It's certainly not royal treatment

THE EDITOR: I think the management of one of our local banks needs to seriously work on their customer service, or rather lack thereof.

I got locked out of my online banking recently, as did several other clients it seems. What should have been a simple process turned out to be a nightmare.

First of all, I called the helpline on Sunday and gave up when there was no human response after ten minutes. I tried again on Monday and just let the automated voice on the phone continue telling me that my wait time may be longer and maybe I should use online banking. Duh!

Anyway, after holding on for more than 20 minutes, I got a human. I explained the issue after giving the relevant information about the online number for the account, the location of my branch and when last I was able to access online banking; it went steadily downhill from there.

I expected that the myriad of questions that is usually used to set up one's online account, like favourite pet's name, mother's maiden name, school, childhood friend or some such, would be requested. Alas, no! I was expected to remember the exact figure of a transaction that I would have conducted recently.

Given that I have no routine account deductions I tried to remember when last I used my card at a merchant. After identifying my regular grocery store as having been the source of a recent transaction, I was told that the process could go no further until I was able to give the exact amount of the transaction. Huh? Seriously?

Despite my best efforts, I could not recall. Was this the only way to prove I am who I say I am? Yes, said the human on the line. Other than that I would have to visit a branch.

Well, needless to say, I was forced to leave the comfort of my home and journey to the branch to sort this royal mess out. Thankfully, I met an extremely pleasant customer service rep by the name of Adam who in less than two minutes sorted me out.

This bank needs to do much better because all it did that day was give me a royal pain in my head.

ARLENE POPPLEWELL

via e-mail