Why are hold times so long to talk to a US Bank CSR?

[galahad15]

Why are hold times so long to talk to a US Bank CSR?  I'm always getting estimated hold times of 30+ minutes whenever I call in.  I just waited about 40 minutes to talk to a US Bank CSR, and when I finally reached one, I got disconnected -- now I have to wait for another 30+ minutes *again*, not fun... 

Do they just not have enough staff to handle customers calling in to speak with them?

[creditguy]

I guess that's the price you pay for US based customer service , that does seems rather long, I've never had to wait more than five minutes to speak to someone at US bank, granted I call them once in a blue moon. I would guess they are short staffed. 

[mattmyFIC0]

Maybe try calling a local branch?

[kdm31091]

They are a relatively smaller bank vs Chase, Citi, etc so they have less staffing, and thus the longer hold times. That's my theory anyway.

Maybe the issue is something you can just email them about instead? 

[CreditCuriosity]

Us Bank is not small by any means... They handle Elan as well who does lending for gosh knows how many banks/cu's..  They have huge call centers would be my guess..  Maybe no one wants to live in Farg o?

With above said the few times I have had to call I have been on hold maybe 1 min max?

[Anonymous]

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@CreditCuriousity wrote:

Us Bank is not small by any means... They handle Elan as well who does lending for gosh knows how many banks/cu's..  They have huge call centers would be my guess..  Maybe no one wants to live in Farg o?

With above said the few times I have had to call I have been on hold maybe 1 min max?

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CC ND isn't the arctic circle

[CreditCuriosity]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@CreditCuriousity wrote:

Us Bank is not small by any means... They handle Elan as well who does lending for gosh knows how many banks/cu's..  They have huge call centers would be my guess..  Maybe no one wants to live in Farg o?

With above said the few times I have had to call I have been on hold maybe 1 min max?

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CC ND isn't the arctic circle

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Mise well be ..  

[Anonymous]

They're probably cutting costs by reducing call center staff!

Generally calling the branch is NOT a good idea. There's very few things retail banking employees can do over the phone for their customers in terms of servicing.

[kdm31091]

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@CreditCuriousity wrote:

Us Bank is not small by any means... They handle Elan as well who does lending for gosh knows how many banks/cu's..  They have huge call centers would be my guess..  Maybe no one wants to live in Farg o?

With above said the few times I have had to call I have been on hold maybe 1 min max?

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Asset wise they're quite a bit smaller than the "big 4". They aren't small, absolutely not, but they aren't as big as some of the others. They're #5.

http://www.managingmoney.com/fdic_assets.php

Anyway, being #5 you'd think they'd still have staffing but every company cuts corners these days.

[CreditCuriosity]

Who said anything about calling the branch?  He said CSR, not branch.