Calling ING Customer Service

Recently, I opened an Orange CD with ING Direct, but in my haste to open it, I selected 18 months instead of 12 months. Ooops! Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything on the website to rectify this. Closing the CD prematurely would result in a penalty of 6 months interest (given that I had just opened the account that means I would have been paying them), so instead I bit the bullet and called customer service.

The number was remarkably easy to find: I clicked Help, Contact Us, and there it was (1-888-464-0727).

The first time I dialed I heard an old “All circuits are busy right now” message, which was a bit jarring, but I hung up, waited 2 minutes and tried again. This time I got through, and rather than immediately hearing on hold music or a plethora of interactive menu options, I was pleasantly surprised to hear the lilting voice of Kate who seemed like she really was happy to assist me.

I explained what it was I had done and then we traded account verification information. She was then able to see the CD in question and asked if it was okay to put me through to her manager so he/she could help me. I acquiesced and then I sat on hold for less than 5 minutes. However, it was not the manager that answered the phone, it was Kate again.

She informed me that she had spoken with her manager and they took went ahead and closed the CD for me (penalty free!) and she offered to setup a new 12 month CD for me, or to let me do it myself online. I told her I would take care of it online and triple check that it said 12 month, not 18 this time.

Total Time Elapsed: 10 minutes and less than half of that was on hold.

This is exactly what calling customer service should be. Go ING!