Direct Express is a
prepaid card which allows individuals receiving federal benefits such as Social
Security a means to access their funds.
I’m a disabled
American receiving Social Security Disability Insurance while living
overseas. Recently, my Direct Express
debit card, which I use to access my benefits, expired.
On September 1st
I called Direct Express customer service to activate my new card. The representative I spoke with assured me
that my card was now activated, and that I could immediately begin using it
without any trouble. However, when I
attempted to get cash from a nearby ATM machine on September the 3rd,
the ATM machine displayed an error message indicating that my transaction could
not be processed. Earlier I had verified
that I had more than enough in my account to make the withdraw I was
attempting, but still the ATM machine would not process my request.
I returned home after
not being able to withdraw any money and spent the next several hours
attempting to contact Direct Express customer service. However, each time I called I received a
recorded message stating that Direct Express was receiving a higher than normal
volume of calls, and then the call would be automatically disconnected from
Direct Express’s end. Keep in mind that
I live in a time zone which is twelve hours opposite of the US, so how many
calls can they possibly be receiving at 3am, local US time?
At around 8:30 pm I was
finally able to access the main-menu (dial one for English, star for main-menu,
and seven for customer service). A
recording informed me that all representatives were busy, that I should remain
on the line, and that they appreciated my business.
I briefly heard the
sound of a ringing phone after waiting on hold for approximately thirty
minutes, but then my call was mysteriously disconnected without me being able
to speak with anyone.
I immediately redialed
Direct Express customer service, and then spent approximately the next hour or
so on hold, waiting to speak with a customer service representative. Eventually I was able to speak with a female
customer service representative who told me that my card had been “locked” due
to the fact that I was traveling outside the United States. Unfortunately, I was distracted with the
issue of getting my card to work, and I did not catch the female rep’s
name.
When I attempted to
explain to the rep that I was not traveling outside the US, and that I have in
fact been a legal permanent resident of a foreign country since 2013, she
immediately adopted a confrontational/sarcastic attitude towards me. When I asked her if my card was unlocked, she
told me that the procedure to unlock my card might be completed in as little as
a few minutes, or it might take a few days.
According to her, I would just have to keep going back to the ATM to
find out when it was working.
I informed the rep
that I wanted to speak with a supervisor, and at this point she became even more
hostile, and she began raising her voice to me.
She repeatedly demanded to know why I wanted to speak with a supervisor,
but every time I told her it was because I was unhappy with her service, she
would simply pretend that she did not hear my answer, and would again ask me why
I wanted to speak with a supervisor.
Eventually the rep agreed to transfer me to a supervisor, but instead of
transferring me to a supervisor, she transferred me back to the main-menu of
the Direct Express’s customer service tree.
Once again I navigated
the tree and waited in queue for my turn to speak with a customer service
representative. But after approximately
thirty more minutes of waiting on hold, I was once again disconnected without
being able to speak with anyone. By this
time, it was nearly midnight in my time zone, so I decided to give up for the
day.
When I attempted to
call back on September 4th, I continually received the recorded
message indicating that Direct Express
was receiving a higher than normal volume of calls and that I should call back
later.
On the following day,
September 5, I called Direct Express customer service at approximately 7:20 am
my time. At around 8 am a customer
service rep by the name of Jacklyn took my call. I asked Jacklyn if she could help me verify
that my card had been unlocked, and that it was now working. I spoke with Jacklyn for less than one minute
before she informed me that she would have to put me on hold to check that
information. It is now 8:45 am, and
Jacklyn still hasn’t returned to my call to let me know if my card is now
unlocked or not.
As someone who spent
five years working in customer service, over a decade ago, it is my opinion
that Direct Express’s customer service is so ineptly bad that it can only be
described as being completely dysfunctional.
The really bad part is
that Direct Express customer service is supposed to provide assistance to
people who are suffering from disabilities.
However, instead of providing adequate customer support, Direct
Express’s customer service staff frequently engage in behavior that can only be
described as uncaring, sarcastic, and belligerent. That is, if they even bother to pick up a
customer call without dropping it after a sixty-minute hold time. Moreover, Direct Express customer service staff
are frequently unable to provide customers with basal information, they are
unable to solve basic issues in a timely manner, and they often provide
information that is false or misleading, just to end the call.
Does it typically take
BofA customer service several weeks to get a non-functional debit card working
again? No, it does not.
Since Direct Express is used to distribute federal benefits, perhaps the
public would be better served if Direct Express’s customer service operations
were relocated to India or the Philippines, where most of the workforce
displays a much better work-ethic.
