My complaint:
If you are examining how to pull funds from areas that exist in your life to help yourself through a world-wide pandemic – and you want to cash in equity from your Co-op membership, you can’t just take some of that money out to help you get through a challenging financial moment in time. They make you close out your membership.
There is no flexibility for members. I would have preferred to cash in a portion and leave my membership intact. However the Covid situation required that I cash out and close my membership. I did that and was told I can just re-apply for a membership, but you can’t do that online.
They make you go in to a store – even during a world-wide pandemic.
Instead of fixing their system so it is more membership-focused, they just tell you to jump through their hoops.
They do not escalate the issue to Penney McTaggart Cowan – but she should be aware of this. How do members reach someone in the Executive? I’m not sure because their contact information seems to be sheltered online. And do they have a member complaint section on the website? Not that I could see – this page was the only thing I could find.
Suggested solution:
Fix their membership system - if a membership is closed, the detach the SIN as well so that you can apply for a new membership online. Think of a members-first approachtry to improve your methods.
Allow members to take out a portion of their shares if they want to; have some flexibility.
Start focusing on your members and their needs - especially when it comes to exceptional circumstances like a world-wide pandemic.
Do not force members to come inside a store when they have underlying medical conditions and specifically state this in their email correspondence - again, not very member-oriented.
When asked for issues to be escalated to another area - actually do that to help members and try to make improvements!
I want my issue and email correspondence to be escalated to Penney McTaggart Cowan who is in charge of member experiences, but does not leave any contact information on how to get hold of her.
