Where everyone knows your name…

That line from the title song of the 80s sitcom “Cheers,” represents such a positive feeling to most who remember it.  It means something entirely different to me, though.

Saturday was my birthday. I had a really nice day. But, I also received about a half dozen emails like the one in  this caption all wishing me a happy birthday. Ecommerce sites, web vendors and other  service providers are just so sweet. They all must have really caring customer service people who spend their days writing down customers’ birthdays just to send us e-cards with a smile, right? Not. Instead, the reality is that they’ve acquired every bit of data and information on our personal lives and habits. Thus, sending me a birthday email probably takes very little effort. But for some marketers, it’s a smart way to establish closer bonds with audiences they care about.

Here’s the rub about this specific one. I hate Quicken Loans. Quicken wasted my time for over four months this summer when I tried to refinance my primary mortgage. Quicken deceived me and Quicken lost me forever as a customer or someone who will ever recommend its service because at the 11th hour, this banking intermediary told me that the type of mortgage I had been accepted to receive, was now dead and buried. That’s right. I had a closing basically scheduled, when Quicken pulled the rug out from under me and said it could no longer finance this product.

I’m pretty busy. The only care I have when doing anything like this, is that the service provider is dependable and makes it simple, quick and, ultimately, shows me the money. In the end, Quicken did none of that. Ironically, one month later, I chose another mortgage broker who promised me much of the same. You know what? This time the promise was realized in just three short weeks. I had a new mortgage. It was so easy, very quick and I got the money… at a much reduced rate.

What’s the point of this post (you might be wondering)? I had put the distasteful Quicken experience behind me. Then, I received this email. Some idiot there never took me or my private information out of the Quicken database, even after I ranted and raved for a few days at them when the fiasco happened. So, because this company has reengaged me, I’ve decided to now let everyone know that I hate Quicken.

Of course there is a marketing lesson in this tale.  Mass marketing without any quality control can have some very real consequences to a brand. Problems always exist when a company promises one thing in its marketing messages but delivers a totally different user experience?  I think it's such a huge problem that we're actually beta testing a possible solution.

I am not a fan of this company. Many people there heard my roar. Someone should have removed me from this smiley face database before this automatic email went out. Before, I was simply done with Quicken and the brand was no better or worse for it. Now, I’m actually an anti-fan who is passing on a negative experience to anyone else interested in hearing about it.

Comments

[Kelly at QuickenLoans]

Hi Ed -

I'm Kelly from Quicken Loans. I wanted to take a minute to reply to your post.

I'm sorry you didn't have a great experience with us this year. Our products are susceptible to market changes, but we always try to help clients in any way we can. Your loan was did have some rare delays, mostly due to the appraiser. And we did terminate the type of loan you were to receive on 8/23. However, I've spoke to a few people who were involved with your loan and we did make an exception to go ahead and close your loan, but we couldn't get in touch with you to let you know (I can see 6 calls made to you between 9/1 and 9/22).

In regards to your deposit, we followed the policy that is laid out on all of our loan applications, which you signed. (Also found here: https://www.quickenloans.com/about/quicken-loans-deposit) In a case like yours, we would have denied the loan and refunded any money not spent on your behalf. You paid a $750 deposit, but your appraisal alone cost us $910.

The reason you got a birthday gift from us is because you've successfully closed loans with us in the past and we most certainly value you as a client. Again, I'm sorry things didn't work out with your most recent loan. We are not perfect, but we do try to be as transparent as possible.

I'm going to make sure you're removed from any future contact with us. But if you'd ever like to work with us again, get in touch with me and I'll make sure we apply your entire deposit against your new loan as a credit. If there's ever anything else I can do to help, please get in touch with me directly: [email protected]

Thanks for the feedback and for working with us. We appreciate your patience and consideration.

Kelly
Quicken Loans
[email protected]

[ed moed]

Kelly,

I appreciate your prompt reply to this post. It definitely shows that Quicken cares about the social media sphere and what customers/bloggers have to say about it.

Maybe I was a tad harsh on Quicken. Most of what you wrote is true. My major issue though (which you cannot remedy)is that I was continually told (probably 30 times) that this loan would go through, my credit is excellent (which it is) and these glitches will be resolved. I fully believe that my customer service rep actually felt this was the case. With all that promised, the loan fell apart in the end for a ridiculous reason (Chase stopped selling this product) and some manager had to call me with the news.

That wasted months of time and energy I had to put into this. As minimal as the cost was, I should have been refunded as well. But, the bottom line is that I was led to believe this was a sure thing. And, in the end, it failed. That's why I'm one unhappy former customer.

Still, I appreciate your comments.

Ed

[Kelly at QuickenLoans]

Thanks again, Ed. Please know that we also believed we could close your loan as it was and are just as disappointed it didn't work out. The changes in the markets over the last couple years require us to make some drastic changes (including discontinuing products) at a moment's notice. We communicated that to you as quickly as we could and went as far as to make an exception to get the loan closed. We would have loved the opportunity to get another loan closed for you.

Thanks for your feedback - it's invaluable and is the kind of thing that helps us improve as a company.

Also, happy birthday! :-)

Kelly

[Peter Engel]

Based on what you went through Ed, I don't think you were too harsh. As for Kelly, she would have been more convincing if she had double-checked the tenses of her verbs.

[Private]

I love how Quicken tries to clean up their mess once people speak out about it but during your process they don't give you the time of day!

[ghost]

Here's my question, Ed: Was Kelly's response originally e-mailed to you and, upon receipt, you decided to post it -- or did she simply decide on her own to post personal information about you obtained through the mortgage process on a public website?