A Letter to the President(s) (& the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer & the SVP, Director of Public Affairs and Community Relations)

I’d have included more of your esteemed colleagues in this email, but was unable to locate their email addresses. I do hope that you’ll pass this along to any and all members of your boards, as well as your leadership and management teams.  I do believe your customer service mantra needs an overhaul.

I’ve been a customer for 16 years – I opened my first checking account at the age of 15, and kept it through my recent move to Colorado.  Citizens doesn’t do business in Colorado, and I was forced to make a move to a different, local, bank. One of the things you have to do when you move across the country…

Once I was settled, I called to inquire about my options for closing my Citizens accounts – accounts that have held anywhere from $25 – $xxxxx (edited) over the years – money that I entrusted to the bank’s care.

I was told to let the account achieve a $0 balance, and that it would automatically close.

I did as I was told. I logged in and check and and checked and checked, and then one day, I couldn’t see it anymore. It was closed.

Fancy my surprise when I received a bill in the mail with the following:

• $29.99 for items paid – no indication of what they are (it turned out to be an annual fee to SmugMug, a photo hosting website)
• $39.00 feed for overdraft/insufficient available funds

Not surprising that the funds were not available… I had closed the account.

I called customer service.

After a long, convoluted conversation with a customer service representative and her supervisor, I learned that following:

• She (the supervisor) can’t refund my fees.
• I should file a claim that the charge was not authorized. This, in fact, would be fraudlent, as I told the manger multiple times. I’m not saying I didn’t authorize it (5 years ago on an annual basis) but rather that I made an error in not changing the card in SmugMug.
• I should have known that they have some convoluted system where even if an account is closed and there is a block on the debit card, they will still reopen the account and charge against it.
• There’s nothing she can do for me.
• She can have her manager call me in 72 hours. 3 days! You can bet that if one of my customers was as upset with our process as I am with yours, that they’d be getting a call back that very same day.
• She told me my new balance… now well more than the original $68.95 – apparently I’m just accruing fees left and right. On a closed account.

I bring this to your attention not because the fees are beyond my ability to pay. But rather because I can’t imagine, especially in this climate, that Citizens wants to leave such an incredibly sour taste in my mouth.

After so many years, the final transaction I’ll have with Citizens is the bank nickle and diming me for fees.

No room for (my) human error.

And certainly not holding up to what is described on your website as your credo:

I’ve written about this experience, as well as one that I deem exemplary, on my blog (http://aquestionofperspective.com/why-i-love-smugmug/). No, it’s not the Huffington Post, or even the ProJo’s Blog, but in a state like Rhode Island, you don’t have to be huge to be heard.

I’m saddened by this end to our relationship. I hope you’ll consider finding a way to make our last transaction less distasteful.

All the best,
Elisa DelBonis