Please CBA - tell me you are KIDDING

[Jim Goose]

I stopped using CBA years ago when I was being paid by cheque.

Personal cheques usually take 3 days to clear, but if you present 10 in a row from the same employer they will clear them
immediately. Different banks have different rules..but anyway.
Unfortunatly one day, a young guy at a branch didn't think so and disagreed and told me to wait 3 days.

Me: Get the manager
Mitch: Ok
Manager: looks at my account balance which was reasonable at the time
Manager: Do you really need the funds now? (none of your business)
Me: Yes, just clear it.
Manager: Sorry, you have to wait 3 days.
this carried on for a while until I gave up..

3 days later, Different CBA branch

Me: I'd like to close my account
Helpful customer service person: Sure, come to see this teller
Teller: I can't close it completely as there will be $2.20 interest which you will have to take another day
Me: Keep the $2.20, just close the damn account.
Teller: I can't, you'll have to come back later.
Helpful customer service person: Just close his account, is it any wonder he wants to close it!!!
Me: Thank you
Helpful customer service person: If I were you I'd go over the road to NAB, they are hopeless here.....

 

[ThomasAJ]

Hm...the frustration of it all eh.

Please bear with me and I might be able to help you in the long term. (I am talking about run-of-the-mill $ amounts or issues; not $millions - get a lawyer.)

I run a business and I can't tell you the number of times I have been stonewalled by ignorant and incompetant (just like we all were when we were young) customer service people who are usually young. I deal with them all the time.

It is a complete excercise in futility (aka waste of your precious time) to...
1. Think it's unfaiir
2. Complain to 'senior mangement'
3. Spend countless hours documenting all the "I said, she said, they said" conversations.
4. etc etc

You will barely change a single outcome.

The following might help you with difficult issues.

1. Always use your sweetest voice without a hint of frustration even when you are fuming - it just gets their backs up and want to move you along ASAP. If you are fuming call back tomorrow.

2. Always bother to remember their name and drop it in conversation.

3. Don't tell them "how it is, or how it should be" - they have absolutely no control over policy nor control over what they do not know.

4. If it is obvious they do not know what they are talking about - don't say so, nor continue the conversation. Just excuse yourself politely and call back later as you will probably get a better person. If you tell them they are idiots they will more than likely make comment in the notes that you are a difficult customer so the next person will be wary and possibly obstructive because you hurt the feelings of their mate.

5. Take the position of a student and they the teacher. As in "oh I didn't know about that, wow, that's interesting, tell me more etc" even if you know it well. They will open up and you might learn something that will be invaluable to you down the track and if there is some remote chance they can help you by 'bending a policy' they just might.

I have the above 'rules' stored on my computer and bring them out during 'difficult' dealings.

It doesn't always work but it has sure made my life easier. I said my life easier.

Cheers

Tom

 

[Peter_Tersteeg]

Went to Westpac to open a buisness account for a new business I've just set up.

First they tried to tell me that I needed to book an appointment with the business banker who wasn't available until that afternoon. I told them I only want a business account opened, I don't want to come back.

When the detected that I'd go elsewhere, they got someone else to open the account. She took about 45 minutes to open a basic account, most of the time I just stood there.

Finally they told me I need a key generator to transaction more than $1500 in a day. I understand the security implications, but have no desire to carry around another piece of technology just to do a transaction.

So sick of Westpac's bull$hit.

 

[Qlds007]

Pete so the new manager in every Branch didnt step in and sort the problem.

I thought they understood your business (or that is what the ad says).

 

[geoffw]

A friend of mine used to cash her pay cheque every week at the same CBA branch. One day they did not let her. So she asked if she could call the manager of her home branch. She specified that it must be the manager, not a deputy. They got the manager, and passed her the phone.

She said "Dad..."

 

[TasInvestor]

Went to Westpac to open a buisness account for a new business I've just set up.
First they tried to tell me that I needed to book an appointment with the business banker who wasn't available until that afternoon. I told them I only want a business account opened, I don't want to come back.
When the detected that I'd go elsewhere, they got someone else to open the account. She took about 45 minutes to open a basic account, most of the time I just stood there.
Finally they told me I need a key generator to transaction more than $1500 in a day. I understand the security implications, but have no desire to carry around another piece of technology just to do a transaction.
So sick of Westpac's bull$hit.

================================

Westpac is useless! Amen Brother! - it has taken someone I know 5 weeks to get access to their own business bank account!!!! (And they still do NOT have access).

-> Person #1 opens account. Start depositing funds.
-> Person #1 & #2 ask for access to the account.
-> Westpac gives non-value access - means Person #2 can only view accounts! Westpac does not explain the THREE different access to an accout
-> Person #2 gets letter and logs in and cannot transfer funds
-> Person #1 & #2 go back to westpac to get "value" access
-> Do u have an appointment with Biz Banker? - Are u kidding!
-> Westpac says they can do value access - fill in forms and sign
-> Persons #1 & #2 - Sign
-> Westpac say wait a few days
-> Letter is lost in post
-> Person #2 goes into bank
-> Westpac redo letter
-> Person #2 gets letter
-> Non value is still active
-> Person #1 & #2 go to Westpac
-> Westpac - oh we will fix that up and put an urgent request & letter out
-> Person #1 & #2 - leave Westpac
-> Westpac disables transfers for all accounts (Person #1 & #2 Don't know!)
-> Person #2 gets letter - logs on - $0 Daily limit (as soon as a customer gets value access they have apparently an automatic $1,500 daily limit).
-> Person #2 goes to Westpac to sort it out
-> Westpac tells Person #2 that #1 have to give them access
(even though everybody in Westpac says they should be able to transfer funds) Wespac then tells Person #2 that Person #1 can give them access.
-> Person #2 tells person #1 to give them access - Person #1 finds out they cannot even access transfers to the biz accounts either.
-> Person #1 goes into bank to reactivate their transfers (takes about 1hour)
-> Person #2 still cannot access their account! Go Westpac!

What a joke! Esp. please book an appointment with our biz bankers... What are these guys soooo busy they cannot see a customer without an appointment??? Either there are not enough of them (and Westpac are being cheap asses) or it's some kind of B$ to avoid dealing with customers....
I think it's both to tell you the truth....

No wonder they come last with customer Service.

 

[peaches]

Yep sometimes it appears that CBA are Determined to be Difficult

 

[Savanna100]

Wow, it appears that Barbara is alive and well and living in Bankworld after all

 

[BayView]

We've all had a "Bankworld" experience; I've had several, and nothing has really changed in the last 30 years with how banks operate.

Let's be clear about banks; they are a business, and have very strict and ruthless rules. They do make mistakes of course like everyone.

The only way to get what you want in any difficult transaction with a Bank or other business is to be polite and ask "I need to get X, how can I get X result?"

In other words; what are my options in this issue? The staff will usually try to explain any options they have available to them to help you.

If there are no options, then there is not much you can do, and carrying on like a petulant child won't help anyones' blood pressure.

As a business owner myself, I am far more willing to accommodate a customer with a complaint who is reasonable and respectful than someone who is rude, loud and out of control.

I don't subscribe to the "customer is always right" B.S , but will try to help them to my maximum ability, but will happily tell someone to fark off if they insist on being an unreasonable and rude P.I.T.A.

So, when making a complaint; think like you are the employee dealing with you, and how you would like to be spoken to. This will work quite well most times.

 

[JandJ]

100% Bayview, well said.

 

[Piston Broke]

This has to be the MOST ridiculous thing I have EVER heard.

I'm no bank friend, but you and others posted dont seem to have much knowledge of banking frauds if you cant understand the reasons behind this.
Yet if they would allow this, the same people are the first to loudly complain about lax security.
Solution?
Simple, get off your butt and go and do it in person.
If they can't, then change banks.

Like any biz it's the people you deal with and not the logo that makes the difference.
And unfortunately many of them are incompetent, illiterate, could'nt care less, envious or just not properly trained.

 

[tubs]

um...they let me change my phone pin over the phone. I could have done anything I wanted with it anyway. If they were happy with my identity they should have let me set up internet banking. If they weren't they should not have let me set a phone pin.