Jan 15: Vancity Beat Out Big Bank
Vancity Beats Out Big Banks for Top Spot in Customer Service in BC
Vancouver, January 15, 2003 - Vancity Credit Union has been rated by its members as providing the highest level of excellence in customer service among financial institutions in British Columbia.
The results, from an independent national customer service survey, show Vancity taking a first place finish for 2002 among BC's major financial institutions, far surpassing every major Canadian bank.
According to the results of the survey conducted last fall by Synovate (formerly Market Facts), an international research company, Vancity received the highest rating in overall quality of customer service in BC and, furthermore, almost 40 per cent of members surveyed rated Vancity's service as "excellent".
"This is impressive and it confirms that our members are recognizing our complete dedication to service excellence," says George Scott, Vancity's Senior Vice-president of Marketing and Strategic Planning.
Credit unions in BC ranked above banks with 36 per cent of their members rating them as "excellent". This compares to brokerages, which received an overall "excellent" rating of 34 per cent, and banks, which scored an overall "excellent" rating of 23 per cent.
The survey, which received participation from nearly 6,000 households across Canada and more than 1,000 from across BC, including a supplementary sample of Vancity members, focused on a number of customer service issues ranging from staff service at branches to online banking. Vancity scored higher than the banks in many areas including consistency of service at its branches, accuracy of service and its PC banking, just to name a few.
"Service excellence is always the highest priority with the Vancity Board of Directors who are elected by our members. It is that consistency and support which empowers us to ingrain service into everything we do," says Vancity CEO Dave Mowat.
The Customer Service Index survey, published by Synovate, is a nationally represented survey conducted annually to gather customer ratings in the areas of branches, ABMs, telephone banking and PC banking.
Vancity is Canada’s largest credit union, with $9.3 billion in assets, 305,000 members, and 41 branches throughout Greater Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Victoria. Vancity was chosen as the best place to work in Canada for 2005 by Maclean’s Magazine as part of its annual Canada’s Top 100 Employers issue. Vancity owns Citizens Bank of Canada, serving members across the country by telephone, ATM, and the Internet. Both Vancity and Citizens Bank are guided by a commitment to corporate social responsibility, and to improve the quality of life in the communities where we live and work.