worst customer service experience ever | Achieva Financial | Discussion forum

This is valuable feedback - you're right, the way you were treated was not professional.

It's understandable for Achieva Financial and Cambrian Credit Union to monitor new accounts for suspicious activity especially for the first 3-6 months after the account opening by a brand new member. With non-face-to-face account openings, they have limited information to go on other than how the account is being used and your credit bureau's contents, which is unfortunate. This is probably why they charge $1.00+ for each debit transaction after the first free one per month, to discourage transactional activity. That said, if that's the fine by you and your account isn't overdrawn because of it, I see no problem with that.

Bottom line, if they had concerns and were just doing "due diligence", that's certainly fine but there is a proper way they could've handled it and they certainly could've been a little nicer. You could ask for a copy of their complaint/dispute resolution policy/brochure. Unfortunately, because credit unions are provincially-regulated, they don't have anyone to whom they are accountable like the banks (which have OSFI, FCAC, OBSI, internal ombudsman and customer service quality teams, etc.) so you're likely limited to complaining to Cambrian's management and, if they have one, their own ombudsman. You might try complaining to their regulator, something like the Manitoba financial institutions commission or what have you, but again, if it's anything like the B.C. Financial Institutions Commission that regulates B.C. credit unions and trust companies, they're limited to following up on compliance or legislative breaches and don't get involved in administrative/customer service affairs, unfortunately. It's one of the downsides of credit unions, unfortunately, the lack of outside accountability.

Please keep us updated. That said, because of this, I certainly have moved Achieva Financial down to the bottom of the pile of financial institutions to deal with in the future.

Hope that helps,
Doug

I was disappointed to read ttb's post. As a very long-time customer of Achieva I have steadily moved the majority of all my savings from various banks and virtuals to Achieva and have advocated for them both on this blog, as well as with friends & family. What I can say about Achieva is this --- I have dealt with them for over 10 years starting with a basic savings account and moving into a number of term deposits and transferring my RSPs from RBC, Coast Capital and ING. Throughout this period I have referred many individuals and have never encountered a service concern that was not overcome or at least explained to some satisfaction. I will admit, I rarely if ever phone into the call center, choosing to do all my transactions electronically. In addition, Achieva pays me a $1 a month for taking my statement electronically and has an online banking site that allows me to communicate securely in writing (should the need arise).

I think Doug is correct in saying that something likely triggered Achieva to do a bit more investigation with ttb, which may have come off as abrupt and accusatory, however, my experience would say this was more isolated in nature and likely not warranted to have them moved down to the "bottom of the pile"--- especially when you consider they have been in operation for almost 15 years.

I am sorry you had this experience and as other posters pointed out, there probably was a valid reason since in this day and age, precautions need to be taken. Nothing is safe anymore. But that's another day.

I have had nothing but positive experiences with Achieva and have a nice amount invested in GICs. But then again, I had called them, not the other way around.

However, when I am faced with such a situation, I go higher up always and express my discontent with whatever the situation demands. I have had several experiences where I have been very successful in dealing with unwanted, undeserved confrontations with service reps, and even clients I have dealt with. One situation, short story, I got a call from a marketer who identified the company (it was Capital One), wanted some information and wanted to give the speil...I said I was sorry (I was polite, honestly) but I was working and couldn't take the time. This girl proceeded to use the 'f' work and said 'f you' and slammed the phone in my ear. I was in shock. I couldn't believe it...I remembered who she said she was calling for. I called the information 1-800 line, got the number for Capital One, called, spoke to a higher up, (who was appalled), made my case and was given a call later in the week telling me she was reprimanded (or fired, I can't remember now), and thanked me for letting them know what had happened.

That's how you get things done. Don't ever settle for being insulted, putting up with rude, ignorant service reps...take the bull by the horns and complain, make your case known, and let others know (which you did).

However, my experience has always been positive and I still feel Achieve is a great company and their reps are always helpful, friendly and professional.

Just my two cents.

regsmith