A discussion about sales, sales tips and advice, and about those who land the deal

I opened a new personal bank account at Bank of America.  The other day, I got my new ATM check card in the mail, and got around to calling the toll free number to activate it yesterday.

Typical touch-phone entry stuff, until....

...their sales pitch started.

"While we process your request, let us tell you about our free credit check service..." 

I didn't want to hear a commercial.  I was in a hurry.  "Fine," I said to myself.  "This will just take a second anyway..."

Wrong.

This message went on for 70 seconds!  That's an eternity when you're on the phone and needing to be doing something else.

So then I hear, "Just press one for more information or to sign up for your free account."  And that was it.  No options not to proceed, just an option to sign up.  So I waited...with silence on the other end...for about five seconds.  Naively, I thought that it would just finish up my transaction if I stayed quiet.

Wrong again.

Here's what I heard: "Please consider our offer for this valuable service..."  and then proceeded to subject me to another 30 seconds of a commercial!  Again, the option to press "1" and nothing else.  Again, I waited (scared now of what the next step would be).

Thankfully, I heard these words after another five seconds of silence:  "Your account has been approved.  Thank you for choosing Bank of America..."

So, what's the result of all this?  Read part two of this rant...