Customer Reps of any kind almost certainly have no idea about security. At best they'll ask their manager/helpdesk, who'll say "Just reply that it's based on industry standards" or something like that.
Try it, ask your bank why they impose a limit of N characters for their passwords (I bet N is < 30 characters).
You'll almost certainly get a response along the lines of "We follow industry best practice" or something.
Reminds me of another "security" organization.