A US BANK WHICH FORGOT ITS CUSTOMER

How BOK Financial Let Me Down And Caused Substantial Damages

I am currently in Europe. Refently, I was in a process a buying a car. So I needed to have some money transferred urgently from my BOK US accounts to my European bank. It took almost a week and untold frustrations do get it done. And by the time I got the money, it was too late. I was forced to use my credit card which cost me hundreds of Euros in fees.

This is a letter to the BOK Financial CEO, Stact Kymes (right), which I also copied to all of his minions who have contributed to this debacle. As I told them, when I get back to the US, I will be looking for a new bank.

___________

July 15, 2026

There was only one obstacle left.

Money.

Not earning it.

Not having it.

Simply moving it from one of my accounts to another.

That seemingly trivial task turned into a week-long exercise in bureaucratic absurdity.

My American bank had all the information it needed.

The money was mine.

The receiving account was mine.

The instructions had been given – by email – as dozens of times before.

Yet every day brought another excuse, another delay, another promise that someone would call.

No one did.

By Tuesday, July 15, I had run out of patience.

For the second time, I threatened to contact the bank’s CEO.

Only then did my phone ring.

Ted Slate—that was the manager’s name.

He sounded eager to reassure me.

“We’ve been fighting to get an exception,” he explained.

An exception?

To receive an order by email instead of over the phone.

I had heard enough.

“You’re a dollar short and a week late,” I said.

Then I told him something I had never imagined saying after decades with the same bank.

“When I get back to the United States, I’ll be looking for another bank.

You, Dave, Tyler, and your team are responsible for that.”

Realizing he was getting nowhere, Ted softened his tone.

“I’ve managed to get the exception,” he said. “We’re now ready to transfer the money.”

Had those words been spoken five days earlier, I probably would have thanked him.

Instead, he added one more request.

“Would you mind just confirming the transaction verbally?”

I stared at the phone in disbelief.

“I thought you told me you’d already obtained the exception.”

“Yes… but since I have you on the phone…”

“On an international call that I’m paying for.”

“Well… we’re actually not allowed to make calls outside the United States.”

I almost laughed.

“Which I’m paying for,” I reminded him. “So what’s your problem?”

The conversation had drifted into the theater of the absurd.

We were no longer discussing an account transfer.

We were discussing a bureaucracy that seemed more interested in protecting its own procedures than serving its customer.

For the second time in less than two weeks, I found myself telling someone they had just lost a customer.

The first had been a security guard at a Renault dealership in Belgrade.

The second was one of the managers of Bank of Oklahoma.

Different countries.

Different businesses.

The same lesson.

People rarely lose customers because of one mistake.

They lose them because, after making the mistake, they still fail to understand what the customer is trying to tell them.

BTW – I did buy the car today – by putting a part of the transaction on my credit card. Which cost me hundreds of Euros. Thanks to BOK.

—

​Bob Djurdjevic

PS: On July 26, I also sent a copy of this article to Stacy Kymes, BOK’s CEO. And to his entire “customer service” team.