Short Staffed, High Expectation Hell - werkgeversreview Senior Customer Care Representative bij First Niagara Bank

Where to even begin with this poor excuse for a customer service position. It's become a complete sales position, with little regard for actually improving the customer relationship. Rather than providing excellent service and good word of mouth, the expectation was to harass them into signing up for as many items as possible (especially Home Equity Loans/LOC), so it would be a hassle to eventually leave when they figured out what a sham this bank is. Mandatory call nights for all customer facing positions, calling the same unqualified customers every month to hassle them into meeting during business hours. Used to be that you would do a call night once a month, which slowly dragged into every other week, which turned into every single week with no exceptions. Management argued that we needed more call nights because of declining sales, but this was an inefficient use of time, scheduling problems, etc. Management didn't want you to do anything except call customers day in and day out. Harassing them two-three days a week over the phone. Your job was partially based on credit applications (credit cards, home equities, personal loans, etc.), so you weren't considered successful with your customer unless you got an application. Doesn't matter that they didn't need the loan - just keep force feeding them things they don't want or need. Became increasingly more difficult to achieve goals, since personal bonuses were based on amount of money you brought into the bank. For a bank that offered little incentive to join and poor word of mouth in the community, this was exceedingly difficult in blue collar areas and places with stagnant local economies. Asking for $25,000 in new funds (and that's only if they place it in a checking account) forced us into providing bad product options, offering checking accounts rather than savings/money markets, and being reluctant to pass them onto financial advisors in lieu of losing our bonuses at the end of the quarter.