that the represenatives saw fit. And they continued to refuse to accomodate me.
Had any random female from any random payphone called up with half of the information that we were willing to provide, she would not have had to jump through these hoops. But I- the legitimate account owner- called up and was illegally denied assistance because of my disability and because my trusted interpreter of choice was a male. This was not an issue of identity verification–we offered to have me speak into the phone multiple times, and when I was finally permitted the chance to do so- it made no difference at all.
At one point I was told to fill out a customer service request on your website- as if an anonymous internet transaction from an unknown IP address was somehow more verification of my identity than providing any wide variety of confidential and personally identifying information over the phone FROM THE PHONE NUMBER OF RECORD, or better yet- having them call us back AT THE NUMBER THAT YOU HAVE ON YOUR RECORDS. However, when I tried to access your online banking site to fill out this form, I was greeted with an error message stating that I should call commerce bank at (number deleted).
Finally, we requested that your representative call us back at the number on the account. We have been waiting for this call for over a half an hour. As I write this email, I am preparing to walk three blocks in the rain to the bank to request information that I should have had over an hour ago without the illegal discrimination and aggravation “America’s Most Convenient Bank” has put me through today.
Regards,
Sara **name deleted
Update: I went to the bank, and spoke to a representative and was informed that the “debit” is actually a pending DEPOSIT. (The online banking interface clearly identifies it as a DEBIT. A negative transaction against my account.) I was forced to walk three blocks in the rain because of an inaccurate and poorly designed website, and blatant discrimination against deaf patrons.
We called at approximately 11AM. It is now 2:47PM and the “we will call you back in 10 minutes” phonecall never materialized. I bet they’re patting themselves on the back now for successfully foiling a social engineering attempt. I mean. Honestly. Who would believe that a deaf person would ever want to call a bank, or that the deaf person wouldn’t be able to hear on the phone to talk to them?? It *must* be some random attempt by some random person to illegally gain access about whether a $1300 debit against an account is fraudulent or not. And the fact that it’s from the number on record? Pshaw. Us social engineers must have broken in. Deafness is an urban-freaking-legand anyway.
Suffice to say, as soon as that $1300 clears, I’m moving all my business to a new bank. Commerce Bank sure is convenient. Until you have to interact with them as a deaf customer.
May 19th, 2006 at 4:57 pm
What does the ADA say about accessibility of ‘goods and services’ with regards to calling a bank via relay or interpreter?
UK banks generally stopped playing the “we won’t accept your call because we can’t verify your identity, or we think the terp/operator is going to steal your/our data” game after the _D_eaf community started making DDA moves on them. These days banks are even admitting they don’t answer their TTYs and suggest calling via relay on all written communications.
I am planning on leaving one of my banks as soon as I have paid off my overdraft. They will not change my local-branch, so any request I make has to be done in person near my mum’s house at the branch OR get lost in the internal mail when I go to a Sheffield branch. The ‘local branch’ have horrible staff who mumble at you from behind ultra-reflective glass, and chat to their co-workers about stuff while doing transactions. On one occasion I said “Say again?” and the woman turn to face me, gave me an evil look and snarkily said “I wasn’t talking to YOU” and went right back to her chitchat.
The Sheffield branches of the horrible bank are fine, and the other bank’s branches that I use more often are also fine. They always find us a private room, speak clearly, face me, and don’t get cranky when I can’t understand the glassed-in people. I don’t know what it is about the ‘local branch’ that makes their staff so foul - I’m not the only one who boycotts it…
Ironically when I went to sort my sick-benefits and was refusing to “Just use those phones in the corner” I was asked by the officious little man at the desk who was hoping he#d catch me out by asking if I used the phone for banking - to which I smugly replied “No, I use online banking, or go into a branch”.
You should bill the annoying bank for the Interpreter’s time if it was a real person and not a relay operator… *grrr*
May 19th, 2006 at 10:09 pm
You could send carbon copies of that letter to the CEO of that bank or the corp. that owns them and subtly mention a possible discrimination lawsuit. The day you transfer your funds, you should very visibly flip the teller or bankers “the bird” and walk out.
May 20th, 2006 at 3:30 am
If you have a lawyer friend see if they’ll write the letter Sanctum was talking about… threats are taken much more seriously coming from a lawyer.
May 20th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
Alli: I can’t wait for my sister to finish her LLB (UK Law accreditation completed after law degree) in 2007-8 because I’ll be able to get her to send lawyerly letters for me. In exchange for all the IT support I’ve done for years
Bwahahaha.
May 20th, 2006 at 2:43 pm
I love the word lawerly… such a great adverb.
June 1st, 2006 at 3:53 pm
I went through something similar last year with Bank of America. It took me 3 phone calls and some tears before I resolved the issue of being in the UK with a seemingly non-functional ATM card. I had a friend with me, who relayed some of the questions, but there were times where I had to struggle to hear through my friend’s cell since the “help” representative wouldn’t accept her as a translator.
Needless to say, I was furious.
June 1st, 2006 at 3:54 pm
So the moral of my story is: if you’re going to switch banks, *don’t* switch to Bank of America!
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July 18th, 2008 at 9:18 am
I mean Commerce is one of the worst banks around. The patrons no it. Poor customr service is one thing but the low interest rates and lack of security really gets me. Your right, they would have given your information to some random stranger.