Did my first bank audit yesterday.....and I can see why there are people here who like them. This one was for Bank of America and it was actually very easy. I was a little on edge as on the shop form you HAD to have the name of the associates you dealt with - the MSC I have primarily worked with lets you just do a detailed description of the associate if you can't get a name. But everyone was wearing name tags and so I had nothing to worry about. I could seriously get hooked on these shops if I could get more - at $10 a pop, if I could get 5 in one day that would be a nice little day for me.....

I had a BoA audit yesterday too. No one was wearing nametags and I couldn't get the teller's name. I did get her description and location in the teller area. I also mentioned her attitude when I tried to purchase a money order with cash. The second part went perfectly.

My B of A gig didn't go well at all. The teller said exactly what she was supposed to, and called a banker over to help me. The banker said what she was supposed to . . . except she wouldn't give me the name of the agent she was referring me to, she insisted on giving him MY information. I tried to balk giving her my SSN but she said she couldn't fill out the form she had to submit to him so HE could call ME. This was one of my first shops and I didn't want to blow the shop so I gave it to her.

Imagine my surprise when she popped up account information after I had just told her I wasn't a customer (I wasn't). It turned out my mortgage had been held by B of A briefly after Countrywide went under. So she had ALL my information there, name, address, social, phone, shoe size .... so much for "anonymity."

I was not happy with the shop at all because of that. I expected her to give me a business card, not demand my information so she could hand it off to someone I didn't want to have it.

He called me two days later as arranged and I told him I was no longer interested. But it still frosts me that she was more concerned with the bank "getting credit for the referral" than she was with my privacy. I won't do that shop again. It just left a really bad taste in my mouth because there was nothing in the guidelines or instructions to suggest this might happen. We are normally warned if we must be prepared to give out our real information.

It was supposed to be a 20 minute shop and I was in there over half an hour. Nope, not doing another one of THOSE.

I've never given a bank any information beyond an alias name. Normally they either want to call someone right then or they want to set up an appointment for the phone call. Just tell them you do not have time for the phone call that day and don't know your schedule for the upcoming week. At that point you tell them you will call them to set the appointment and they will give you a business card.

Nope. Not this time. I tried that. I asked her specifically if she would just give me his business card for all the above reasons and she insisted she didn't have any, that she had to send the referral through the computer or they wouldn't get credit. She flat refused to give me the guy's phone number.

Ironically, when I do use an alias, I give the name Lisa. But I was doing that before I joined this forum.

I don't ever give out personal information either at a bank shop. It's not uncommon for people to not want to provide the socials.

I don't often get the other guy's business card, but the banker will give me their card. Maybe it is my assertive nature, but I don't let targets push me around. You should have seen the video from a new car shop where the sales manager did not want to let me leave without signing on the bottom line. It is unfortunate that only he is visible because the look on my face would have spoken volumes

I wish I'd had video running when that sales manager got snarky with me that day. But I'm pretty sure that shop was commissioned by an industry rating service, not the car company itself, so I doubt anything was said after I described how rude the guy was.

I'm still trying to find the balance between "Don't draw attention to yourself" and being assertive enough to get the target to follow the script that goes with the report I have to fill out.

But you're my inspiration . . . I'll get there eventually!

Just don't let them bully you

I don't do anything to get them to follow the script or help them do things right. However, if they get off topic and want to discuss their dog or football or some other inane subject, I don't hesitate to turn it back to the topic at hand.

It happened last week and made me so nervous. Video shop on the other side of the state and I gave my home as a large college town at the midway point. It is my alma mater, but 30 years later I am not at all familiar with the neighborhoods. Lo and behold, one of the woman on my tour was a relatively recent grad and kept bringing up the school and their sports teams. She also included my faux hometown with every introduction. During the second introduction the employee said, "Sorry, but I'm a ------ fan." I grabbed the opportunity and said, "In all honesty, I really don't care about all that stuff." The target got the hint and didn't mention it again.

itsasecret Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Nope. Not this time. I tried that. I asked her
> specifically if she would just give me his
> business card for all the above reasons and she
> insisted she didn't have any, that she had to send
> the referral through the computer or they wouldn't
> get credit. She flat refused to give me the guy's
> phone number.
>
> Ironically, when I do use an alias, I give the
> name Lisa. But I was doing that before I joined
> this forum.

I had the same issue and I find it too aggravating to do those bank shops. My banker insisted they cannot give a name - that they can only refer and someone calls me. I ended up giving my google number.
Besides, sometimes it takes 30 minutes to wait for a banker. I stop doing those shops because it is just not worth it. There are so many other bank ms that are easier and pays more.