Personalized Customer Service? Come on!
I have a French friend who has lived in Mexico for thousands of years. She is 92 years old, a cancer survivor, and suffers from many ailments of her age (and her sour French character).
My friend opened a bank account with Bank of America around the 1970s. It is a savings account that is still in excellent health today (the bank account, not hers).
My friend used to manage her savings with bank checks and communicate with Bank of America by fax, but due to a change in the game's rules, she has not been able to dispose of her money as she used to. Perhaps it is all due to this digital transformation that we have eaten up as an irreversible and desirable destiny for everyone.
As I consider myself part of her family, and she asked me for help, I’ve tried to. I bought her a mobile phone, downloaded the bank's application, and made several phone calls to communicate with an advisor and find a solution to dispose of HER money (because this is all about something that is hers, don’t miss this detail). That's when our ordeal began because:
1. My friend does not speak English.
2. The bank has French-speaking interpreters, but you must wait a long time on the phone to contact one.
3. The options offered by the automated system do not consider the situation of a nonagenarian, French-speaking migrant living in Mexico user.
4. She is not digitally literate, so using a mobile phone and an app without assistance is impossible.
5. She is 92 years old, and establishing communication takes forever, so her patience and energy are often exhausted before any progress is made.
6. She has no national insurance number because she does not live in the United States.
7. Bank of America no longer has branches in Mexico; she is too old to take a flight and go to a branch to solve stuff.
8. Because she cannot communicate with the bank without assistance, in my repeated attempts to solve her problem, and maybe because I am Mexican, we face an additional challenge because the telephone advisors think that I have kidnapped or coerced her in some way to steal her money.
This whole journey against the clock, with the risk that my friend will pass away before she gets her money back, has led me to put into perspective the recurring discourse about the importance of personalized service, which, in this case, does not exist. I understand that designing for a single user is difficult; it requires much effort and resources.
In my experience, in such large and complex systems, it is possible to design an experience for a single user if the brand has taken the time and resources to offer such customization as a premium service, or because of the will of a service provider who often breaks the rules of the game to solve the problem.
Mexico is a chaotic, corrupt* and indulgent** country where obstacles to solving everyday challenges are often circumvented. You may have to try several times, but finding someone willing to help you and change the course of events to resolve a situation is always possible. But in more structured countries, where logic is more complicated to challenge, it is difficult to find solutions to anomalous conditions: being old, migrant, non-English speaking, not having a social security number, and not using digital technologies couldn’t be more anomalous and taboo (I forgot to mention that my friend is also queer, so that’s the icing on the cake!).
In this age of overused and abused talk of personalization of services, I find that services could not be more impersonal. I know that embodying that individual who is part of the 'system' and willing to question the rules (not break them, only to ask them) is a reality reserved for the movies.
What does it take to become that person? What does it take for Bank of America to listen to my friend and serve her as the individual she is, with her limitations and needs (and with her money in the bank)? Suggestions are welcome.
*I don't intend to justify corruption but rather to describe one of the reasons why it is so difficult to eradicate, as it functions as a shortcut to worldly life.
** For more references, I suggest exploring https://www.theculturefactor.com/country-comparison-tool, which offers interesting findings not only about Mexico.
