| By Jim Bruene on June 27, 2006 9:38 AM | Comments (1) |
Sometimes it helps to see how NOT to do something. Today's victim: Chartway Federal Credit Union <chartway.com> which has been running a clever, but poorly executed, 8.00% APY certificate-of-deposit special on its website for the past month (see screenshot below).
Analysis
The good news: It's a great offer. Any member making a successful referral gets to put up to $8,000 in an 8-month CD earning 8% (notice a theme there?). To qualify, the referral must bring in a new credit union member that opens a checking account along with the certificate OR initiates a $500-minimum direct-deposit relationship. The new member also gets to put up to $8,000 in an 8-month CD.
Members can make up to three referrals for a total deposit of $24,000. With the CU's normal 6-month rates at 3.4%, its more than double the normal rate of return, earning both the referrer and referee an extra $31 per thousand over the 8-month term or almost $250 extra per certificate (pre-tax). The eye-catching offer is featured front and center on its webpage.
The bad news: There is no hyperlink. Clicking on the logo, headline, or text does absolutely nothing! There aren't even any instructions on how to participate. Viewers are simply left hanging. The only extra info provided are the disclosures delivered via mouseover (see screenshot above).
It harks back to websites of the mid-90s that were put together by the "ATM guy." Unless you are trying to entice users to go on scavenger hunt through your website, this is a major mistake, and it's been that way for nearly a full month.
--JB
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Chartway gets worse. They have problems with their overdraft system too. Their customer service is so poor, my cousin, who has worked in real estate for a long time, says that Chartway is always last on the list when it comes to that. I've found the same thing true. I'm leaving them after 8 years. Just enough of the horrible service, and not getting any information that would lead me to believe that the story I was getting told was the truth. I've had customer service reps say they were "too busy" to help and literally whine they were going to be innundated on a Saturday. Waited days for issues with my account to be fixed. Go elsewhere, they're not worth the effort.