Yesterday I received an email from what apparently was American Century. Unlike some "phishing" stuff that I've received from time to time this one is so well done that if it isn't from American Century, it surely could have been. I can't reproduce it here, but the text says:
******
"Providing investments that best fit your needs is important to us. We're asking for a few minutes of your time to help us evaluate our current money market mutual funds and provide feedback on several new alternatives.
We Want To Hear What You Think
Your feedback will help us make an informed decision about our money market products in the best interest of all our clients. Please note, the alternatives mentioned in this survey are concepts only and may or may not be introduced.
Can We Get 5 Minutes?
Please help us by answering seven short survey questions no later than May 11. Your responses will be used for research purposes only.
Thank you for investing with us and for the continued trust that you place in American Century Investments®."
*******
Following the link given in the email, my FireFox browser said:
"This Connection is Untrusted"
"You have asked FireFox to connect securely to americancenturyblog.com, but we can't confirm that your connection is secure. Normally, when you try to connect securely, sites will present trusted identification to prove that you are going to the right place. However, this site's identity can't be verified."
"americancenturyblog.com uses an invalid security certificate."
"The certificate is not trusted because no issuer chain was provided."
"(Error code: sec_error_unknown_issuer)""
I notified American Century by email, and here is their response:
*******
Thank you for email.
Unfortunately, the information provided was too large to be received and was sent to us as an attachment. However, for security reasons, any attachments that are received in an incoming email are automatically removed before the email is received. If you need to send additional documents, please submit the documents by fax to 1-800-345-5220 or by mail to American Century Investments, P.O. Box 419287, Kansas City, MO 64141-6287.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please call our office at 1-800-345-7412. Any member of your dedicated Priority Investor Team will be glad to assist you weekdays from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Central time.
Sincerely,
Jody L. Craven
Senior Correspondence Specialist
*******
In my email I had given them the url link that generated the FireFox warning. They didn't even bother to try it for themselves, or indicate to me whether or not it was even their own link. Just a "send us a letter" kissoff.
My response to American Century:
All that would have been required is for your security people to have followed that link, and advise what the situation is. Your "send us a letter" response is nothing more than a cursory brushoff, and speaks volumes about how serious American Century really is about protecting their customers.
Comments
.....Him to me: What is the "M.V." in front of you?
(And just how did we get this far without you being literally on the same page with me?) OK, I need to be talking to someone else at this point.... Mr. M, if you'll just let me know what the problem is... (And have you not been listening, or have you just been operating off of a friggin' cue card, so far???)
Raising my voice: I need to be talking to someone else RIGHT NOW, or there will be THE DEVIL TO PAY!... Then I got put on eternal hold.
I call back. Speaking to someone else at TRP, I get a call from TRP at a 719 Area Code. Turns out to be Colorado Springs. But as soon as you choose either #1 or #2, you get automatically re-routed to the silly-ass idiots at the 1-800 number.
I call back AGAIN. This time, it's not Baltimore, nor Colorado Springs. It's Tampa. So I might as well be calling for the very first time, cuz in Tampa, they know nothing about nothing about anything that's transpired so far. To her credit, she gets a Superv. rather promptly.
FINALLY, I'm talking to a Superv. but he wants to entertain me with "it could be this or it could be that." I told him flatly that I was not interested at all in HYPOTHETICALS.... So he's supposed to call back: both about the original issue and about straightening out the Customer "Service" situation. (Ya, good luck with THAT, Max.) Before I let him go, I told him that it's a wonder that I remain with TRP. Their "customer service" is a non sequitur, a contradiction in terms. It is nuts, crazy, bogus. It is just plain bullshit. They are merely SAYING that they provide customer "service."
Question: Do you still have the email? I ask as there may be a function in your email program that can be used manually or set to auto for each email that would be named something like..........Internet details and/or headers. If this is available, usually this "on the side" email program might have a user tab. When you receive an email as you noted, the tab may be clicked to open in a new window all of the routing sequence for the inbound mail. I, too have received emails like this and pop the detail open to find the IP address and mail name used. For the most part I will find a .de, or .ru or other eastern european country tags.
At the very least, it is interesting to find the last place the email was from before my email box; although this may not have anything to do with the real start point, as it may have been a redirect through another server.
Lastly, I agree; that the "who gives a rip" attitude from Am.Cent does not leave a good feeling. This treatment who cause me to move up the Am.Cent food chain until I really obtained someone's attention. Don't forget to mention to them about you new Schwab account, that is currently unfunded. These type of attitude/operational problems are seldom fixed from within a company, but from the customer side. You are indeed a good customer............go rattle some cages.
Take care,
Catch
Trust me, I get just as frustrated with the absolute stupidity of some procedures and responses, so (in my best Arkansanian accent) I feel your pain.
All that said, here are a couple of answers/comments:
americancenturyblog.com: Real site. Here's AC's press release about it, on their site (americancentury.com): https://www.americancentury.com/press/blog_launch.jsp.
Most commercial, let alone financial, sites strip attachments sent to customer service. One of my larger gripes about lousy UIs is that they're not robust - they find the first problem and fail, rather than identify multiple problems so that you don't need to iterate inputs until you get everything right. The (likely automated, or at least mechanical) rejection of your email because of an attachment is symptomatic of this prevalent, lousy interface, design - whether it is real software or just a procedure applied by human beings. Found a problem - reject the question.
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Many financial institutions apparently don't give their customer reps access to the same screens as you see (presumably for "security"). As a result, it is quite possible that the TRP rep really couldn't be literally on the same page. I imagine that this could be the reason why you were being asked about the MV - because the rep had a different view of the same data, and perhaps by seeing which of the two numbers (MV, AB) didn't match his screen, he could guess at the cause of your problem.
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First line support is a pretty thankless job. I get very frustrated with them because their task is, as you suggested, to follow a script. That really is all most people need (think of how many people fail to read the instructions, or here fail to read the prospectus). But when I call, and likely when most of the people here call, it is for something that goes beyond "unplug the machine, plug it back in, and turn it on." Hence the frustration. It's not a system designed to help people, but to deflect questions. I usually try not to shoot the messenger (first line support); I'm often unsuccessful in that endeavor.
As for brokerages, Ameritrade has really first-class customer service (and I think they were rated #1 in Barrons?) but not a fan of $49.99 for TF funds and 180 day holding period.
Evidently they didn't even bother to check internally as to whether they had in fact sent out such a survey request or not. We have a fair amount of investment with American Century, so qualify as "Priority Investors". If this is representative of their handling for us exalted "Priority" folks image how they must treat the common old "regular" customer.
Regards- OJ
Quoting: "It's not a system designed to help people, but to deflect questions. I usually try not to shoot the messenger (first line support); I'm often unsuccessful in that endeavor."
OK, they're just employees. Where is my error in expecting them to actually ACCOMPLISH something for me, instead of getting the run-around? The problem, as you note and describe very well--- is real. Corporations everywhere, including mutual funds are just allowed to treat customers with transparent, naked arrogance, according to the description you so accurately provided.
Reply to Scott: No, there are no fund houses at all that I've actually been pleased with, among those I've dealt with. It's precisely because of what msf has so beautifully described. "Customer Service" is a Big Lie. A system designed to "deflect" questions (msf) is an outrage and an abomination. Corporate America sucks big wet gigantic ones. If investing with them wasn't the only game in town, I'd certainly be doing it elsewhere.
I am very happy to be able to tell you that several of their "first-line" customer service people politely went totally extra miles to help sort things out, and they also bent their rules to do so via email after I explained to them that my severe hearing problems make detailed telephone conversation almost impossible.
This is not an inexpensive application, so their support was very much appreciated, and I made a point of extending my thanks to both the support folks and their supervisor.
There evidently are a few corporations left who still honor their customers. FileMaker was at one time a division of Apple, so perhaps that has some influence on their attitude.
“They're trying to kill me," Yossarian told him calmly.
No one's trying to kill you," Clevinger cried.
Then why are they shooting at me?" Yossarian asked.
They're shooting at everyone," Clevinger answered. "They're trying to kill everyone."
And what difference does that make?”
― Joseph Heller, Catch 22