danieljohn 😡annoyed

CIBC's privacy policy: poor customer service

Here's my first experiment with the hReview microformat. It's a bit tedious to hand-code, but being annoyed with the CIBC is providing enough motivation to learn it. I'll check out tools to do this shortly.


1 out of 5 stars
CIBC's privacy policy: poor customer service

Reviewer: Daniel Haran
January 9, 2006


Today I tried to deposit money in my parent's account. The first time I did this, I had their account number on a piece of paper. I just assumed that having their name and account information and a wad of cash would have been enough.

Well, the teller declined. I asked to speak to a manager. "Six months ago, we would have, but because of the Privacy Act, we can't do that anymore." Explaining that I know the privacy act, that this policy goes far beyond what is necessary, that I'm not asking for their balance or other private information, she retorted that "Well, all the other FI's have the same policy."

FI's is jargon for financial institutions. Using jargon with an annoyed customer is rather poor customer service. Worse, the argument boils down to "well, everyone else is doing it." Since I was running some errands, I walked into another Eff-Eye, and asked a teller: "I need to deposit cash and a cheque. I don't have my parent's account number, but I know they have an account at this branch. Will you take the deposit?" As long as I don't require a balance, it was fine. The teller added that they did this "as a courtesy to our customers."

Jargon and an outright lie. A bank protects very little personal information (that they do, in fact, have an account in this specific branch) at the cost of customer service. Just one more poor experience that exemplifies the poor customer service I had at the CIBC and why I found better banks to deal with.