Things you don’t often hear: “I love my bank!” There, I said it! I’ve now had a checking and savings account with US Bank for over ten years. Their service has always been solid, my overdraft protection gives me peace of mind and frankly, closing the account my mom opened for me often causes nostalgia flare ups. Unfortunately, my loyalty has lead to some… inconveniences. In my hometown of Boise Idaho, US Bank branches were as abundant as potatoes, but after moving to Chicago, where US Banks aren’t as readily available, making a deposit really turned into a struggle.
My husband is a proud account holder at USAA Bank, the bank for military personnel and their families. Thanks to USAA’s online system and its early adoption of Android phones, he’s been depositing checks and banking exclusively from his phone for years. His two-click deposit system makes my putting-on-a-coat-and-scarf-to-take-two-buses-to-my-bank system, seem even more ridiculous. It’s also his strongest point when trying to convince me to convert to a USAA account. When I upgraded to an iPhone, I was thrilled to discover the US Bank App. “Ha!” I told him,“I can deposit checks from my phone now! See? Look at how smart I am!” In response, he simply smiled and said, “Awesome,” because well, he’s just more mature than I.
I downloaded the application and went through a rather lengthy registration process. The interface was stark and a little confusing but I trudged along nonetheless. Once the registration was complete, I was able to see my account balances. Not exactly earth shattering. I’ve been viewing my balances via mobile web for a while. I decided to deposit a check as this feature was the reason I downloaded the app to begin with. I walked through all the steps and giddily took a picture of the front and back of my check. I attempted to submit my check but I got an error message that read, ”Please take a picture of the front and back of the check.” Surely, I was doing this wrong. I zoomed in, ugh, no luck. I lined it up against the edge of my desk, nope. I laid it on a black background, a no go. I tried a few more configurations before I hit the FAQ’sI would not be deterred. After all, I had a husband to prove wrong! According to the US Bank mobile site, my carrier (Verizon) and my phone were compatible, so I decided to dig a bit further and came across this note in the customer reviews section from the Apple store:
In short, as a Verizon customer, I cannot deposit checks from my phone. At no point over the course of my registration process was my carrier ever listed as a limitation for this feature. The error message was very misleading and I could have spent another hour taking shots of the check. While I’m not nearly as dissatisfied as VerySad7, I can’t say I am thrilled about this app. In fact, I’ve gone back to checking my balances via mobile web.
Compatibility with a user’s phone should be a huge sticking point with mobile campaigns and full disclosure is of the utmost importance. I started out this process as an enthusiastic customer that really wanted to like this product. If the carrier limitation was listed on the mobile site itself, if the feature wasn’t available on my app menu or even if the error message had stated “This feature is not currently available on your phone,” I would have had a much different emotional response to the program. While the service I’ve received at US Bank has always been exceptional, I wish their mobile experience mirrored that quality service.
