Wells Fargo Customer Service

Calling Wells Fargo is an interesting experience if you don't already have an account with them. I was interested in pursuing a small business loan with the financial institution, so it seemed logical to call them to find out more about my options. However, their customer service line is clearly set up to cater to people who already have accounts with them. This makes it rather frustrating to deal with them over the phone. It almost makes you want to find a physical branch and wait in line the old-fashioned way to get answers. 

To be fair, there are probably many reasons why people end up calling Wells Fargo, from talking about loan opportunities to discussing their savings opportunities to reporting fraud. Banking institutions have a high customer service usage rate, I would bet, but that doesn't mean that you can't set up your customer service lines to be more user-friendly. 

When I called, the virtual assistant immediately said, "Welcome to Wells Fargo," and followed up with a message for Spanish speakers. It then told me that the call may be monitored or recorded. The subsequent immediate request was, "To get started, say your card number or enter it followed by the pound sign." I wasn't sure what to do since I didn't have a card number, so I tried saying, "I don't have it."

The system did not seem to acknowledge that I said anything, but interestingly enough, then told me, "If you just don't have your credit card information handy, say 'I don't have it.'" Therefore, I once again told the virtual assistant that I didn't have it, only for it to reply, "I think you said you don't have your credit card number handy. Is that right?." It was like arguing with an echo, which got very frustrating. 

After the second time, it seemed to acknowledge that I didn't have it but then launched into a description of where I could find it. This was of course, no help to me since I don't have an account. However, it offered to let me say "banker" to talk to someone. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple because once I did, it asked me to use a short phrase to describe why I wanted to talk to a banker. 

I said talk about a loan account, and then it led me directly to some upbeat music that I had to listen to for about five minutes. When I finally got through, someone was able to help me, but it was an odd process to get there.