Can banking be better?
27 May
It started with a cheque. The cheque deposit machine was down so I had to bank it in the primitive way; filled out an envelope, put in the cheque and slipped it in a machine. Then I prayed and hope the bank would not mess it up. Of course it did -_-
One day, I received a call from the bank asking about a cheque that was being banked into a non-existent account. At that very moment, I realised I had mistakenly written the wrong bank account numbers on the envelope. So, I apologised profusely and asked about how to go about rectifying the mistake. The person over the phone told me to head to the branch where I had earlier tried to bank in the cheque.
To be honest, I thought it was very efficient of them to have called me to inform me of the problem and I thought it’s only fair to go to the bank to fix a problem which was caused by me. A day later, I went to the bank and that was when my nightmare began…
First of all, nobody knew which department was handling my kind of problem. I was practically bouncing from one counter to another. Seriously, it was very frustrating to wait such a long time only to be told, “Sorry mam, you have to go to XX counter for this”. In the end, I finally found out that the department I was supposed to go to was not even on the right floor!
I had to climb up two flights of stairs and what greeted me was this ugly, sterile looking office with a locked door and a square hole in the wall, not unlike your neighbourhood polyclinic in the 70s -_-. The reason why there’s a hole in the wall? It’s so that you can speak with someone through the hole, that is if someone was willing to move his or her fat ass from the office chairs and walk towards the hole to speak to you!
Seriously I was standing right at the hole, if I could stick my head through it, I would but a glass stopped me from doing so. I knocked on the glass (because there was no bell or anything to catch their attention) and a few of the staff looked up to see where the sound came from, only to look away as soon as they spotted me!
First, you couldn’t even tell me the right department to go to, now that I was at the right department none of you even had the decency to attend to me?? All this crap because I mistakenly wrote the wrong bank account numbers on your stupid tedious envelope?
Finally, someone did walk towards me and asked me what’s my business there. I explained to him my situation but all I got was a blank face. And the phrase that came out from his mouth next was appalling but yet unsurprising to me, “I don’t know who’s handling your case”. And then there was silence.
Seriously, what kind of customer service is this? I can’t even begin to fathom the level of stupidity that these people possess. And guess what? I’m the one that had entrusted them with my money, my life savings! Guess the stupid one is me, huh.
Anyway, back to my predicament. Turned out the person who was supposedly handling (and I’m using the word “handling” here with very little conviction because the people cannot confirm if it was really him) my case was out for a “tea break” and I decided to just come back another day. And I did and guess what? He’s still on that “tea break” it seemed.
This time around, I demanded that someone attended to my case regardless of who was handling it. I told them that this was unacceptable. Long story short, I never really got to meet the person handling my case but I received a call later on asking me to go back to the bank again, to a specific counter, to speak to a specific person.
I straightaway said “no”, lets settle it over the phone right here, right now. I told the person my correct bank account number and requested that he bank in the cheque ASAP using the account numbers I had just given him. He was hesitant. And then I asked him, what was so difficult about it as if they could verify the bank account number and if the name matched the one on the cheque, there’s nothing to worry about right? He gave out a hesitant “yes”.
So after two weeks of headache, my cheque was finally banked in and seriously, from then on I do not ever want to deal with people from that bank ever again. Seriously, I wonder whether can banking be better?
Tags: bank inefficiencies, banking problems, banking woes, canbankingbebetter, malaysian banking, malaysian banks
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er, did u ever thought of just STOPPING the cheque and reissuing another?
I’m always amazed by the new level of stupidity in this world. wow, how low can u go?
lance: i can’t lar, it’s not issued by me but issued by LHDN..i think doing so would make the situation worse haha
glo-w: am surprised everyday…
Malaysia boleh , been thru that ! i damn tulan until I said I insisted speaking to your manager.
Name the bank! Name the bank!
thank goodness u didn’t bring a gun
Please just use HSBC!!!!! I’m their loyal customer and their biggest fan, banking is so much easier with them. I do not have any accounts with local banks and i don’t intend to.
jess: yeah all of us sure have some experience to share.
repoman: maybe one day.
ky: yeah i would have used it -_-
grace: they also dont have many locations around lor..
Actually, I’ve heard a lot of these horror stories having a Dad who’s been in the banking industry for the past 40 years. I used to work as a temp staff in a bank and manually processed checks (by hand, it was tough) so I understand what you mean.
Interestingly, Norway has done away with cheques. I’m yet to see a single piece of cheque let alone hear anybody mention them. The solution? Pure Internet banking. Bills, rent, everything is done completely online. Most transactions are free because you’re paying a membership fee to the bank. International transactions are a little bit more expensive (similar to a Telegraphic Transfer) but otherwise it’s alright. Basically you get an invoice in the mail (or you can request for an e-invoice) and you just pay for it with your Customer Identification Number as the reference. Quite pain free.
I get your frustration. Similar problems were faced when I tried to close a childhood account. According to them, one needs a passbook to close an account, which I had lost it ‘N’ years ago. To get a new one, it takes 30 days, not mentioning that you need to pay a fee for a new book.
My theory is why I need a passbook to close an account when I was there in person with a NRIC, signature and face to deal or verify the necessary
In short, I didn’t get it done when I was back in the country for a 30-day-holiday. And yet, they have been sending threatening letters that they will confiscate everything in the ‘inactive’ a/c. You tell me how can I prevent this!?! Just a clever way they have to gobble up our money.