Goodbye letter to Bank of America

[Jorge Holguin]

Goodbye Bank of America​

Dear BoA you are not in the business of popularity you are in the business to serve your costumers. And if I cannot access your services through my mobile devices [Windows phone/tablets] it does not make sense to keep being your costumer. I well might move to other institution that takes its costumer into account. It was good while it lasted but, it seems you got into the popularity race of Facebook, Instagram and/or Twitter. You are a financial institution that should offer its services wherever its customers are, not matter how little or big. Please do not give me the excuse that keeping that app and IE access through my Windows phone/tablets is expensive; you are one of the wealthier institutions in the world. If you were a small or student developer I might gave you a pass but you are not.

Shame of you BoA, after all what you did to us financially we kind of forgave you and gave you that chance again, and this how you pay to those loyal customers. Abandon them in the blank; leaving without a good explanation of why. Shame of you, shame of you, shame of you. If you really wanted to save money why didn't you cut your high management department salary [CEO, VP.....?] We know you failed that last stress test by the Treasury; focus on that to be ready for the next test and not the pennies you spent into the Windows Phone/Tablet application and browser.

Starting today March 12, 2015 will be the last week my name and your institution will be related in any kind of business.

Goodbye BoA and again, shame of you, shame of you.
Attn: Jorge Medina.

 

[RumoredNow]

I too gave them a farewell speech. Weeks ago. I didn't wait for the App support to be pulled or the surprise move that blocked Windows Phone users from the mobile site.

When I went in to the branch and had my accounts closed the woman who assisted me had no idea that BoA was making such moves. I have a felling they are all more aware now what these actions are costing them. I hope the price becomes much higher than they ever anticipated in withdrawn funds and lost customers.

Nice letter, Jorge. Thanks for sharing it here.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

Please Retweet https://twitter.com/Dominican2911/status/576020403883106304

 

[tgp]

I have a felling they are all more aware now what these actions are costing them.

I doubt it. They probably had a pretty accurate idea ahead of time how many customers were going to leave, as well as the feedback they would get. Do these kinds of letters ever work?

 

[amitnahar]

I doubt it. They probably had a pretty accurate idea ahead of time how many customers were going to leave, as well as the feedback they would get. Do these kinds of letters ever work?

Well they works. Freeprints CEO apologized to WP users and quashed the decision to remove app from store.
Also Chase Bank has said that WP users can continue to use the app.

 

[Jorge Holguin]

I doubt it. They probably had a pretty accurate idea ahead of time how many customers were going to leave, as well as the feedback they would get. Do these kinds of letters ever work?

they do work if it have enough exposure. Chase Bank now says their Windows Phone app can be used 'until further notice'

 

[RumoredNow]

I doubt it. They probably had a pretty accurate idea ahead of time how many customers were going to leave, as well as the feedback they would get. Do these kinds of letters ever work?

The front line reps in the branches who never got the word of these changes?

Yeah, when customers started coming in and closing accounts while stating it is due to dropping Windows Phone support... You are right. I'm sure they never noticed...

 

[tgp]

Yeah, when customers started coming in and closing accounts while stating it is due to dropping Windows Phone support... You are right. I'm sure they never noticed...

What I meant is that BoA and Chase probably had a pretty good idea of how many customers would come in and close accounts due to dropping WP support. You're a check mark on the list. They knew how many of their customers actively use the WP app. They know about what percentage will move to another bank and how many will remain with them anyway. Their decision to drop support is based on that I'm sure.

Just because the tellers didn't know about it doesn't mean anything. The tellers might report the complaints to the managers, but they aren't telling the managers anything they were not expecting.

 

[RumoredNow]

I'm taking that Chase Twit activity to just be a placebo.

I'd bet dollars to donuts that the App still gets squashed by Chase. It's just lip service. Both these banks (Chase, BoA) stated during their announcement of canceling these Apps that they would function until further notice. I think they hit on the formula that parroting that phrase quiets down their Twit feed.

 

[RumoredNow]

What I meant is that BoA and Chase probably had a pretty good idea of how many customers would come in and close accounts due to dropping WP support. You're a check mark on the list. They knew how many of their customers actively use the WP app. They know about what percentage will move to another bank and how many will remain with them anyway. Their decision to drop support is based on that I'm sure.

Just because the tellers didn't know about it doesn't mean anything. The tellers might report the complaints to the managers, but they aren't telling the managers anything they were not expecting.

You mistook my point... And I wasn't dealing with a teller. It was a person with an office. A front line Branch Rep. One whom I asked specifically to type in the reason why I was leaving as, "BoA pulled support for my mobile platform of choice, Windows Phone, so I can no longer support BoA." I watched her do this thing. She seemed truly surprised and appeared worried that her employer had made a poor decision that has repercussions for her branch.

I understand some executive got a bonus for making this decision (probably the annual cost of App support/maintenance) and the genie won't be put back in the bottle.

If they about faced and reopened the App and restored the mobile site access I would still not go back, ever.

I'm advocating others to leave and be vocal about WHY. I know they counted the cost. I'm trying to make sure they feel every loss and hope that the loss mounts far higher than whatever the bean counters told them it would be.

If there is no regret for BoA (or Chase) so be it. But if it exceeds the scope they foresaw maybe they will learn about biting the hand...

 

[Jorge Holguin]

One thing, WP has 2.8 to 3.5% market share in the USA, right?
310m people in the USA.
250m over 14 yrs old.
235m use mobile devices. http://www.businessinsider.com/us-smartphone-market-2012-9

235m - 3% = 7.05m users in the US. That is a big chunk of people to ignore. Don't you think?