Disjointed chat responses causing mega frustration!

Feedback & Ideas
1

Thought I’d summarise a recent attempt to resolve a merchant issue via chat, because it’s a good illustration of a lot of minor issues adding up to a seriously frustrating experience. I’m guessing most/all of the issues are with the UI of the system the COps use, not with any specific individuals involved!

As you can imagine there are several hours or overnights between most of these messages since the COps understandably can’t answer straight away and then when they do finally reply I’m no longer able to respond straight away either.

Me: goes on merchant website and uses already stored card details to make payment for my domain name
Monzo: declines payment and freezes card
Me: unfreezes card so I can use it, merchant promptly tries again and it declines again
Me in chat: please help me figure out why this payment was declined and my card frozen
Monzo robot: Sure! Which payment?
Me: this one here
Monzo COp several hours later: Hi, which payment is this about? Also your card is not frozen!
Me: this one here (the same one I picked in the first place! my account is not full of declined payments)
COp: ok I will escalate
but at this point the chat closes!
meanwhile the merchant tries the payment again and it declines for a third time

Me: please can someone respond to this enquiry, it’s urgent
COp: turns out the merchant has incorrect address details and this is why it declined
Me to merchant: can you fix my address details and try again?
Merchant: we fixed your address details and tried again but it declined

meanwhile since this merchant convo takes a while (it’s across timezones) the chat has closed again

Monzo robot: maybe you would like some canned articles?
Me: no thanks
Me to Monzo: The payment has declined again even though the address is now correct, can you help me figure out why?
Monzo: What’s the address?
Me: Same as you have on file, it’s (my address)
Monzo: Great news, that has updated for you!
Me: please can you help me figure out why the transaction declined
Monzo: Sometimes we block transactions for anti fraud reasons but it should always go through the second time!
me: this is now the fourth time
Monzo: well let me know if it happens again and we can look at next steps
me: it happened four times already, can you help me sort this out now please, my domain will expire if I cannot pay for it
Monzo: ok we will escalate this, you can leave the chat

well that’s where I am with it at the moment!

Seems like

  • later COps in this chat are operating with zero context as to the ongoing issue
  • finally getting an escalation doesn’t stick if the chat auto-closes.
  • there’s nothing on the COp end to indicate that there even is a long-running issue or an outstanding escalation
  • having a chat repeatedly close mid-issue gives the impression of having an important problem completely ignored.
  • this is giving a bad Monzo customer experience, even though it seems likely that the underlying issue is nothing to do with Monzo at all, I just need Monzo’s help to resolve it with the merchant.

Now I’m aware these kind of issues are common to pretty much everywhere running a customer support ticket queue, I just wonder whether Monzo can break some more norms and figure out how to do a non-horrifically-frustrating customer support experience more consistently!

Anyway I’m taking bets on whether I successfully manage to make this payment before the domain expires on the 29th.,. wish me luck.

2

Having similar issues. Dealt with one person, they said someone would get back to me the next day, the next person either doesn’t read the previous conversation or has no access to it and I have to re-explain my issue. Been 3 days with no resolution as nobody has responded since early yesterday afternoon.

5 Likes
3

Similar issue here.

Also they always ask which transaction even if it is pretty obvious or I have clicked the actually transaction and opened the chat through it

5 Likes
4

Yep I’ve had to repeat the same information several times in chats when the next person has taken over, it’s very annoying

8 Likes
5

Also if the information is in the system about the cause of declined payments, putting that in the user interface would have saved me (and the poor COps) this entire chat experience…

2 Likes
6

It’s kind of funny that the problem that Monzo’s in-house monolithic support chat was supposed to solve (CoOps lacking context from previous issues) seems to have made things worse, to the point that they apparently can’t even see the context of the current issue. I’ve been having problems too.

9 Likes
7

It always felt such a strange move that they wanted to get rid of the different threads/tickets, in favour of one giant mess of messages/issues.

10 Likes
8

I think the answer is much simpler… they got rid of the old solution which was costing them money (and was likely annoyingly restrictive) but they’ve not yet implemented anything that’s anywhere near as good as what they previously had.

7 Likes
9

These are the things that infuriate me the most. Granted, usually Monzo isn’t as bad as a certain warbling competitor here (I have never actually managed to stay connected long enough to have a conversation with their CS), the auto time out thing and the not scrolling back HAS TO STOP.

It will alienate and piss off so many people and costs little to sort out in comparison.

3 Likes
10

I reported a bug whereby the app is calculating my 28 day budget total incorrectly. That was 22 days ago and the only information I have had is that it is being investigated and only then when I have asked for an update. I’ve asked if it only affects me (as I’m wondering why there does not appear to be the slightest progress) but they can’t or will not tell me. Seems only “specialists” can answer this question. Seems I can’t scroll back now to read the thread.

2 Likes
11

Customer service is downright rubbish and needs seriously sorting, they seen to be pressuring the staff to copy paste and I’ll bet there’s some sidebar with suggested pastes based on keywords in the query.

4 Likes
12

The trouble is I think that they think they have :neutral_face:

1 Like
13

Quite. This new ‘quantity versus quality’ support approach is annoying me immensely. Just when I think I’m getting ready to ditch First Direct as my main bank, Monzo do something else to irk me. Which is a shame, because overall they’re great. I’m now on my third support person for a simple ask – is a greyed out transaction pending or not. We go over the same ground, and the original question still doesn’t get answered. If I phoned First Direct this would be sorted in 5 minutes by one person and I wouldn’t have to keep repeating myself.

Sometimes doing something quicker isn’t better.

4 Likes
14

Greyed out bacs credit or direct debit is pending, as are foreign currency transactions

Card payments don’t be greyed out when pending

3 Likes
15

I did much prefer the Intercom system, if only for the individual threaded chats… I still maintain that whoever decided a single chat was a good idea should be prodded in the arm a few times and persuaded to change their minds…

It’s even worse if you need two different support interactions that end up overlapping… but yes, I’ve had to repeat certain things. And I don’t generally do it as politely as the initial message when I have to, either… it’s just so damned annoying.

Hmm, how to make it unhidden? Maybe I shouldn’t use the same language I use with family on a community forum, it doesn’t carry the same meaning…

12 Likes
16

It’s, rather sadly, some of the worst kind of customer service I have to experience. Which is a shame, because the idea was placed right – Monzo are trying to do something better – but the execution ends up producing quite the opposite. As I’ve said, First Direct’s support excels it in every way. I find myself getting testy and annoyed, and have to remind myself it’s the system, not the [fifth!] person trying to help me. It needs to change.

1 Like
18

Come on now

That sort of talk is not acceptable here or at the other place

By all means argue against the change, but that’s too much

2 Likes
19

This is really, really troubling to see and dare I say it, slightly unnerving.

When I first started using Monzo a few years ago back on the prepaid beta (or Mondo as it was back then) the support was always fantastic. Sometimes they had to go away briefly and check on something because it was new and everyone was learning. But you’d rightly expect things to be much better now.

But it’s gone backwards. I completely agree that the Intercom chat was far, far better. I hate the fact that I’ve just got this single mess of a chat window with all my previous correspondence. How that change got approved is beyond comprehension.

Give Monzo their due, they know response times are poor at the moment and they’re working to improve them. But the awful chat layout, the inability for COps to see history and provide continuity of service is unforgivable given that they did it so well in the beginning.

Whilst I’m eagerly awaiting new features for Monzo Plus I can’t help but feel that they should be putting all the bells and whistles on hold until they get the fundamentals right.

8 Likes
20

I don’t know what the other place is?

But I stand by what I said. Making something worse for millions of customers is not something to be rewarded with continued employment. This is the corporate world, not a family run business.

1 Like
21

Genuinely surprised saying someone should be poked in the eye was not flagged, but my post for saying they should be fired was. Assault is ok it seems.