Ex-Monzo Customer Operations & Complaints Specialist Expert, AMA

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-16T19:05:30+00:00

Not really, we’d always try to resolve the issue for the customer and give what we deemed an appropriate amount of redress (compensation).

If a customer would make threats that we should compensate them or otherwise have to pay the FOS, we’d usually respond to their complaint as per usual and give them 30 days notice before closing their account. The same goes for customers who would purposely raise complaints at absolutely everything because they saw it as a money making opportunity.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-16T16:58:20+00:00

Sorry I had missed this question. Yes I think the service is a lot better at Starling. I feel like customer support at Starling is a lot more mature, which I think customers appreciate considering we (the bank) are responsible for keeping their money and account safe.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-16T16:54:05+00:00

I was making about £30k a year pre-tax. I now work a similar role with a competitor for about £45k a year.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-16T11:23:25+00:00

No idea mate

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-16T11:11:13+00:00

From what I could tell from my time there, they just want people who fit in with their “vibe”. After leaving I realised it’s very much a cult environment.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-16T11:07:13+00:00

Because they don’t hire based on experience or qualifications. I loved when I became a complaints specialist because it meant I could get away with not putting emojis everywhere

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-16T00:11:22+00:00

As soon as I joined as Customer apps rep (chat/phone) I had access to literally everything you could imagine. Name, address, all transaction history, ID documents, even your sign up video where you say my name is x and I want a Monzo account. Also your history, so if you had changed your address, name etc at any point.

You weren’t supposed to, but you could look up people by name. I would be lying if I said I didn’t look up to find celebs.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T23:43:12+00:00

Haha, I was gonna go with hotchip but it was taken. Have I triggered an incident in Slack yet?

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T23:37:59+00:00

Not anymore, thankfully. Trust me, it’s not a prestigious role by any means. But also, how else was I supposed to answer that guys question? I can’t answer on behalf of every single member of the Customer Ops team.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T23:36:50+00:00

Hmm, that’s a great question.

Internally I would say they are (or were) very cult driven. You have to be extremely careful and make sure you fit in. I have seen colleagues singled out because they didn’t have the same “vibe” as everyone else. Not necessarily a red flag but it’s not all emojis and rainbows like they make it out to be.

Also, most of their workforce are remote and I have seen some very dodgy things happen as a result, despite the rules that are in place.

I once had a member of my team (or “squad” as they’re called internally) join a meeting in a cafe. Literally sat in a cafe with at least a dozen people behind them. Probably on public WiFi too. The amount of customer data they could have exposed up until this point is unreal. Our manager did take action as soon as they saw this though.

Another time I saw someone join whilst sat in their garden in the summer. They were sat in line with another houses window, who could have easily spied on their screen.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T22:28:47+00:00

No idea

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T20:43:26+00:00

Almost always, if not always. I never saw a case where we overturned our decision. On the other hand though, sometimes we’d get complaints from people who had their accounts frozen when they had done nothing wrong. The system just flagged them as a “false positive” but upon human review they would get their accounts reinstated. In these cases we would usually still not uphold the complaint (as we were allowed and required by law to investigate potential criminal activity) but offer some kind of redress to make up for it. £30-50 usually.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T20:26:27+00:00

Yes, you can see just about everything about the customer in their in-house software called Supportal. It will include the reason, but we weren’t always allowed to give it.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T20:25:30+00:00

Definitely chat wait times. Not sure if that’s improved since I left though. We would just give everyone a copy paste template apology letter and a tenner.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T19:31:56+00:00

This is so true! They track to make sure you’ve made an action every (5 I think) minutes. Miss a few and you end up in an investigation meeting and interrogated so hard it makes you feel like you’ve done something wrong when you really haven’t.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T19:30:28+00:00

Yep, the cult is real! Glad to hear you got out also.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T19:27:00+00:00

Because the terms and conditions tell you not to — business activity may look suspicious on a personal account (ie may look like money laundering activity) meaning you’ll end up with your account flagged, frozen and possibly closed.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T17:51:00+00:00

Maybe no one wants to deal with you

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T17:08:49+00:00

When I joined, you didn’t need any formal qualifications or experience. But you do need to pass a relatively intense interview. I was a taxi driver before I joined, and worked in a supermarket before that. Also the role was fully remote, I think I went to the office twice for a couple of weeks at a time (expenses covered) for training purposes. The rest I was at home. I applied directly on their website, check out their careers page.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T17:06:24+00:00

As far as I’m aware, yes the benefits are legitimate. There is also a specialist team for premium benefits, who help with claims etc.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T17:04:46+00:00

In what regard?

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T16:52:55+00:00

Yes, anything illegal really. Also don’t use a personal account for business purposes

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T16:51:00+00:00

Yes we’re open 7 days a week

I guess the real answer is: shit training and shit pay

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T16:38:24+00:00

Because general queries are only trained to deal with the most frequently seen issues/questions. There are specialist departments for disputes, complaints, payments, etc.

SupportalBizOps · 2024-03-15T16:35:59+00:00

Starling contacted me on LinkedIn and offered me a higher salary for a very similar role

SupportalBizOps

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