Forum Post: Occupy Banks Phones 11/5 Easy Protest
Posted 13 years ago on Oct. 16, 2011, 12:05 p.m. EST by JustAnotherFawker
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For those with who want an easy way to help protest on 11/5/2011 I work for a bank in call center in the US. I’m not quite a manager, but I know how call centers work very well indeed. A Saturday at the start of a month during the holiday season is a very busy day for a bank call center. V-E-R-Y. In addition, a lot of banks have outsourced the bulk of their call centers to places like India, Guatemala and the Philippines, so their reps are not quite as adept at picking up nuanced comments. There is nothing illegal about calling a bank to find out if you’ve been a victim of identity theft. In fact, it is something that would be investigated if the BANK did not do a good faith effort to research it for you under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. And FACTA If the bank asks you to contact the credit reporting agencies, tell them they aren’t taking calls today (because they don’t on Saturdays) and besides, given the accuracy of credit reporting these days, you’re not sure you trust them, but the bank should know if someone with your name is a customer, right?
See? totally ignored... you get Plus points for effort tho.
It'll never work, you're asking armchair protesters to actually do something.
If you think this is worth sharing, please do so, but be mindful of how you share it.
There is nothing illegal about calling at a specific time either. Say @ 11:05 for each time zone Starting with 11:05 GMT. On 11/05 There is nothing illegal with just providing your name, because you are not comfortable giving your social security number to a foreign national, and then when they can’t find you, nothing wrong with asking to be put through to a supervisor, repeating the question, and if they are not a US resident, asking to be transferred to one. (Most banks still have some kind of a US presence despite what they tell you) What is illegal and therefore things you should not do: is making threats, like bomb threats, anthrax threats, calling again and again (unless you’ve lost your voice and can only communicate by whispering and by pressing keys) (in other words, you should avoid harassment). Using fake information is also borderline illegal (under nuisance laws) They will have the number you are calling from and are very able to trace it should you start doing anything illegal, you could expect to have the police come visit you and quite probably arrest you. Re: Automatic Operators or I.V.R.s (Interactive Voice Response) some will kick you out if you don’t press any keys. However, the best way to get through to a Live agent is to a) not press any keys at all. b) press the same key i.e. Account Number: 1 x 16 Date of birth: 1 x 8 etc followed by the pound/ # symbol. C) press the 0 key over and over again. D) press the # key over and over again. E) For voice activated IVRs just saying “agent” over and over and over again. Be sure to document who you talk with and when you talk with them. Get an Employee ID – insist on one. “How will I be able to prove who I am talking with?” Find out the location you are calling into. Be nice, these agents are part of the 99% - even more so, as they would think our minimum wage would make them rich, so don’t be mean to them. Make them laugh, get them to like you, brighten their day If you are abusive they are permitted to terminate the call. Their average call target is around 3 minutes. If you have an account with the bank, call them up to let them know you just got their statement and that you really appreciate how easy it is to manage your account. Then ask to speak to their manager to compliment them on providing great service. Ask to not be put on hold. If you get cut off, call back and tell them you got cut off. The agent should not interrupt you while you are talking. Now, it would be illegal for me suggest a list of banks to call. It would not be illegal to mention there is information on the net regarding banks that got bailed out with TARP, customer service numbers of the same and the fact that a lot of them are toll-free. If you get any agents refusing to help you, stay calm, document document document and then file a BBB an Attorney General Complaint, an Office of Thift Supervision complain, and a letter to your congressman explaining how the bank refused to assist you with your request to verify you were not a victim of Identity theft. Guess where they get forwarded to? That’s right, the bank and they have to answer and address every single one (and that might mean some Overtime for the 99% before the Holiday period) Now typically, if you can’t get through to pay a bill or to fix something on your account, it makes you a very unhappy customer… and you might even consider changing banks, maybe to a smaller one that has better trained or local agents. Now let me tell you something about call center staffing. Lots of places try and get it to be efficient as possible, in other words, to hire just enough staff to handle the expected calls, and like I said, the First Saturday in a month is going to be busy for a bank. So don’t think that even your one call on that day wouldn’t make a difference. If they get as many as 120 extra calls per hour it will make for a very very VERY bad day. Oh, and one last thing, if a Bank becomes aware of a possible issue with their phone lines, their websites may have up to date telephone numbers, so if you were planning to call and check to see if you are on their record, you make want to check their website for an up to date number too – just in case. Oh. And you may experience long hold times, so be sure your phone is on the charger.