A couple of weeks ago I used up all the checks in my checkbook, so I put in an online request with my bank for a replacement book to be sent out to me. Yesterday, I had to pay my credit card bill. I normally pay this monthly bill by check but, by yesterday, the latest day I could pay in the bank branch, my replacement checkbook still hadn’t arrived.
My current account and credit card are with two different banks which happen to have branches just a couple of doors away from each other. So I went to ATM of the bank that has my current account and withdrew the money to cover the payment for my credit card, walked up the road and into the bank that provides my credit card.
As luck would have it, there were 5 people ahead of me each taking an average of 8 minutes to do their transactions. So, 40 minutes later I get to the desk hand over the bill and announce:
“Hi, I’m paying off my credit card bill…”
…and, as I pull the cash from my pocket, the teller responds:
“Sorry, but we don’t take cash.”
What??? The rest of the exchange went something like this:
Me (pointing to the sign hanging on the wall): “It does say this is a bank and banks are obliged to handle cash aren’t they?”
Teller: “Sorry, sir, but our branch has been refurbished so as not to handle cash transactions.”
Me: “You’re joking!”
Teller (looking affronted): “No, it stops us from being robbed!”
Me: “I’m standing here before you with the means to pay my credit card bill but you are refusing that payment. I presume under the circumstances that no interest will be debited from from account due to not paying my bill on time and that I’ll receive no black marks against my credit rating?”
Teller: “That’s not up to me sir. You’d need to take that up with the credit card company directly.”
Me: “So what payment methods are ‘acceptable’ to you?”
Teller: “Checks or drafts.”
So I left and headed back down to my other bank to buy a bank draft using the money I’d earlier withdrawn from the ATM. Only three people ahead of me in the queue this time but still had to wait 12 minutes before getting to the desk.
Me: “Hi, I’d like a bank draft please”.
Teller: “Sure, no problem.”
Me (handing over cash): “Here’s the money to cover it.”
Teller: “Sorry, sir, but we can’t accept cash for a bank draft. The cost has to be withdrawn from your account.”
Me: “You’re joking!”
Teller (with sarcastic smile): “No, sir. We’re obliged not to take cash because of money laundering considerations.”
Me: “So you’re intimating that I’m requesting this draft in order to engage in money laundering?”
Teller: “Excuse me?”
Me: “You’re saying to my face that you will not give me a bank draft on the slim chance that I might be guilty of engaging in money laundering.”
Teller: “It’s bank policy, sir. Nothing I can do about it. Do you have an account with us?”
Me (defeated): “Yes, here’s the account number.”
Teller: “Thank you. The fee for the draft has also been deducted from your account. Have a nice day.”
Me: Mentally stick up two fingers at the teller.
So, out I trudge and head back up to my credit card bank. Yes, there’s another queue and a 20 minute wait to get to the desk. This time the teller did accept the payment.
So, it took me 72+ minutes to pay a bill that should have taken a much shorter amount of time. I’ve learned that some banks don’t deal in cash (we’re talking banks that deal with the public, not high-flying institutions that only deal with other banks) and that the banks have squeezed more money out of me for services (new checkbook and especially the charge for the bank draft).
It’s no wonder the banks are in the woeful state they’re in when they won’t even provide basic services.
Anyway, I decided to meet a couple of friends for dinner later that night in the local Bar & Grill. We arrived around 7:30. By 7:50, the waitress hadn’t bothered to come over to us to take an order (there were only 4 other people in the joint). We weren’t in a secluded area, hidden from her view. And we are regulars at the bar (we go every week or two). We were just ignored. So we called the waitress over.
Us: “We’d like to order some food please. Can you bring up some menus?”
Waitress: “Sorry but the kitchens are closed.”
Us: “You’re kidding! When did they close?”
Waitress (looking perplexed): “About 5 minutes ago.”
Us: “You’ve seen us sitting here for the last 20 minutes. You know we come here regularly and order food. You’re the one who always serves us, so why didn’t you let us know the kitchen was closing early and give us a chance to order?”
Waitress just shrugs and wanders off.
How’s that for service?!
So banks that don’t deal in cash and restaurants that don’t serve food. What is the world coming to?
All the best,
Gary Nugent
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Tagged with: Atm • Bank Draft • Banks • Cash Transactions • Checkbook • Checks • Circumstances • Credit Card Bill • Credit Card Company • Credit Rating • Current Account • Desk • Doors • Hanging On The Wall • Money • Replacement Book
Filed under: When Things Don't Go According To Plan
Here is the deal . . .
These institutions don’t care anymore. So the right thing to do is leave them and tell everyone you know to stop banking with cashless banks and stop eating at restaurants who treat patrons like third class citizens.
The problem today is we the people / customers are just sitting around and taking all this garbage. The governments hits us hard, banks rob us of our money, retailers try to pull the wool over our eyes . . . and we keep going back for more.
So take your iphone/blackberry and slam the restaurant on YELP, TWITTER and Facebook. Do the same for the bank, and I mean slam them hard. Get your followers to do the same. Hit them where it hurts the most . . their pocket book.
Why NOT, they do it to us all the time and we just allow them to get away.
Look if 2000 people suddenly stop going to a bank in a local town it will be felt. If a few hundred thousand people switch banks in a large city . . it will send shock waves . . . but it all starts with one person and a small group of friends.
I can’t tell you how many restaurants I have complained to friends when they rob you bilnd. Guess what alot of my friends stopped going and to make things worse they complained in writing . . . to the point you actually see places closing up or changing management or better yet making an apology in the local newspaper.
We have the power . . . these business thrive because we choose to give them our business. If they abuse us then we have a choice.
But like most things we have become lazy and afraid to speak out. Complacency is a serious problem . . . governments, banks, credit card companies, the oil industry etc . . . thrive on us being complacent . . . we all end up losing.
I can imagine how outraged you felt at both situations you wrote about in “When The Service…..” Seems I encounter this more and more today. I was pissed just reading about your day.
I remember how cool I thought it was to get my first Diners Card in the late 60’s. Little did I know how that simple technology would be the forebearer to the egregiously impersonal and inept “service” we experience in today’s world.
I feel bad for the world that my grand kids are wading into.
Ahhhh, Progress!
Best wishes,
Steve
Alejandros was right!
For me, the best deal is to change for another bank. Or Change your country for a better.
Never put your money in One Bank, But in Five minimum. Your Sold in 3 Offshore banks. If a Bank fails, you can Get your money in the Others.
Great Britain become The USA?
In United States of America also, cash is not accepted.
Watch this, and enjoy:
End of Liberty
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQv-sdMCClQ
Franck
Gary:
By not naming the Banks that are providing poor service, your post is only that of an unhappy customer. If you want to be part of the solution, say who they are and more people will let them know that cashless banks are not welcome. With respect to the Restaurant I would write a letter to the manager letting him\her know about the poor service from the waitress. There is no need to slam this business when it might be one rotten employee that needs to be fired.
Nuff said!!
Hi Paulette,
As you may know, I live in Ireland and, as far as I know, there aren’t any Irish readers for this blog, according to the site stats (if there, speak up and let me know!). So mentioning the banks wouldn’t have achieved much, but for completeness sake, the banks are National Irish Bank and Permanent TSB. As for the restaurant, I think I’ll just ask to speak to the manager the next time I’m in. It’s more immediate and will put him on the spot!
Gary
Long story short…
I answered my home phone even though I didn’t know who it was, something I usually do not do.
It’s a local insurance agent, nice guy, and we discuss the possibility of me switching my auto and homeowner’s insurance to his company. We have a couple more conversations over the course of a week or two, I give him all my family info so he can research rates, and we make an appointment for him to come over and take care of paperwork.
In the meantime he discovers that the rates will be higher than he thought due to a traffic ticket that my Son had not yet attended traffic school to clear up. We decide to revisit the whole thing in 6 months.
In the end, I never even met the guy.
Six months later I get a notice that I’ve been taken to collections over unpaid insurance premiums. He had submitted policies without my approval and now my near perfect credit score is at risk.
I call them and they tell me that I need to prove that I never authorized this coverage. What?
In the end I did get it cleared up but it took a lot of my time and boy was I pis_ _ ed! I contacted the company and his immediate supervisor…and cancelled my land line!
I have always run my own businesses with integrity and a focus on customer satisfaction. Not too much to expect in my opnion!
Great article Gary! Hang in there mate. People, Governments, and Institutions — good or bad — always get what they deserve. Good goes to good, and bad goes to bad. Take care.
Gary:
With respect to you not having and Irish readers on your blog, you might be surprised how your blog is found on the internet. Most companies including banks monitor what is being said about them on the internet. When you name them they find it and people searching the internet find your post also.
Aha…the internet you have to love!
Given the sad state of the banks in this country, any bank officials reading my comments should treat them as constructive criticism. The banks are just not customer friendly and this is in a country where the banks were bailed out by the tax-payers to the tune of billions of euros. The final debt expected to be covered by ordinary working folks is ?200 billion! Asking for the banks to provide their customers with some basic services (like taking cash over the counter) and not charging exorbitant fees shouldn’t be asking too much.
And, speaking of banks, here’s another story about a bank (pity I don’t know which one) kneeing a customer in the nuts – or perhaps more accurately described as mugging them – that was recounted to me by friend last week. She wanted to wire some money to her nephew in the Isle of Man, which is not in the EU zone. When she checked her statement later that day, she found that there was a ?31.50 fee for transferring money to a country outside of the EU. Think the bank teller told her there would be such a hefty charge? Nope. Just deducted it from her account without telling her or giving her the option to transfer the money another, less expensive way (e.g. bank draft).
And here’s another thing that happened to me last year. A customer bought some of my software and mailed me a cheque drawn in Euros. Now he lives in Mauritius, obviously not in the EU, but I had every expectation that a cheque in Euro could be lodged directly into my account. Nope. There was a hefty fee. The reason? They weren’t EU euros.
And here’s another one: Allied Irish Bank got into difficulty back in the 80s and was bailed out by the taxpayer back then. Think it ever repaid that debt? Nope.
It’s BS like this along with all the double-dealing, inflated bonuses and other shenanigans that banks got up to here that has people suggesting the banks should be allowed to go under. Ireland now has the most toxic bank on the planet (not my words but those of an economist) – Anglo Irish Bank. There’s a growing feeling amongst the people that Ireland should default on its banking debt but still repay its sovereign debt. The last government, resoundingly kicked out over the weekend, lumped the two debts together. Many commentators and pundits see Ireland not so much wanting to default in the coming years, as having no option but to do so.
The result of the cozy alliance between bankers, the construction industry and politicians was a property bubble that burst with a loud bang,its ripples still doing damage, and this on top of the other financial woes afflicting the world since 2008. The outcome is high unemployment, lower wages, higher taxes, people not able to pay their monthly bills and mortgages and 1,000 people emigrating per week, most of whom are the youngest and the brightest. So we can’t even look forward to new people bringing new ideas forth to help get Ireland back on its feet. Unless we default, Ireland will be crippled for the next 10 years, probably longer. If we default, that raises a whole load of other consequences to deal with too.
So, since banks were so complicit in what led to the sad state of this country, wouldn’t it be nice if they remembered that a number of them are now owned by the state (the tax-payers) and they should treat those owners with some respect? So far, there’s no sign of that happening. It’s business as usual as far as the banks are concerned. That mean’s paying out big bonuses, seeing customers as a nuisance and mugging them whenever they get the chance.
Ok, I didn’t set out to write this comment as a rant but just talking about banks makes my blood boil…so rant over.