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Answering the call

STCU Phone Center staff counts 167 years of experience

[July 1, 2011]

As an STCU Phone Center representative, Stephanie Davis takes about 100 phone calls a day. Over the years, she's helped thousands of members who forgot their online passwords, needed account balances, wanted to know whether a check had cleared, decided to open certificate accounts or… well, the list is long.

But there was only one who requested the measurements of plumbing fixtures in the STCU North Branch men's room. The caller explained that the fixtures were just the right height for her husband, and she wanted to match them in their home.

Stephanie called the branch, found someone to take the measurements and called back the member with the needed dimensions. Case closed.

Yeah, that call was a bit out of the ordinary. But in the 18 years since STCU opened its Phone Center, members have learned that the highly trained representatives who pick up the phone will either have the answer they need, or can find someone who does – even if it requires a tape measure.

After all, manager Vicki Giampietri and her staff of 25 have a combined 167 years of experience in the Phone Center that's located in STCU's Liberty Lake headquarters. Many have additional experience at STCU branch locations, or in other credit union departments.

"To help members over the phones, you have to know a little bit of everything and a lot about some things," said Giampietri, who started in the Phone Center 15 years ago. "So it helps a lot to have a staff like ours, with knowledgeable people who stick around a long time."

The popularity of online banking has changed the nature of the Phone Center's most common calls, said assistant manager Lily Laughlin, who has worked in the Phone Center since it opened in 1993. People still call to learn their account balances or transfer money, Laughlin said. But the most common calls come from those with questions about what they see online. Those having computer problems are referred to the STCU technology experts.

Of course, not everyone who calls the credit union gets the answer they desire. Phone Center representatives are always on alert for anything that sounds suspicious. Maybe it's a caller who can’t answer the security questions for the account he's trying to access, or a caller who sounds much older or younger than her reported age. Maybe it's someone calling from a far-off location, seeking information that could be used to commit fraud.

In such cases, a member service representative may contact the member personally to make sure nothing is amiss. Or STCU may ask that the member visit a branch location for face-to-face service.

"If something doesn’t seem right, we take action to make sure it’s on the up and up," Giampietri said.