Small bank Big Customer Service

I’m still processing the feelings of a meeting this morning.

We moved the store’s account from a huge multinational bank to a local bank (Seattle Bank) several months ago. Each of two times that we have taken our credit card terminals off site to large meetings where we have sold books the terminals have malfunctioned and caused us considerable stress and accounting problems. A couple of weeks ago the event was large and the credit card malfunctions were large too.

Two individuals from Seattle Bank worked with us closely and long and hard. We phoned one of them Saturday evening at 8:45 and he returned the call Sunday morning at 10:00 to help us work with the malfunctioning terminals. He then spent many hours the following week working out ways to capture all of the credit card transactions.

This morning the manager of our local Seattle Bank visited us at our store and he brought with him the district or regional manager (I missed that specific detail.). That manager showed intense interest in the problems that we have experienced with the credit card terminals and the technical support that took a lot of time but often were of little help.

He took notes. And more notes. He asked probing questions and wrote down our answers. At one point he borrowed a highlighter and highlighted one section of notes. Before they left our store the manager assured us that our descriptions and his notes were going up the line and would make a difference for the future. Our local bank manager then gave us each a gift certificate at a small locally owned delicatessen that is also a member of the bank as a thank you for our time today.

Whenever I can I encourage individuals to shop with local independent businesses. The reasons include the real situation that those who are making their living by direct contact with their customers know their products better and give better customer care than those who work for the big megastore. I did not expect to receive such care and concern by my bank. I have no doubt that I would not have received that kind of personal care from our previous major name bank.

I’m still somewhat overwhelmed by today’s meeting.