> Sure-- she could meet with someone at a branch to help her. Their first available meeting was a month away.

You have to expect business to optimize for their common case and just make sure there is a path for the exceptions. That's what this bank did and it's just the way of the world.

I'm not a big phone person either, and it is inconvenient for sure, but I get benefits from that and the cost is extra friction when dealing with online institutions. Everything has a trade-off