Customer Service: Banks, well NAB

[Dan]

First of all, let me say Sorry to Ryan for this as I know he is a loyal NAB employee, but today I experienced possibly some of the worst customer service I have seen in my life.

First some background

I am with St George, but there are no St George Banks in Hervey Bay.
So whenever I get cheques for various things, I generally pay them into Leanne's account, and have been looking at opening a joint NAB account. Last time I was in the branch, we were told we could go in individually to sign the stuff and didnt need an appointment since we were both NAB customers already (I use to be so am in the system)

Anyway, today we walk in and ask about it, only to be snapped at by the woman behind the counter, and told we needed an appointment, fine we think, we let them know that we are both busy, particularly Leanne so need to know availability only to be snapped at and told "I've already turned one person away today" our jaws hit the ground with the way were spoken to, so told her to forget it and queued up inline. She then came up to us and in a snide and rude voice in front of the other customers

"The lending manager will miss his lunch break and do it for you then" The way she said it was so bad the other clients in the line all looked at us laughed and we conversed on the fact that we couldnt believe thats how they treat you when you are trying to open a new account.

We then discussed this with the person above her, as the manager was not available, he instead of saying "I am sorry for the inconvenience" and just at least calming the situation decided to also argue with us.

So we closed our accounts and walked out of there and straight into another bank.

We have since spoken to the regional manager, but my god these people need an attitude adjustment.

I will say that there are a lot of people up here that see work, not so much as part of life but as part of something that is a greater conspiracy against them, and your shouldnt expect fantastic customer service, in most places, but this took the cake.

I have toned down a little on what happened, but needless to say we will not be banking with the NAB again and will most definitely be advising anyone we speak with not to go there also!

 

[Matabele]

Ouch!  That's a fair bit different to Domino's.  Have an experience like that and the hotline is available to you and if the franchisee doesn't deal with it then all hell breaks loose.  You'd just about lose your franchise if you dug in like the manager at this NAB seems to.

And that's for a $6.95 pizza, let alone an account that would see tens of thousands over the years in all likelihood.

 

[Dan]

Ouch!  That's a fair bit different to Domino's.  Have an experience like that and the hotline is available to you and if the franchisee doesn't deal with it then all hell breaks loose.  You'd just about lose your franchise if you dug in like the manager at this NAB seems to.

And that's for a $6.95 pizza, let alone an account that would see tens of thousands over the years in all likelihood.

All he had to do was empathise.

We spoke to the customer service line who have agreed with us and are following up with the regional manager.....we spoke to someone else who is going a bit higher

not what you know!

And I must say this though, besides the branch customer service, the complaint line service was good and the person additionally who helped me out was even better.

 

[ManlyBacker]

All businesses rely enormously on the customer facing employees for the way that business is perceived. Without fail, my experience is that a crappy front-liner is followed by a crappy manager, especially in banks. 90% of the time it is driven by the attitude from above. My guess is that the whole branch is tainted so unless you think anything will seriously change you should stick with your initial reaction.

 

[Dan]

All businesses rely enormously on the customer facing employees for the way that business is perceived. Without fail, my experience is that a crappy front-liner is followed by a crappy manager, especially in banks. 90% of the time it is driven by the attitude from above. My guess is that the whole branch is tainted so unless you think anything will seriously change you should stick with your initial reaction.

Very true.. I also bent Ryan's ear about this....Ryan is a man of action in my experience haha

 

[Fro]

Suck it up, its a bank

next thing you are going to tell us is they charge excessive fees and things like that.

Banks are like politicians, all scum sucking bottom feeders

 

[ManlyBacker]

Suck it up, its a bank

next thing you are going to tell us is they charge excessive fees and things like that.

Banks are like politicians, all scum sucking bottom feeders

I can accept fees that recover costs from folks with accounts that aren't worth opening, for overdrawing on agreed limits, for being late with payments, for charging interest rates and doing things that are unpleasant that then provide dividends for shareholders. It's not a charity and most is fair in biz.

I won't accept and won't support a company that alienates customers and loses business as a result. That is stupid and incredibly poor management. The solution is to get them to change and win customers, or flick those employees immediately.

 

[Dan]

I can handle fees, but talking to customers like that in front of other customers is just not acceptable

 

[byso]

As you said, probably more a reflection on Harvey bay. Doubt you'd get that in Sydney.

 

[Dan]

As you said, probably more a reflection on Harvey bay. Doubt you'd get that in Sydney.

I would agree, but you would think from a company of that size they would do more about who the hire and their attitudes

 

[Fro]

the bigger they are the less they give a ****.

do you think in the washup they give a stuff about losing a couple of accounts??

 

[Dan]

the bigger they are the less they give a S**t.

do you think in the washup they give a stuff about losing a couple of accounts??

no but they should care about the image it portrays, Hervey Bay is one of thsoe towns, you tell 2 or 3 people something, in less than a week someone else is telling you your story back to you

 

[Fro]

dont get me wrong I would be as pissed as you are.

But those big companies couldnt care less, unless it affects their bottom line, if everyone in the bay closed their account they may do something about it.

 

[Dan]

dont get me wrong I would be as pissed as you are.

But those big companies couldnt care less, unless it affects their bottom line, if everyone in the bay closed their account they may do something about it.

As Ryan said to me though, how do they know I wasn't about to deposit $250k

 

[Fro]

Your reputation preceded you

 

[Dan]

I was speaking with the sun of a famous local here on Friday night. He puts hundreds of thousands through the NAB here, and is looking to move everything away from them for similar reasons, so i guess they must do it to a few.

This guy owns a lot of boats, and buys one every month or so. He isn't down with technology so expects to be able to phone his bank manager or whoever and they can arrange the transfer of the money, sometimes $100k at a time.

With the money he has in there and puts through there you would think they would accomodate, but they treat him like **** apparently

 

[kingyfan]

Part of the problem is that bank branches don't have enough staff in them now days so that everyone is under pressure and don't have enough time to serve all the clients properly.    

These people sound like they don't like their job but in a place like Hervey Bay there probably isn't a lot of other options so they stay where they are and make themselves and everyone else miserable.  

Also staff attitudes reflect how the branch manager and regional manager run the place.  Obviously they don't give a **** until their figures start to go down and comlaints increase.   

 

[The Wheel]

There is a Commonwealth bank branch at Hervey Bay - give them a try

 

[Dan]

There is a Commonwealth bank branch at Hervey Bay - give them a try

We are thinking the ANZ but we will see.

As for jobs, there are plenty of jobs around up here, a lot of people up here just dont want to work them

 

[Matabele]

As for jobs, there are plenty of jobs around up here, a lot of people up here just dont want to work them

speaking of which .....  ;-)