Eddie Bauer Credit Card II
The other day I wrote about my friend and her Eddie Bauer Credit Card.
Today I heard how it went when she called the World Financial Network National Bank (WFNNB), the company that owns the Eddie Bauer Credit Card.
To recap my earlier story:
- My friend was told she could pay her Eddie Bauer Credit Card online. When trying to register she discovered she needed a US social insurance number - and a zip code - and thus, being a Canadian living in Canada, was unable to register and pay online.
- The clerk at the Eddie Bauer store had told her she would be able to pay online. When my friend pointed out that she was Canadian she was told she could still pay online.
- I commented on the customer experience going from good to bad because of this episode
Today WFNNB confirmed what my friend already had figured out - she would not be able to register online. This also meant that she will not be able to pay her bill by credit card but would have to send a money order in US funds to them.
WFNNB apologised and said the store had made a mistake. They promised to attach a note to the account so she would not be charged any fees for any delay of the current payment (due to mailing of money order). They also suggested she take this up with Eddie Bauer.
The “mistake” continues to degrade the customer experience for my friend. Let us look at the process (from purchase onward):
- finding items she wanted to purchase (+)
- promise of discount when signing up for credit card(+)
- time needed to sign up (-)
- uncertainty about how to pay bill from Canada (-)
- promised that she could pay online by credit card (+)
- taking time to register online (-)
- discover not being able to register online (-)
- having to call WFNNB (-)
- discover not being able to pay over the phone (-)
- promise of no “late fees” (+)
- have to call Eddie Bauer to complain - WFNNB cannot help (-)
- next step???
As I suggested, a pretty negative customer experience - all due to a “mistake”.
When I write “mistake” it is because I’m not so sure this is a mistake. Rather, I think it is a lack of good business rules and proper requirements planning.
A mistake is when someone inadvertently do something they shouldn’t have done - for example by inadvertently breaking a rule. I think the clerk at Eddie Bauer was trained to follow the business rule of “up-sell to use of credit card”. “Mention that online payment option is available” is just a subset of that rule. Thus, in my humble opinion, the clerk did not make a mistake, but the business rules were poorly designed AND/OR the staff poorly trained. If a mistake took place anywhere it was during the design and training of rules/issues related to the credit card.
It’s easy to make such mistakes - especially when you do not think through the processes the customers will have to go through. I’ve seen it many times before - for example when a travel insurance company listed a single contact phone number, a number that could not be dialed from Europe even though the insurance policy required travelers in Europe to call the company if they had any problems that might require an insurance payout.
So now my friend has to spend extra time and money to be able to pay her bill. Will she ever use her Eddie Bauer Credit Card again? Probably not!
Another problem here is that WFNNB could not take ownership of the situation. This is a typical problem when dealing with sub-suppliers. “It’s not our fault. You have to talk to them!” (Note: WFNNB did not use those words, but politely suggested my friend take the issue up with Eddie Bauer).
In this case, if the WFNNB web site had allowed for Canadians to register this would have been a non-issue. Instead, the “Eddie Bauer Customer Experience” is impacted because of WFNNB is not allowing Canadians to do register.
What can Eddie Bauer do about this issue? Here are some ideas:
- Stop offering credit cards to Canadians (Business Rule Change)
- Alternatively make it clear that the invoices cannot be paid online though the WFNNB site (Training Issue (?))
- Work with WFNNB to allow Canadians to register and pay online (Process Change)
- Apologise to my friend. Compensate her for her trouble! (Customer Relations Management)
Have your company thought through the impact on the customer of the business rules and processes you follow? (Which reminds me about the mall that chose to close bathrooms for cleaning at lunchtime!)
Comments welcome!
roar at roarweb dot com
Technorati Tags: Eddie Bauer, World Financial Network National Bank, WFNNB, Eddie Bauer Credit Card, customer experience, business rules, requirements planning, roar, roarweb
Well ive recently had a problem paying my bill as well.
Comment by fred — December 1, 2006 @ 5:58 amI live in the U.S and have a lane bryant catalog credit card that is issued by WFNNB.
I made an order a month ago,using the pre-approved credit card offer,I received the card,and received the order that was charged to my new Bryant account.
I then went through the process of signing up for online payment.
I successfully registered with no problems.
The billing statement however had not been posted to my account yet,though Lane Bryant catalog showed the charge,and the remaining balance of credit still available.
A month later I received the first paper bill statement,and of course it stated the minum amount due,I then attempted to sign into my online statement account but it would not let me access the account as it kept saying It appears I have not yet registered.
I then went through the whole process of registering online again,only to be told that the account does not exist.
Knowing that if I did not make a payment soon they would not hesitate to report it on my credit as being late.
I then called the number provided if one is having a problem registering online.
When I called it after going through all of the press this entering this info account numbers last four digits of ssn,instead of taking me to a customer service it took me to check by phone,well since I went that far into the system I figured may as well make the payment by phone,well continuing with this process resulted in me making the minum $10.00,but at the end of the phone automation it stated that my account Lanr Bryant account was going to be charged a $7.00 check by phone fee so in reality it cost me $14.00 to pay $3.00 off of my monthly bill.
After thinking awhile about this I have come to the conclusion that under recent Federal laws that were passed in which required the credit card issuers to increase the minum monthly payments on credit cards so that people would not stay in debt,they have carefully meticulated a new way of insurring that they get around this by simply bait and switch,a tactic in which I find downright theivery.
This isnt an isolated case either,because Ive had the same exact problems with a major credit card I have in which the online access has been locked,mind you the only thing visiable on the online account is just the balance owed,the balance paid,and any charges that have been made,the account number is x’d out so there really isnt much an issue of someone accessing vital personal information.
Now lets also consider that the same credit card issuer’s state that online transactions are secured via ssl encryption,so anyone trying to intercept the information wouldnt be able to decrypt it anyhow.
Its easier for them to simply steal a pre-approved credit card offer from my mailbox,or in the trash than through internet communication.
Again I beleive this is an attempt for the bank issuer to slow down payment so that they can send it out anytime they wish and date it prior to when it is actually mailed,this will allow the bank to charge late fees,and to report negatively,what this means is that more than half of all credit card issuer’s can now raise your intrest rate because you were late on paying another creditor.
They are all theives as far as Im concernd,and it is a situation whereas some much needed legislation is in order,including laws that prevent financial institutions from contributing to political candidates.