Colin Dellow

450 Midwood Crescent

Waterloo, ON N2L 5N5

 

TD Customer Feedback

Toronto-Dominion Centre

P.O. Box 193

Toronto, Ontario

M5K 1H6

 

President’s Choice Financial services
P.O. Box 603, Stn. Agincourt
Scarborough, ON, M1S 5K9

 

CIBC Customer Care

5650 Yonge Street

20th Floor

North York, ON, M2M 4G3

 

28 March 2005

 

An Open Letter to TD Canada Trust

 

Thank you, TD Canada Trust.  In the last year, two separate incidents with two of your competitors have driven me to you for both my credit card and chequing account service.

 

I write to express my gratitude for the respect your corporation has shown me and to commend the exemplary customer service I have received from your staff at branch #3814, near the intersection of King and Erb in Waterloo, Ontario.

 

My journey to TD began after CIBC denied my online credit card application.  This must be a mistake, I said at the time – I am, after all, in a professional field of study (Software Engineering), currently employed full-time, and asking for only the lowest credit limit possible.  I went in to a CIBC branch, laid out my problem to a customer service agent and had her submit an application for me. She felt certain I would be accepted.  I was not. Her advice was that I apply for a department store credit card – and perhaps, after time, CIBC would consider a third application.

 

Unsatisfied with this, I applied online for a TD Green Visa.  On the strength of my name, my student address and my social insurance number, TD felt able to give me a credit card – without even seeing me in person and without having had my business for the past four years.  Score one for TD.

 

Meanwhile, I was casting about for a new bank with whom to hold my chequing account – I no longer felt that I should be paying CIBC for the privelege of letting them store my money.  President’s Choice Financial seemed the ideal answer – a CIBC owned company, but no service fees for me. Perfect.

 

Perfect -- until I tried to open an account, at least.  The gentleman who assisted me was named Sukait and was extremely helpful.  After PC Financial’s computer system told me that I was only eligible for a banking account – not a chequing account, definitely not a credit card, and a banking account only with extreme limitations imposed on it, Sukait phoned for his manager.  Vicki quickly diagnosed the problem: I am originally from British Columbia, but I am studying in Ontario.  Some of my financial details use my home address, some use my student address. Even when I offered her my driver’s license, my social insurance number, my TD credit card and my Canadian passport, Vicki was unable to open a chequing account for me.  Vicki went so far as to imply that I had put myself into this position of being unserviceable as a customer by having multiple accounts with different addresses.

 

I have since used TD’s online EasySwitch system to initiate moving my CIBC chequing account to TD.  The process was painless.  Score two for TD.

 

I do not feel that I am a bad customer; I do not know why I have such a hard time communicating my needs to banks.  All I wanted was a credit card, a chequing account and most of all, a little respect.  I have received all three from TD Canada Trust, and in return, I believe they have found a lifelong customer.

 

Respectfully yours,

 

Colin Dellow

 

P.S. This letter is available on-line at http://www.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~cldellow/banking/. Any responses to this letter will be posted on that page as well.

March 31 - TD sends this response.