eBusiness only when it suits us

Why are companies which are leading our move into consumer ebusiness, particularly banks and travel companies, so reluctant to handle customer questions electronically?

So I notice an unusual, potentially fraudulent transaction on  my son's BofA account. It's late and I email customer service hoping someone can look at it real time. They react in a few hours (not bad) but the response reflects business 5 years ago, not the online, paperless world banks keep pushing us to adopt

"...Please call the number on your Bank of America Statement...or you can write to us at PO Box..."

(BTW - you do not want to hear the runaround I had on this transaction with the call centers - not relevant for this post)

I send Marriott through their secure customer site a request for a duplicate of a bill at a hotel I stayed at. And I get this response.

"Many of our hotels are franchise locations and handle their own accounting. To secure a copy of your hotel bill, you would need to contact the property directly."

Come on Marriott, you happily take reservations and credit card information for these franchise locations through that same site.

I have this exchange through the customer service portion of the Delta website,  where after a few exchanges I finally tell the lady  "Sending me a form response is no way to win my business back.... If you can help me, call me on my cell 813-xxx-xxxx". And she responds with another form letter  text  and this ingenious addition "In addition at the late hours many of our e-mails are processed, it may be disturbing to receive a phone call at such times" . I would prefer not to receive a call at all, just help me electronically, not pass the buck.

Hey, not all is bad. I love the fact that American Express allows you to dispute transactions on-line. Give them reasons why and they take over for you. I love the fact that Hilton allows you to download PDF files of your final hotel bill.  Similar deal with Hertz and Avis. No need to bother their call centers or send paper or fax requests.

Or as the Delta lady would say no need to "disturb them"...let's do it electronically, efficiently. 360 degree eBusiness - not just to collect revenue.