Wells Fargo and the Phone Caper

Like most of us I have a place where I throw errant change when emptying my pockets. Some of us use jars or cans, bowls or a tabletop -- I, I use a vodka bottle. Why? Because the bottle was cool looking, the mouth is wide enough to get all sizes of coins in and out, but narrow enough that nothing is going to fall out too easily. 

This bottle is used for "silver" change only. You know, quarters, nickles, dimes and the occasional dollar coin. Pennies have their own specific box I toss them in. Namely, a cigar box someone was going to throw out so I commandeered it for pennies.

Since I'm getting ready to leave Florida for Denver I decided to cash in the abundant amount of "silver" change I had lying around and hopefully get enough to put some gas in my truck or food in my belly.

I (currently) bank at Wells Fargo. In Denver when I wanted to turn pennies into cash I called up a branch and asked if they had a coin machine. They didn't but the one a little further away did. I drove down, dumped my pennies and cashed the receipt in for $40 deposited into my account. All for the low low price of free.

Since there are Wells Fargos here in Florida I decided to find which one had a change machine and turn my "silver" into cash.

Wouldn't that have been simple? One would think.

I jumped online and found the nearest branch. I was fairly certain this branch didn't have a coin machine, but maybe it did and I just hadn't seen it before. According to the WellsFargo.com website, the branch's phone number is 321 952 3460.

I dialed and after going through a couple of menus I finally had the option to press 0 to speak with a person in the branch. I press 0. The other end rings. And rings. And rings. Finally it hangs up on me.

Huh?

So I dial again. Zero to get to the sub-menu and 0 again to speak to a live person. And it rings. And rings. And rings. And then it hangs up on me.

Okay, so I call back. Eventually someone will get tired of hearing the phone ring and answer it, right? Nope.

In total I call 8 (yes, eight) times getting the same results. Since it's only about a mile away I decide to drive up there and see if perhaps someone blew it up or the zombie apocalypse over-ran the branch. Specifically, I wanted to talk to a manager and ask them if they taught their employees how to answer that weird ringing device with the flashing lights.

Nope. People are coming and going, a little old lady is using the ATM out front and when I enter the branch I see three people in line to talk to a teller and all three employees in the lobby occupied.

So I sit down and wait. Just to test out the number I received from the internet I give it a call while I'm sitting there waiting for someone to acknowledge me. I hear a phone ringing in the background. No one answers. I can see various people moving about behind the teller line and conclude they're tellers for the drive through area. Since I don't know if anyone is in the drive through I can't guess as to who is available and who isn't.

A few minutes go by and there are no tellers being occupied by customers. Four Wells Fargo employees are now standing behind the teller counter as free as a bird. Sure, they're doing busywork, but they're not actively helping any customers. So I call the number again.

And I hear it ring in the background. And ring. And ring. Until I'm kicked off the line. So, four tellers are not helping customers and no one still answers the phone.

A couple of people come into the branch and go to the teller line, still leaving the teller line 50% available. So I call again. I hear the phone ring in the background. No one answers.

Finally a woman in the lobby comes over and asks if I need help. Are you the manager, I ask? She says no. I tell her she's going to need to find the manager for me. Without hesitation she goes through the employees only door for a couple of minutes, comes back out and goes into one of the offices off the lobby. A moment later she comes out again and tells me the manager will be with me shortly.

During this time the tellers become 100% free again. Not a single customer at a teller station or in line waiting for a teller. The lady who asked me if I needed help is sitting it her desk in the lobby looking at her computer, I presume catching up on some things.

I decide to call again. I hear the phone ring in the background. And ring. And ring. It rings until the system hangs up on me. Again. At this time I see all the tellers available, some walking around in the background, I presume again it's from the drive through teller line. 

Awesome.

So, at this time I have called in as someone, anyone, who would call in from home or work who needed help with a question. I have shown up to the branch and watched as numerous employees are repeatedly available an no one is answering the phone. I have heard the phone ring and verified two things: the number works and it rings the right office.

Finally the guy in a suit comes out of the office (he was helping someone out) and stands in the middle of the lobby to ask me if I had a question. He doesn't come over to where I'm sitting, he doesn't extend his hand and he doesn't introduce himself.

I stand and walk towards him letting him know he's going to want to sit for what I have to talk about. We head into his office and sit. I grab a card off his desk and it doesn't read "manager" or "assistant manager." Instead it reads, "personal banker."

So I ask, are you a manager here?

 No.

No? I wanted to talk to the manager. Oh, she's not in until Monday? Really?

So I let him know what happened. I wasn't the nicest person as I was tired and frustrated, but I wasn't unduly loud or forceful. He actually looked dumbfounded when I asked if that was their number: 321 952  3460. It is? Good. Then why have I called it a total of 12 times in the past 45 minutes and not received and answer? My question is simple, it would have taken about 2 minutes to answer. Why did I have to drive down here and watch as all four tellers were actively not helping any customers and not answering the phone when it rang? Why could I watch as every person behind the teller counter was available to answer the phone and when I called from my cell phone I only hear the line ring and ring and ring until it finally cut me off? Why?

Four times I explain to him. Four. That's how many times I called while I was sitting in the lobby and watching as the branch employees were available and no one answered the line. Now, is this company policy not answering the main line that's listed on the Wells Fargo website?

No, it's not the policy? Then why wasn't anyone answering the line?  

I don't know, either.

So, what you've just told me is that although plenty of people were available to help me over the phone, no one did and it's not due to a policy. Okay, so it must be due to poor management. Does your team need training? Do they know how to answer a phone? Do they need to be spoken to from the management? Or do they need to be spoken to from a district or regional manager?

Oh, you'll talk to them? That's great, but that's no guarantee it will solve the problem. It was at least 4 employees who didn't answer the phone, that's not a failure to communicate, that's a failure to know their duties and follow through with their duties -- that's failure of management and training.

May I have the name of your manager? Yes, please grab me her card so I can follow up with her. You see, I don't live here, I live in Denver and this is my last day in Florida. I've never had this problem with Wells Fargo in Denver. Maybe It's a Florida thing and I need to speak with the district or regional manager. Oh, you won't share that information? Chain of command and all that?

I'm tired so I tell him that's fine. I then ask him if he wanted to know my question and he does. "Which branches have coin machines?"

That is a simple question that anyone here could have answered. Yes, I know.

Oh, and tell the teller in the yellow shirt with the line-beard thing to stop walking like a pimp, it's unprofessional.

Branch Manager

Amy Hernandez

Asst. Vice President

2200 Harris Avenue NE

Palm Bay, FL 32905

321 952 3460

amy.m.hernandez@wellsfargo.com

I'll add a picture I took of the branch later when I get it off my phone.