Customer service can make or break a company’s reputation.

When a bank employee’s refusal to provide basic service backfired, a simple Yelp review triggered a chain of events no one saw coming.

You’ll want to read on for this one!

Talk down to me and disrespect me in public 😤

This was a few years ago when I was preparing to apply to the local sheriff’s department.

I was in need of many documents, and quite a few needed to be notarized.

I noticed that my local bank, Fargo, offered these services, and they were complimentary!

Seeming to good to be true, they first verified the service was, in fact, free.

Being a thorough person, I called the corporate office before I set out and confirmed that they offered these services and that they were free with my current membership.

But when they got there, they immediately ran into trouble.

I arrived at the bank around 2 pm, and they were not busy.

I walked in and spoke with the tellers, and they were all surprised by the fact that I was asking for a notary, as the lady who does this doesn’t like to do it.

I didn’t care about her “feelings.”

This was a service I needed, and I didn’t want to pay for it because of this person’s personal issues.

This notary had some feistiness to her.

They shrugged and called her over, and she proceeded to lecture me about the policy.

She started telling me how she has been scammed by people all the time, becoming louder and louder.

Her lecture soon turned into an accusation.

She insinuated that I was trying to scam, and as I stood there taking the verbal tirade, it hit me—she wanted a reaction to validate her accusations.

I thanked them for their help and support and left.

Shaken up, the customer decided they weren’t going to tolerate this mistreatment.

Now, I’m not a scholar, but I did score really well on my reading and writing comprehension.

I used every ounce of that knowledge to write a one-star review on Yelp.

This location already had horrible ratings, but then I had a stroke of genius.

They decide to withdraw their money altogether.

I took my 401k and savings from there and put it in my credit union.

This, plus the review, must have sparked something!

A few weeks later, I stopped by to take care of a few things and saw my friend at the teller line.

I asked him why he looked stressed out.

It turns out, their protest had sparked actual change!

He told me they had just been through a week of customer service training, and an audit had taken place.

Management was not happy.

I laughed and told him about my review.

He was kind of upset and said that I could have just talked to the woman.

But in the customer’s eyes, this was only karma.

I told him no, she was intent on demeaning me and humiliating me in public.

She refused service even after I told her I had spoken to corporate about the services offered.

She deserved the reprimand!

I was happy that she didn’t get fired, but the customer service training was pretty funny and much needed.

It’s always satisfying when a customer takes on injustice and wins.

What did Reddit have to say?

A customer should never have to pay for a company’s incompetence.

You mess with the bull, you get the horns.

This user has had some pretty bad experiences with flippant bankers.

Someone familiar with this line of work gives some insight on how things work behind the scenes.

This bank learned the hard way that treating customers with respect goes a long way.

Turns out a public review is a heck of a lot more effective than a private complaint!

If you liked that post, check out this story about a customer who insists that their credit card works, and finds out that isn’t the case.