I was surprised to find out that I was charged $3.95 each month for a HSA with a previous company for the past nearly 6 years. I didn’t use the money, nor the service. I contacted the customer service and was told below certain amount, there would be a monthly account service fee which was paid by the company until the end of employment. There is option to change to public HSA which is free and same service as the private HSA. I didn’t know any of those. I explained to the staff and asked for a refund. She said there was documentation and the best she could do was to refund 3 month’s. I asked if there is other way or somebody who could help, she said no. She said I could send a feedback afterwards. I wrote a detailed message to explain the situation then waited. A few days later, I received an email that case was closed without explanation.
I went back to the website but couldn’t find way to appeal. I thought ‘well, what could I do, other than bite the bullet, it’s better now than never or later.’
I was chatting with a friend who talked about an experience of returning a furniture. She reached out to the CEO, she heard back from the guy personally, not only got a full refund but also a better replacement free of charge. She couldn’t believe it! It’s amazing what the CEO did yet think about it…it’s genius to turn a loss of customer (or more) forever to a fan (plus one of the most effective marketing: word-of-mouth) potentially for a long-time.
I thought ‘my case was a small potato, would a CEO be even bothered?’ Hey, the company is claimed to be the #1 HSA in USA, let’s see if the company lives up to the reputation!
I found and emailed the CEO…then forgot it. A few days later, I got an email from a customer care team member who communicated that the CEO received the message, she is looking into what she could do…the next day another email from her that the refund was issued. I thank her.
I was happy with the result and more importantly, take-away from this experience…
1. Not everything shall be raised to the top, and better not to, that’s what team is for yet if you want to make it count, find and reach the ‘real’ decision maker.
2. Rather than hiding the fee in long document or small foot print, another HSA put the minimum balance to waive the monthly service fee clearly and centered on its website to the members. It saves everybody time, energy, and money.
3. I have full respect for the customer care team. Empower people with the knowledge and authority to decide and do what they think right for the context. It’s very hard to deal with all kinds of people in difficult situations yet it’s also a great opportunity to distinguish a company and make a long, trust relationship.