Bank of America doesn't get the net users out there

I'm not too sure who designed the process of opening an account online for Bank of America but it sucks! Incase the folks at Bank of America are crawling along the web looking for ways to improve customer satisfaction I'll dedicate today's blog to just that. Please be warned that all opinions stated here, both above and below, are mine to be freely expressed as I see fit. Now on with the show.

Time is an issue. When someone does something like opening a checking account online it's probably because they don't have time to get to a bank during hours they're open. Should those of us with jobs be punished for working normal hours? "Oh no mister Foogar, we're not punishing you or anyone else..." Maybe not intentionally, but here I am halfway through week 2 of the process of opening this account online and I still don't know when I'll be able to use it. Had I known this was going to happen I would have chosen another bank in all honesty. The only reason I did use Bank of America was they're all over the bloody place.

"Oh mister Foogar, surely you know we need forms filed out..." Yeah, I've been filing out forms most of my life and I did expect them here as well. What I did not expect was waiting 3 days to get a 'sorry for the delay but we need to verify your information' email. The next day I get a 'thank you for applying for a Bank of America account' in the morning and a 'we're looking forward to serving your banking needs' note when I get home from work. That Wednesday was the best day I had as far as a relationship with the bank goes so far. The next thing I get is Sunday morning, they finally send me a link to the bloody signature form I need to print, fill in, and mail off. I also got the same thing Monday morning, I guess making up for the speed of service with the quantity. Yesterday I did get a pin for my atm card so things do seem to be finally coming along.

No matter what I do on the Bank of America website it seems I get a little annoying dialog box offering to connect me with someone to chat about services. Can we get something to make this stop? I said "No thanks" yesterday, I said it today, and you can bet I'll say it tomorrow too! Quite frankly I'm tired of the little box popping up and stealing the focus from whatever box I happen to be typing in. If I wanted to talk I'd call the damned number to talk to someone!

Ok Mr(s) Bank of America, I've gotten my frustrations out so now I'll put it in plain English for you. In paragraph #2 above I’m suggesting that things happen a little faster. People don’t like waiting around. That goes along with the message in paragraph #3, if a form will be needed at a later date lets go ahead and give the customer access to the form so it can be signed and returned by the time it’s needed. Paragraph #4 is one to pass through to the web design folks. A simple cookie, like the 22 others I have from Bank of America right now, that could keep that thing from popping up would be lovely.