Bank of Montreal's complaint procedure: Don't answer the phone
So you have a payment due to a company in Ontario - and it has to be made today - so you get a bank draft and take it to the local branch of their bank, the Bank of Montreal (on Prospect Street in Fredericton).
Two tellers and a line to the door. Two other people behind the counter, but they're consumed by their computer monitors. One finally steps in to help customers as the line threatens to extend outside into parking lot.
Finally get to the teller's window, provide her with the account info for the Ontario company and the bank draft for the appropriate amount.
"Do you have an account here?"
"No. "
"Then we can't accept this."
"It's a bank draft. It's legal tender. The payment is due today. Your customer - who's expecting the payment - specifically requested that it be deposited at a local branch of the Bank of Montreal."
"One moment."
She calls over to Kim, one of the people behind the counter who's been focused on her computer terminal, who says basically the same thing.
"It's a bank draft. It is legal tender."
She says they'll have to check with the branch manager. She and the teller go to the far end of the counter area, then the teller gets on the phone.
About thirty minutes after entering the bank, the teller returns and tells me that yes, they will accept my bank draft. But they require two pieces of ID.
Why?
Because the bank manager requires it.
She doesn't like the first pieces of ID. "Do you have government ID? With your picture on it?"
I essentially empty my wallet and she picks through it, finding the ID she'll accept, writing the details on the back of the payment slip.
"Why is this required?"
"The manager requires it."
"How long do you intend to keep that information?"
"Indefinitely."
"Why?"
"It's required. And we require a contact phone number."
And who required all this?
"The manager."
And the managers name: "Kim Barnett."
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I call my financial institution, the Omista Credit Union. Unlike the Band of Montreal, it's locally owned and operated and the profits stay in the community. And I can't imagine tellers hanging around staring at monitors while customers are lined up. But then it's a local business, not a big bank.
They tell me that the Bank of Montreal teller, prior to demanding my ID, called to confirm that they had, indeed, issued the bank draft half an hour earlier and yes, it's valid.
"They do that to us all the time," the credit union tells me about the Bank of Montreal's refusal to honour their bank drafts.
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The Bank of Montreal has a complaints procedure. But save your time and energy: the secret apparently to an effective complaints procedure is to avoid answering the phone.
Here's a link to the bank's complaint info page, where "We promise to address your complaint quickly, efficiently and professionally, as retaining your confidence and trust is of utmost importance."
Don't start laughing yet. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt.
This is a multi-part complaint process. Part one is calling the appropriate division. This step is called 'Talk to us'...that would be nice if they were really willing to listen. Here's what happens instead:
You dial the number they provide: 1-877-262-5907
You're told that your call is important (generally the first clue that it is, in fact, a pain in the ass and won't you please just go away?) and to push the right button to talk to a representative. (I can't remember the fancy title - something like senior banking response agent or an equally pompous name for call center worker.)
But, and you should have seen this coming, all of our senior banking response agents are busy. Please wait in order to retain your position in the queue. Six minutes pass.
Then, after sustaining another brain injury caused by horrible elevator music playing while on hold, the phone begins to ring. And ring. And ring. And ring. And ring. After another six minutes - and about 60 rings - it seems obvious that I've reached the end of step one.
Step one not working for you? Then you can 'escalate' this to step two - a senior officer - who didn't get to be a senior officer by answering telephone complaints, by the way. But if you insist, here's a new phone number to try: 1 800 372 5111
You can tell it's a step up the food chain from the lowly step one minions: theres no messing about voice mail messages and pushing the right number on your phone to redirect your call. None of that fluff. This is plain old ring - ring - ring - ring - unanswered ringing right off the bat. (Is this going to a pay phone somewhere? That would be a cheap way to redirect complaints witho9ut having to put up with the annoying ringing sound in your senior officer office.
So on to step 3: the ombudsman. And yet another number: 1 800 371 2541
Ah, yes, the ombudsman. Not quite in the call center, but not a senior officer with the right to unlimited phone ringing. What we run into here is plain old voicemail because, while it's the middle of the day on Monday and their office hours are Monday to Friday, 8 am to 4:30 pm Eastern time, they're unable to take my call.
Now that's an interesting way to deal with complaints: just don't answer the phone.
I'd call that a pretty damn good triple play. And some excellent reasons for avoiding the Bank of Montreal and telling the world why.
UPDATE:
The ombudsman's office called back. They tell me that what I thought was step 1 was actually part of step 2. Stupid me, relying on the information and phone number provided under step 1 on the bank's own web site. Seems there's a step before step 1: you need to find and call the area manager.
And there's even a search page on the Bank of Montreal site. Too bad it doesn't work. Or maybe between me driving to the Bank of Montreal branch on Prospect St. in Fredericton this morning and now, the branch disappeared. Now that would be a fairly extreme way to avoid hearing complaints, but at this point, nothing would surprise me.
