I was carelessly logging into my Keypoint Credit Union account online today, and messed up three times. BAM—with no prior notice at all, I was locked out of my account.
What would most normal banks do under this circumstance?
- Require me to answer additional questions that ideally only I would know before allowing me to try logging in again.
- Or throw up a captcha.
- Or, at worst, make me wait [x] minutes before allowing me to log in.
Keypoint? They make you call. Here’s what I had to do when I phoned in:
– Listen to a welcome announcement
– Navigate through a phone tree
– Enter in lots of data (social security info, phone numbers, home address, etc.)
– Wait for an agent (thankfully not long).
– Wait for the agent—I kidd you not—to put me on hold while he updated my records to show there was no change in my info.
All in all, a bit over four minutes. Hardly the end of the world, but a not-insignificant annoyance… particularly if I had been overseas, not near a phone, etc.
So, the $100,000 FDIC Insured Question: Why couldn’t I have simply been asked to Prove I’m Me… online? Sheesh.
* * *
And now for something even sillier.
I’ve been a member of 24 Hour Fitness for more nearly a decade. I love my gym at work, but I enjoy being able to take fitness classes on the weekend and such. So when I learned that 24 Hour Fitness was building a swankier gym literally around the corner from the existing somewhat-cramped gym, I was pretty excited. Building, building… done!
This past Sunday I admirably dragged myself out of bed, gym bag in tow… and here’s the entertaining (and somewhat baffling) conversation I had with the front desk staffer and the (apparent) manager who walked on over.
ME: Good morning [handed him my 24 Hour Fitness card]
STAFFER: Hi. [Scans card. Pauses, with confused look…] Hmm, are you a member?
ME: Um, yes. [pointed to card still in his hand, which also had my photo on the back of it].
STAFFER: But… but… hmm… your membership isn’t good here.
ME: Yeah, I have a Sport membership, not a Super Sport [rolling eyes invisibly], but I brought this 7 day trial pass. [I hand him the pass]. I’ve thought of upgrading.
STAFFER: Er… erg… hmm. [looks at paper, turns it over to the blank side, then back over to the unblank side and literally scratches head]
MANAGER: Hi, can I help you? [Staffer mumbles confusedly, hands him paper; Manager looks at computer screen]
STAFFER: Oh, you’re in luck! [Yes, he seriously opened with this line with a straight face] You have a Sport membership, and this is a Super Sport gym, so you’re not eligible to work out here. But I can have someone walk you around the corner—we have a Sport gym there for you!
ME: But I logged into my 24 Hour Fitness account online and printed out a trial pass for this gym. Just wanted to try it out, maybe upgrade and…
STAFFER: [shaking head] No, no… sorry, that was last week. Um, we had the open house last week. It ended. But here, let me have someone show you the other gym…
ME: Er, but what about the pass?
STAFFER: You’re a member, right?
ME: Yes [pointing to my membership card which was in the hand of a still-rather-confused staffer]
STAFFER: That’s the thing. That pass [pointing to tiny print] is only good for non-members.
ME: So, for the past 4 months, you’ve had flyers up urging members to upgrade, but now we can’t check out the new…er, nevermind, I’ll just head over to the other gym. Thanks!
* * *
I’m thinking about quitting my membership. The classes aren’t even that great, and I’m embarrassed to be giving my money to a company that’s so consistently clueless.
What do you think?