OT: Rant about customer service at banks

[whiskychaser]

I have a brother in Australia. I needed to transfer him some money. So I got all the necessary details from him, wrote them down and included the amount to transfer on a sheet of paper. I handed it to the clerk and the conversation went like this:

Me: I'd like to transfer some money to my brother in Australia
Clerk: OK. Is that the IBAN number?
Me: No, its the SWIFT number. Australia uses SWIFT. IBAN is Europe only
Clerk: Is the money going to Australia?
Me: Yes, its going to Australia
Clerk: OK, I've input everything except the BSB number
Me: That needs to go on. It stands for Bank, State, Branch. Its like our 'Sort' code.
Clerk: I'm looking at my IBAN instruction screen and it doesnt mention it
Me: It isnt an IBAN transaction. Its going to Australia. They use SWIFT. It wont get there without the BSB code..
Dont you have a box on the screen that says 'receiving bank code'? If not you better ring your international department.
Clerk spins screen so I can see it
Me: Can we put it in the box that says 'receiving bank code' please?
Clerk: Will just ask my colleague... yes we can put it in there.
Clerk: It wont let me key in letters
Me: How do you mean? Its all numbers?
Clerk: It wont let me key in the letters BSB
Me: Would it let you key in the letters 'SORT' if it were a UK bank?
Clerk: No
Me: Thats probably it then. Try it without the letters BSB
Clerk: Oh thats worked fine. Is the amount written here the amount you wish to transfer
Me: Yes thats the amount I would like to transfer
Clerk: Its gone through now!
Me: Oh good
Clerk: Can I help you with anything else today?
Me: Er.. no thanks
My bank wont let me transfer money outside the UK. Maybe they think I dont know what I am doing?

[yaofeng]

I haven't seen a teller for ages. Everything is done online or through the ATM.

What I can tell you is transfer money out of the country is a PITA. The bank charges you a hefty fee, gives you an unfavroable exchange rate, and you thought the wire transfer takes a day or two where inreality it is immediate but the bank hold the fund for more than two weeks before releasing it to the recipient.

[repenttokyo]

it's because everyone in australlia already has all the money they need.

wiring money between countries doesn't always have to be bad. I do it from time to time between Canada and the US when I buy cars, and it's instantaneous (funds available within the hour) and there is no exchange rate if you are transferring like currencies. No holds at all.

[whiskychaser]

You cannot do international banking online with my bank. And I imagine the other UK banks are the same. They make a charge for the transfer and although its supposed to be electronic, it can take over a week to hit the receiving bank.
Meanwhile the banks sit on the money.
My brother has seen the exchange and christened it 'Fawlty Bank'. If you imagine Basil in my place you will have a fair idea of how it went at the bank

[Tiger]

Just use Paypal!

[whiskychaser]

I did think of using Paypal. I also considered Tranzfers which only costs about £7. For reasons I dont need to get into, I needed to show traceability on this and some other transactions. Going into my bank seemed to be the simplest solution. Shows how wrong you can be

[yaofeng]

How wide spread is Paypal over international boundaries?

[Tiger]

Very widespread... check out the list in droplist.

https://www.paypal.com/international-money-transfer

[yaofeng]

That's good to know. Do you know the fees sending money overseas?

[Tiger]

Same link... just pick a country and put the amount you want to send. It is like $500US for $5 to Australia. Transfer is instant.

[repenttokyo]

You cannot do international banking online with my bank. And I imagine the other UK banks are the same. They make a charge for the transfer and although its supposed to be electronic, it can take over a week to hit the receiving bank.
Meanwhile the banks sit on the money.
My brother has seen the exchange and christened it 'Fawlty Bank'. If you imagine Basil in my place you will have a fair idea of how it went at the bank

i can't do it online, either. i have to go to the teller to do it, but it's instantaneous.

there are a lot of shitty banks out there, but in canada, we are lucky because banking is highly regulated, stable and not sketchy at all.

[repenttokyo]

How wide spread is Paypal over international boundaries?

80 percent of my clients pay me with paypal, from asia, the u.s., and europe.

[whiskychaser]

there are a lot of shitty banks out there, but in canada, we are lucky because banking is highly regulated, stable and not sketchy at all.
Our banks were de-regulated some time ago. Probably in Thatcher's time. My previous bank was among those that would have failed due to toxic debt and brought the whole banking system crashing down. So our govt bailed them out. The man in charge didnt end up in jail but got a very nice golden handshake. I mean millions. I cannot imagine another industry where it works like that.
The bank I am with now didnt have those problems but the lack of knowledge among their staff is worrying. Unless its covered on a help screen they dont have a clue. If I had any spare cash perhaps I should just put it under the mattress

[ss2115]

I have a sister in San Francisco.
Its really easy to send her money from Australia, but she always has a headache sending money to us. She can only do it over the counter and says it takes ages and there's all sorts of crap, forms and loops to go though.
That was a few years ago, so maybe its improved but she still won't do it unless its an absolute emergency.
She has an Australian account instead run by my mother and anything received from outside the USA goes into it and if she has to pay anything in Australia, its paid from that account instead. (She owns land here).
Sounds a bit like the UK.

[Ross]

Then that whole conversion from UK # to Aus$. Must have been a tough day for said bank teller. Shame on you.
Come here and deal with our post office you'll feel better about your day.
Me; I'd like to send this package to Austria.
PO clerk; Is that in Europe?
Me; Yes.
PO clerk; I need a zip code.
Me; There are no "zip codes" in Europe, it is a "postal code", it's on the package and properly addressed.
PO clerk; I need a zip code.
So on and so forth, the Christmas package arrived in March after having been sent to Australia.
Thanks to the kind Ozzie posty who sent it on.

[Ross]

Our banks were de-regulated some time ago. Probably in Thatcher's time. My previous bank was among those that would have failed due to toxic debt and brought the whole banking system crashing down. So our govt bailed them out. The man in charge didnt end up in jail but got a very nice golden handshake. I mean millions. I cannot imagine another industry where it works like that.
The bank I am with now didnt have those problems but the lack of knowledge among their staff is worrying. Unless its covered on a help screen they dont have a clue. If I had any spare cash perhaps I should just put it under the mattress
Looking for an image of the pictogram touch screen at fast food restaurants to ridicule I stumbled upon this;http://www.topix.com/forum/com/mcd/T2SVHR2ENHQTUP6RL
Even that is too difficult for some.

[Tiger]

That's pretty bad!

[whiskychaser]

Looking for an image of the pictogram touch screen at fast food restaurants to ridicule I stumbled upon this;http://www.topix.com/forum/com/mcd/T2SVHR2ENHQTUP6RL
Even that is too difficult for some.
A traditional English meal as we all know is fish and chips. (Its not the only one - the French have been known to call us les rosbifs) So everybody above the age of 1 knows what chips are. So how is it said establishment refers to them as 'fries'?
If I ask for 'chips' in the US I expect to get cheese and onion, smokey bacon, prawn flavour etc slices of fried potato in a packet. Fair enough.
If I go into W H Smith's and ask for a Rand McNally they will probably think its a whisky and point out the nearest pub. Also fair enough.
But European post codes are so simple: A Is Austria, B is Belgium, CH is Switzerland .. oops. Theoretically the UK should be in GB but nobody uses it anyway. You just paint a picture of a red double decker bus and everybody knows where you mean. Like a lot of businesses, I think banks and post offices have dumbed down. The tax man doesnt even check your return unless it stands out from the norm as it costs too much. Maybe its time to take them all on and make ourselves some money:-)

[repenttokyo]

If I go into W H Smith's and ask for a Rand McNally they will probably think its a whisky and point out the nearest pub. Also fair enough.

naw, north america has rand mcnally, but they don't have w.h. smith anymore!

[whiskychaser]

naw, north america has rand mcnally, but they don't have w.h. smith anymore!
If anyone else from the UK chimes in and knows what Rand McNally is I will be surprised. Its usually called a Collins here. The point I am trying - badly - to make is that big business wants to standardise because it is cheaper. But we dont get a decent service level in return. I am confident that if I bought, say, a MAF from you and paid by Paypal I would get it. We expect banks, post offices and food outlets to perform on a much higher level but they dont. They cant even train staff to punch the button with a picture of chips on it.

[repenttokyo]

If anyone else from the UK chimes in and knows what Rand McNally is I will be surprised. Its usually called a Collins here. The point I am trying - badly - to make is that big business wants to standardise because it is cheaper. But we dont get a decent service level in return. I am confident that if I bought, say, a MAF from you and paid by Paypal I would get it. We expect banks, post offices and food outlets to perform on a much higher level but they dont. They cant even train staff to punch the button with a picture of chips on it.

sorry - i mistook what you wrote!