Deaf client calls out TD after communication failure: Roseman

[Smithtr]

Kathryn Woodcock likes to reserve her own airline flights on the Internet. While booking a complex itinerary this week, she learned that her credit card had been declined.
“I knew I had bags of credit left, since I never carry a balance,” says Woodcock, an associate professor of ergonomics at Ryerson University’s school of occupational and public health.
She uses a TD Travel Infinite Visa as her sole credit card. She went online to pay her next credit card bill early and in full, but had the same result.
Credit card issuers can decline a purchase if they detect an unusual pattern of spending. Their next step is to call the cardholder to see if the transactions were authorized.
But Woodcock can’t be reached by phone. She is deaf and prefers to use email, text messages and social media to communicate.
“My phone number only has text messaging,” she says. “Voice is blocked because it’s always a wrong number.
“The bank knows I am deaf and has the capability to email me. I also have secure messaging at TD (through online banking), but I didn’t find any secure message for me.”
The result: She had tickets to Tokyo, on to Singapore and home from Milan. But she had no way to get from Singapore to Milan — and the airline fare she wanted to buy was sold out.
Woodcock emailed me with questions:
Did credit card issuers have to ensure equal access for deaf customers when a suspected fraud occurred?
Should she file a human rights complaint?
Would she be reimbursed for costs arising from her failed airline booking? And what about the hotel rooms she wasn’t able to book, as well?
Crystal Jongeward, a TD spokeswoman, sprang into action after receiving my email at 8 a.m., May 2. She answered before 8.30, saying her care team would reach out to the customer by email.
By 10 a.m., Woodcock hadn’t received a response and felt she couldn’t wait any longer.
“I went to a branch and spent 90 minutes at a branch with a financial adviser who handled the phone calls,” she told me.
She found out that her TD customer profile showed a fake phone number (555-0000), which was used because a phone number was a mandatory field in the information system. It also showed her email address.
“I understand they don’t want to discuss secure information by email,” she said. “But an email saying, ‘Regarding your Visa, please see a branch,’ wouldn’t reveal my account number or my location.”
Woodcock has no use for an older method that allowed deaf people to make phone calls using a teletypewriter (or TTY), in which a conversation is typed rather than spoken. She hasn’t owned one for 10 years.
“In my experience, no one uses TTY phones any more. Deaf people use email, text and social media. Even the organization established to promote adoption of TTYs no longer does this,” she says.
“If businesses listened to deaf customers and employees instead of obsolete service agency websites, they would know this.”
She was still negotiating with the bank about compensation Friday, but had been promised coverage for her losses. She also wanted to see better ways of emergency communication with deaf customers, such as secure text.
Making banking accessible to customers’ diverse needs is a priority, Jongeward responded.
“This was an unusual situation where our procedure for notifying this customer of suspected fraud on her credit card fell short of her accessibility needs.”
The bank was already exploring new options for alerting customers to potential debt and credit card fraud, she said, and would use what it learned from Woodcock’s experience.
Do you have concerns about the way businesses respond to customers with special needs? I’ll explore these issues in a future column.
Ellen Roseman writes about personal finance and consumer issues. You can reach her at eroseman@thestar.ca . Her new book, Fight Back, is available at bookstores, online and at StarStore.ca.

Deaf client calls out TD after communication failure: Roseman | Toronto Star

 

[drphil]

The above article is in todays Toronto Star B3.

Her assertion re: TTY/VCO is puzzling. I still use my TTY since 1996 to this day. Relay service is 711.

aside: Bilateral DEAF since December 20, 2006 implanted July 12, 2007

Even more puzzling- Her involvement with Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto. In their classes-Dealing/Coping with YOUR Hearing Loss be assertive.

aside: I have never met her though her name is familiar to me.

 

[Jane B.]

The above article is in todays Toronto Star B3.

Her assertion re: TTY/VCO is puzzling. I still use my TTY since 1996 to this day. Relay service is 711.

aside: Bilateral DEAF since December 20, 2006 implanted July 12, 2007

Even more puzzling- Her involvement with Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto. In their classes-Dealing/Coping with YOUR Hearing Loss be assertive.

aside: I have never met her though her name is familiar to me.

I too have used TTY with VCO but since the very early 1990's rather than as late as '96.

Although I am in the states rather than Canada relay can be reached by dialing 711. It seems soooooo simple and I don't understand why so many d/Deaf seem to have given it up. Maybe if you speak or not is a factor is the only thing I can think of. I find speaking even easier than using a keyboard even though I have touch typed since the mid 1950's.

 

[drphil]

My TTY is UltraTec 1140 VCO/TEXT. Of Interest- purchased from Canadian Hearing Society/Toronto.. I also have a feature from Bell Canada called Telemessage service. What happens all incoming calls are "taped" and I can get Relay to say what is on the "tape". Easy to access-877 235 5777 and give my "secret pass word". After dealing with it-advise Relay. to delete the message.

Aside: I have a Vista regular phone which flashes red-unheard message. Also this computer can't be accessed-line "busy". If I pick up the handset on my UltraTech1140- the signal light will blink-unanswered call.

Hardly seems complicated to use a VCO TTY.

Seems simple enough

 

[AlleyCat]

I too have used TTY with VCO but since the very early 1990's rather than as late as '96.

Although I am in the states rather than Canada relay can be reached by dialing 711. It seems soooooo simple and I don't understand why so many d/Deaf seem to have given it up. Maybe if you speak or not is a factor is the only thing I can think of. I find speaking even easier than using a keyboard even though I have touch typed since the mid 1950's.

There's many reasons to the bolded.

Many have gone to VRS (video relay) rather than type/keyboard-based relays. And for those who are still using type/keyboard, many have gone to online relays. With the online relays, you're able to type at the same time as getting a response (assuming you know what the response is going to be), so that speeds up the conversation. With a TTY, you're limited to reading as fast as the operator can type, and then have to wait to respond. Speed is what many d/Deaf people are looking for, and basically everything out there is faster than TTYs.

(When I was referring to "assuming you know what the response is going to be", an example is: if you're calling the doctor's office and you're given a list of options, when the relay is typing "press 2 for making an appointment with a physician", you can already be typing back "press 2" as soon as you read "press 2 for making an app" and not have to wait for the rest of the sentence. And so on ...)

 

[drphil]

I have no comment re: video relay service-don't have.
As for using TEXT vs speaking- I still speak, thus no problem of keying while reading the relay service response.

Whether Kathryn Woodcock-Toronto fits above sentence-not mentioned in the article. Also not mentioned her involvement with Canadian Hearing Society.

Aside: the info I have keyed came from CHS/Toronto classes.

I read the article early yesterday as I get the Toronto Star-delivered.

Aside: the actual headline of the article is: Bank must meet customers' special needs.
Further Ellen Roseman is a columnist-personal finance and consumers issues.