It is a strange world we live in where we cannot get hold of a bank clerk to speak to isn't it? We have acclimatised to banking without cheques and without branches, mostly reluctantly I imagine, but we now have to acclimatise to banking almost entirely alone. I am quite happy with the way I bank but every so often I want to speak to someone.
As the branches around me diminished I would drive a bit further and bit further to find a branch still open. This option is now no longer available as all the county branches around me have closed.
So today I tried ringing the number on the communication I had received from my bank. It was all legit and no scamming fears, just an ordinary, everyday matter but I wanted to speak to someone as I had a question.
My call was answered by a robot who wanted me to say in a few words what my query was. I quickly thought of somehing brief that I thought covered it but when it was repeated back to me it was nothing like I had in my mind nor with the correct understanding of what I thought I said. Anyway, I went along with it and said Yes, very clearly as requested. I was then asked for a digit of a pin that I was supposed to have for telephone enquiries. I had no idea of one so I decided to just stay quiet hoping that the robot would move me on to an operator. This didn't happen. The robot kept saying " I did not catch that". Over and over. So then I chose an option indicating I had forgotten the digit although this was not true because I was not aware of ever having a pin for a telephone call. I was then put on hold and was able to choose music or silence. I chose silence and waited 5 minutes. I know that isn't long but I had visions of 5 minutes turning into 10 and so on and I really did not want to be charged for a long hold-on call which is what happens with the landline at home which I was on. I gave up and decided to answer my query myself to the best of my logical ability and not have the comfort of any confirmation from a bank clerk.
Sad really and it only gets worse. I see that HMRC queries take hours to be picked up and queries by letter can take months to be answered.
I remember the days of working in investment we had to pick up the phone immediately and no more than two rings were allowed. We were fast, on the ball, and human thrown in. I worked from 7.30am with no set finish time. You just finished when the last contract note was issued for the day.
By coincidence I rang my broker today as I still deal from time to time and they answered on the first ring. At least that hasn't changed. Of course identity process was a lot more than we ever did but I knew why. When I retired from that part of my life the internet was just beginning to take over, identification of grandma was upsetting but rules were rules, money laundering was the nearest we got to scams and the money laundering legislation was new at the time. I had clients who would refuse to deal when asked questions about identity who would think I had gone barmy when I had known and dealt with them for years. It was not an easy time. We had a new appointment at head office, a Compliance Manager. He worked alone and was as laid back as anyone else. It gradually enlarged to a Compliance Department and now they occupy their own building.
I once took a deal from a girl who parked her yellow Ford Escort outside the door, ran in with a fag on, and said she wanted to buy Asda shares (she was in a hurry as she had parked on a double yellow line) thrust a cheque in my hand, her name and address, and left. I had never seen her in my life before. I did the deal, the cheque was legit, she got her shares, made a killing and we were all happy and I didn't get told off by anyone.
Those days of the gut feeling that all is what it says it is and you can trust someone are long gone and have disappeared in my life time. Even if you still have that gut feeling that it is going to be ok you cannot act on it today. Such a change in how we live in a short space of time. Shame all that is gone.
I totally and utterly agree with everything you have said here, Rachel. Sometimes I could cry in sheer frustration when trying to speak to a human on the 'phone to get help with a problem. Given my hearing issues, I wouldn't attempt to speak to them if it wasn't something troublesome so the barriers they put in place just make it ten times worse.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I find it quite frightening that I am not going to be able to simply get an answer to a query because there is nobody who exists any longer to answer it. Today is was something I could kind of logically talk myself through and not of too much consequence but other things sometimes arise that do scare me that I am left on my own to get my head around and just lump it, tough, too bad, we are NOT here to help you kind of thing. Sometimes I hate this world! I sympathise with your hearing problems making all this ten times worse.
DeleteFortunately, as far as banking goes, things are not yet quite as bad here - at least not in my densely populated and built-up area of Greater Stuttgart. The headquarters of my bank are just down the road, and they have branches in every part of town where you can still walk in during regular office times and speak to someone.
ReplyDeleteI have a lady assigned to me who answers all my questions. Sometimes when I email her because it's just a small detail she rings back almost immediately to discuss the matter over the phone, or if it is something "bigger" she replies via email and suggests an appointment.
My line of work is all about compliance. The department where I work is the legal dept. of a medium-sized insurance company. Our overarching dept. is Compliance. My boss happens to be Head of Legal and Data Protection Officer of the company, and his boss is our Chief Compliance Officer.
As our main business is Life Insurance, money laundering regulations apply to us in all their beauty... We have had few cases to report over the last years, but every now and then something does come up, and then enquiries start. That's not part of my job but of course working in Legal I am aware of what's going on.
With millions of customers, we can't know each and everyone of them personally, and even if we did, any gut feeling we might have because we've known them for a long time wouldn't necessarily mean they are always honest with us.
It's sad but true that some individuals (and of course organised crime) will still find away around all those measures that are in place.
PS: I love your work-related stories! Times really were different then... My work at the library still involved cards for every book, stamped with the date and sorted into the individual "envelope" cards of the person who checked out the book - no scanners on our counter, or RFID chips in the books yet!
DeleteOur big five banks, as they once were known, have all but given up on branches in small towns and suburbs of larger cities. Most now have only one large branch left in city centres and even those are geared up to automated banking and less emphasis on cashiers. Some banks have what they call hubs in smaller towns with appointment system for queries but no cash handling and no permanent office.
DeleteMy broking years were with private clients who dealt on the Stock Exchange frequently and regularly, some on a daily basis, or if not, then weekly. They became friends as well as clients. So money laundering regulations did not come easy at first although as with everything to do with financial transactions we are now used to the regulations. When they first arrived the regulations were often taken as a personal insult by some of my clients.
I don't have many work related stories of my broking years because it was a long time ago and I have mostly blocked out that period of my life It was quite a signicant moment when I gave it all up and put it behind me which is probably why I rarely talk about it. Also few people appear to understand the stockbroking world so that is another reason why I rarely if ever talk about it. Thanks for saying you take an interest, you are probably in the minority on this blog!
Those damn machines that require a voice answer infuriate me. They never understand what I say in greek because of my accent. I'm very fortunate though to have a native speaker who takes over.
ReplyDeleteTimes sure have changed.
I really dislike Ai. Some of my YouTube channels use, Ai narration and they can be bloody unintelligible
The questions I ask never fit what the AI robot wants to hear so she distorts it to something that does fit. If all questions were the basic ones they want to hear there would be nobody ringing. The whole point of when one gets to the point of ringing is when there appears no other way of getting an answer. And then one still doesn't get an answer because AI has stepped in. It is a crazy world we live in when simple things have been made to become so complicated.
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