Customer Service Delays: An Apology and Action Plan
Customer service wait times are unacceptably long right now. We’re deeply sorry for the frustrations our customers are experiencing. We’re taking action to fix the problem ASAP. Here’s what we’re doing, plus info on what’s causing the delays and ongoing updates.
What we’re doing
More staff. We hired 30% more customer service reps in November—and they’ll start helping customers on December 28. Customer service in banking requires rigorous training, so it takes new reps about eight weeks to get up to speed and ensure we’re meeting our high quality standards. We’re hiring even more staff now—20% more reps will be ready to go by February.
Self-service tools. In addition to existing tools (like filing a dispute), we’re expanding self-service tools for common needs, which will reduce support requests by about 30%. The first new tool—ordering replacement debit cards for individual accounts—will be available for most customers in December, and we’ll add several more tools over the next three months.
What’s causing delays
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, we’ve seen an unexpected surge in new accounts and, along with that, a spike in the number and complexity of customer service requests. That’s caused wait times for support to jump over the last two months: 10 times higher for call hold time and three times higher for support message responses.
What you can expect
Transparency for our customers is paramount, so we’ll keep you informed of our actions and their impact with ongoing updates below. In the meantime, the best way to reach us is still by sending a support message.
We’re grateful for our longtime customers and the many people trying Simple for the first time. We apologize that we’re not living up to our customers’—and our own—expectations right now, and returning to our usual standards of outstanding service is our top priority.
Ongoing updates
As we work to reduce support wait times, customers can take care of many needs through self-service—find the full list here.
David Hijirida, CEO
David Hijirida is the Chief Executive Officer of Simple Finance. After years in retail banking, David moved into the tech sector in 2006, looking for a “whiteboard” to experiment with ways to treat customers better in financial services. For the next 12 years, he led innovations in payments, web services, and advertising at Amazon, where he found the freedom to innovate—and, at the same time, honed his skills in scaling large organizations and transforming culture to build high-performing teams.
David had considered returning home to financial services for a long time; he made the leap to Simple because of the dedication of its employees and our mission: increasing financial confidence for everyone with tools that make money management accessible.
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Disclaimer: Hey! Welcome to our disclaimer. Here’s what you need to know to safely consume this blog post: We do our best to make sure information is accurate as of the date of publication, but things do change quickly sometimes. Any outbound links in this post will take you away from Simple.com, to external sites in the wilds of the internet; neither Simple nor our partner bank, BBVA USA, endorse any linked-to websites; and we didn’t pay/barter with/bribe anyone to appear in this post. Individual situations will differ; consult your favorite finance, tax or legal professional for specific advice. And as much as we wish we could control the cost of things, any prices in this article are just estimates. Actual prices are up to retailers, manufacturers, and other people who’ve been granted magical powers over digits and dollar signs.
