I still use banks for low interest mortgages and a place for daily financial transactions. But too many times, my dealings with banks like PNC end up disappointing me. They never seem to focus on the customer experience despite the lip service in their advertising. My latest instance of this was working with PNC to refinance a property that I own.

PNC offered a low refinancing rate and as part of the approval process, the property had to get appraised. I paid a $500 fee to PNC for this up front. In my building, there are condos that have the original 1990s décor and those that are totally renovated. The property I owned was a total gut rehab three years ago- it’s new! When PNC brought their appraiser in, he made the mistake of valuing the condo at the lower 1990s décor price even though the apartment had been totally renovated. When I pointed this out, PNC said there was nothing they could do. Then, the lower appraised price meant that the mortgage could not be done at the low rate. When I asked for a refund because of appraiser incompetence, they said no.

A month later, I started the process with Citibank to refinance the property. Their appraisal of the property was 20% higher than PNC’s value and proved my point.

When I brought this to the my PNC’s contact attention, they said there was nothing they could do (after alot of effort to even talk to them). I got the same reply from my local PNC bank. As a result, I decided to move some of my funds out of PNC.

What I do not understand is why they would not give me a $500 refund to keep my $250,000 account? Is being “right” or “it’s out of my hands” worth more than a happy long time client?

Too many times, companies like PNC are too short sighted or are too siloed by department where they are following rules instead of looking out for the customer. They didn’t refund me the $500 but are now losing me as a client. As a result, I took $250,000 of deposits from them and will do more.

It is critical for you to know the life time value of your customer (LTV) so you can make the right company decisions. Play the long game because as we know, it’s harder to find a new customer than keep the one you have. Plus dissatisfied customers will tell their story over and over again which means you might lose prospective customers.

Clearly, I thought I was worth more than $500 as a client… but I guess to PNC I was not.