Union Bank over the Phone Customer Service Assistance Experience

In relation to this blog post EON, UnionBank, and Globe Refill Card Drama, I’d like to share about my Union Bank over the phone customer service assistance experience.

Since my pin for the online account was blocked, I needed to call Union Bank for support. I asked someone to call in for me through a land line phone in Manila. They’re local phone number by the way is 841-8600. I initially dialled the toll free number via Skype and its not working. Apparently, they cannot provide support for a third party caller. Only the account holder is authorized to receive information.

So I called them through my mobile phone and was told to wait for 24 hours as the password is refreshed automatically. I was a bit paranoid thinking that my EON account was hacked but I later realized that I entered the info without a password at first and then probably used an incorrect password the second time. There are only two attempts before the login gets disabled. Calling Union Bank has something to do with EON by the way as the debit card is provided by Union Bank.

What is EON?

If you’re wondering what the EON VISA Cyber Account Debit Card is; it is a debit card which you can use for online purchases. It functions like a credit card which can be utilized over the phone and on the web but of course, there has to be funds, it being a debit card. It’s not a savings account, however, so your money doesn’t earn interest. You can at least use it for over the web purchases and even for local bill payments such as for utility services, phone bills, and other services.

I first heard about EON because of PayPal. Apparently, it’s the only accredited withdrawal method for PayPal funds in the Philippines. You can actually connect other local banks like BPI (mine is) but only after the PayPal account is verified through a Union Bank EON card.

Going back to calling Union Bank, it was the same scenario the second day. I really have no idea what the password was even if I just changed it a few days earlier. The online profile prompts for a password change automatically after a certain period. So I probably entered an incorrect pin again. Once and then the second time, there was a page error but that still counts. I called them through Skype afterwards and was told to wait again for 24 hours. The online profile was also disabled then and the rep said there will be a need to re-register all over again, which happens after 3 business days. The funds I was waiting for are at least there at that time.

So I have the funds and I used it to make a product purchase (Revitol) amounting to something I wouldn’t normally spend anywhere but that’s for another post. Calling Union Bank’s local number via Skype is worth a story to tell as well but that’s for another post too. 

Third day and I was withdrawing through an ATM while waiting for the account online to be re-registered. On the ATM, re-registration is no longer possible as the card was blocked after 4 attempts and after trying all passwords I can think of. I called Union Bank again twice to find out what to do. As told, I needed to replace the card and will have to withdraw over the counter. One of the previous agents warned me about blocked cards but what I can do; I don’t really want to keep the funds there for long and only needed to make a bulk order.

This was a weekend (Saturday) so I waited for Monday to have this taken care of as per blog entry Busy Day Today – Bank, Mall, Hospital and More. The verification process for an over the counter withdrawal for EON takes time. I think I overheard the clerks talking about my account. The password was changed to “jun jun?” or I was probably over hearing them wrong. 

If it was true, it was probably the very first agent who did it and how I wish there was a feedback option so I can leave remarks (and secretly get even!). But another agent said they can’t see the password and can only reset it, so I don’t know what’s going on really.

Being a customer service agent in the past, I know how callers feel, so most often we think the way clients think. No one would want to be treated rudely over the phone and none would want their accounts to be edited without their approval so I hope they didn’t do what I was thinking about.

The whole experience calling Union Bank over the phone via mobile and Skype was OK. It was not exceptional but neither was it disagreeable. It’s just fine. But how I wish they had an after call or post interaction survey of some sort, looks like they don’t have any.