But the reasoning is that many companies will go out of their way to help "VIPs" and may even have a separate team to handle them that has more discretion than normal front-line support staff would.
So sure, worth a shot if all else fails.
My banks require physical presence for stuff like changing phone numbers and nominees. We get OTPs on our phones, so that makes perfect sense.
Then he can recount his tale of woe before getting to the point where he is suddenly a public figure where everyone knows where he lives, his mother’s maiden name, the street where he grew up, his Kindergarten teacher, and all his donkeys’ names
Then he can post the PII update to X @pontifex and go viral
I sat in a Wells Fargo once locked in a staring contest with a banker there. They wanted a debit card to process a wire transfer to pay the down payment on a house. I signed up for the account online and had chosen not to get a debit card. I could withdraw all of my money as a cashier's check if I wanted, but standard procedure would not initiate a wire transfer. It was not, in fact, an "exception" to allow me to bank with them that day, it was a stupid rule that prevented me from doing so initially.
Imagine being detained in another country where you're prevented from leaving. Should the bank still say "nah, you've got to come here in person, we don't make exceptions." They could call the US embassy where you're located for proof. There are a lot of things they could do to resolve the situation. In fact, arguably _the whole value proposition_ for the bank having a customer service line _is to resolve exceptions_.
I would not be surprised if the bank had gotten 50 such phone calls over the preceding two months. The fact that one of them happened to actually be Pope Leo is just the punchline. I'm sure there actually is a way to accomplish this without him coming to the US, but it should 't be accessible to a voice on the phone.
“No! That is a scam! Do not click on anything in there!”
I copy/pasted more and said “So there is actually no annual vote for board members this year?”
And the agent thought for a while and said “oh, that, yes that is real!”
The whole value proposition for the bank having a customer service line is to RESOLVE exceptions.
Yes, perhaps the first-line customer service should stick with the policy. If they cannot handle the situation (either to lack of knowledge or authority), the first line reps should ALSO FIND and ESCALATE the exceptions to a rep who DOES have the knowledge and authority to resolve the problem
When a company does not do that, they demonstrate that, despite all their marketing statements that they care about and value their customers, they, in fact NEITHER give a fck about nor value their customers.
> "Well, then the pope is going to move his account to a different bank."
> In the end, the bank made an exception.
Honestly, he should have moved his account anyway if the bank in Chicago has a strict in-person policy for some actions. That's never going to be practical for a person who lives in Vatican City. If he's going to be living in the Vatican until he dies he might as well use a local bank.
Like, say, the Vatican's own bank? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_the_Works_of_Rel...
These may have been 'legacy' accounts, as he was a bishop in Peru for almost a decade:
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Leo_XIV#Bishop_of_Chiclay...
So he was born and raised, and had early ministries in the area, but has been outside of Chicago for a number of recent years. It may have been easy enough for him to travel back home (?) when he was 'only' a bishop or cardinal, but has been more difficult more recently.
Dealing with / consolidating old accounts may not have been a priority for him.