Does the Bank of Ireland not want customers

Piliger

Steodonn wrote: »

In fairness I'm with Bank of Ireland and the staff at my local branch are great always willing to sort anything out for me that said I had to call them once and was on hold for nearly 20mins

I have my account in BoI in Blackrock but deal with it in Ranelagh. When I need to go into the branch, which is extremely rare because I can do everything online, there is always free staff there to help with any issue or problem I have. Everything gets sorted and all is well.
Banks are not family. They are not there to appreciate you. They deliver a service and I find BoI's service to be perfectly adequate. I don't know what all the b1tching is about.

amacca

I'm not normally gigantic cnut

but i was in the other day and I was happy to queue...well lets just say I was happier to queue than use the automated lodgement machine because I've had quite a hassle filled experience with them before and it was a significant sum of money

when up stumps a frumpy young one with an I'm going to organise you stupid sheeple attitude literally streaming from her fingertips electrifying the atmosphere in our humble queue ah la the dark side of the force

her: what are you doing sir?
me: oh just making a lodgement (I should have known this was weak and I will need to man the **** up in future to get my way without complications - 20-20 hindsight is a terrible thing)

her: If you'll just come with me we can do that at the lodgement machine
me: Ah...no thats not going to happen I'm afraid I don't want to do that
her: but its quicker
me: ah yes but from personal experience it is potentially more of a hassle and I like dealing with people


her: I just cant understand why anyone would want to queue for any longer than they have to (she had the cheek to say this in an exasperated tone and nearly stamp her pudgy little foot in frustration - I sh1t you not AH)

me: (quite annoyed at being questioned/criticised like this in front of 20+ strangers) hmmm, well i thought expressing a personal preference for the type of service I want from my bank which i happen to be a good long term customer of would suffice but it appears in modern day Ireland the customer must explain themselves, very well then here are my reasons in no particular order

1) On a previous occasion it took two hours to sort out an error one of your machines/operators that tend the machine whatever made

2) this is a significant sum of money (well it was to me any way) I'm lodging here...i like the fact that I get a little printed receipt from the teller but more importantly someone to hold immediately responsible to get the situation remedied should a problem arise

3) I've always hated queues and the fact that BOI seem to have got rid of at least 60% of the tellers they had working in this branch has made this queue longer than usual which means I've already spent quite some time in it...i feel invested in this queue...its become an emotional thing now....i just don't want to drag myself away from it

4) you may think that if you succeed in your little mini mission of diverting customers to machines this will enhance your career but ultimately have you considered what you are actually achieving for your employers............they will need less of your colleagues as they will replace them with rectangular boxes......and if you don't care about your soon to be expendable colleagues and they are giving you some sort of bonus for this consider the very real possibility it wont be long until you become replaceable with one of those boxes too (I may have strayed into sarah connors t-1000 judgement day territory there admittedly) as i doubt this is going to get you into the upper levels of management where you will be safe from redundancy for longer so why not let us queuers queue and extend at least for a while the need to keep some more tellers around here


now granted progress is inevitable and if BOI dont cut costs and compete they will die but dear god what an odious little mini dictator she was........probably going to be a director or chairperson of the board in future no doubt


tldr: bank employee has the nerve to question my wish to queue to lodge money so I embarked upon a long rambling paranoid but mostly quiet tirade about how the machines were eventually going to take over and none of you fools can even see it coming

machine generations people.......machine generations.

Mint Sauce

My local BOI branch had a huge refit recently. A huge row of shiny cash/cheque lodgement machines, withdrawl machines, 365 phones etc etc.

The 3 manned desks are tucked away in a far corner, unsign posted, and if you do ask the customer service desk, or the staff wondering around the floor where they are, they do all they could to direct you to the machines.

My small home town branch, the only machine in it, and still is, is a statement printer, although the place has now been made unwelcoming with newly installed huge anti theft screens, and the personal touch that was always there, now nearly gone.

NegativeCreep

Same with Permanent TSB. The only time they show a bit of enthusiasm is when they're asking me if I want to switch from a student account to a current account even though I'm a student.

Weathercheck

Weathercheck wrote: »

Banks only like people with sh:te loads of money.

And people who owe sh:te loads

maidie

It seems that AIB and PTSB are the same way at the moment, I went in to AIB last week to lodge money for my daughter who was waiting at the other end of an ATM in another part of the country! In the space of 2 minutes of entering the queue i was quizzed about lodging via the ATM, I told her it wasn't my account and that I had no ATM card and that it was an urgent lodgment, the staff member in question then went on to discuss internet banking and I told her that I didn't have it, she then went on about the benefits and reducing time wasted in a queue. Anyway She went off defeated when her colleague a middle aged man who must have witnessed the conversation (as he was having the same unsuccessful spiel with the lady in front of me) started the very same conversation, asking would I come in on a regular basis to lodge and have I thought about other options.
It was on the tip of my tongue to rant and ask if I needed permission to come in to do a lodgment, but I said nothing just gave the stop p**sing me off , so I just avoid banks as best I can, and also why does it depend on who you get at the counter to decide if your wage cheque can be cleared immediately or after 7 days... Rant over, but glad lots of people feeling the same.

Pottler

For what it's worth, my bank love me. They usually ring me, really nicely, to discuss how they can help and stuff. I tend not to darken their door.:) Funny how things turn...

Degag

amacca wrote: »

I'm not normally gigantic cnut

but i was in the other day and I was happy to queue...well lets just say I was happier to queue than use the automated lodgement machine because I've had quite a hassle filled experience with them before and it was a significant sum of money

when up stumps a frumpy young one with an I'm going to organise you stupid sheeple attitude literally streaming from her fingertips electrifying the atmosphere in our humble queue ah la the dark side of the force

her: what are you doing sir?
me: oh just making a lodgement (I should have known this was weak and I will need to man the **** up in future to get my way without complications - 20-20 hindsight is a terrible thing)

her: If you'll just come with me we can do that at the lodgement machine
me: Ah...no thats not going to happen I'm afraid I don't want to do that
her: but its quicker
me: ah yes but from personal experience it is potentially more of a hassle and I like dealing with people


her: I just cant understand why anyone would want to queue for any longer than they have to (she had the cheek to say this in an exasperated tone and nearly stamp her pudgy little foot in frustration - I sh1t you not AH)

me: (quite annoyed at being questioned/criticised like this in front of 20+ strangers) hmmm, well i thought expressing a personal preference for the type of service I want from my bank which i happen to be a good long term customer of would suffice but it appears in modern day Ireland the customer must explain themselves, very well then here are my reasons in no particular order

1) On a previous occasion it took two hours to sort out an error one of your machines/operators that tend the machine whatever made

2) this is a significant sum of money (well it was to me any way) I'm lodging here...i like the fact that I get a little printed receipt from the teller but more importantly someone to hold immediately responsible to get the situation remedied should a problem arise

3) I've always hated queues and the fact that BOI seem to have got rid of at least 60% of the tellers they had working in this branch has made this queue longer than usual which means I've already spent quite some time in it...i feel invested in this queue...its become an emotional thing now....i just don't want to drag myself away from it

4) you may think that if you succeed in your little mini mission of diverting customers to machines this will enhance your career but ultimately have you considered what you are actually achieving for your employers............they will need less of your colleagues as they will replace them with rectangular boxes......and if you don't care about your soon to be expendable colleagues and they are giving you some sort of bonus for this consider the very real possibility it wont be long until you become replaceable with one of those boxes too (I may have strayed into sarah connors t-1000 judgement day territory there admittedly) as i doubt this is going to get you into the upper levels of management where you will be safe from redundancy for longer so why not let us queuers queue and extend at least for a while the need to keep some more tellers around here


now granted progress is inevitable and if BOI dont cut costs and compete they will die but dear god what an odious little mini dictator she was........probably going to be a director or chairperson of the board in future no doubt


tldr: bank employee has the nerve to question my wish to queue to lodge money so I embarked upon a long rambling paranoid but mostly quiet tirade about how the machines were eventually going to take over and none of you fools can even see it coming

machine generations people.......machine generations.

Ok, so you wished that you said this. What did you actually say?;)

In Exile

coathanger wrote: »

You should try working for them,its not easy,am with the bank 6 years as a cashier & we have no say in all the changes they are making at the top :eek:* they dont care about our opinions/feedback on how the chnages are affecting the customers & staff.Morale is at an all time low, & the bank are treating their retail staff very badly,pushing people to leave their jobs as they are constantly under threat of transfers,poor sale preformance,long hours with no extra payments....I could go on & on....

I feel sorry for you coat hanger. Worked there for 5 years until I left a couple of years ago to move to Australia. At the time they were trialling the new lodgement machine.

This is a simple case of cost cutting. I know in the Munster region where I worked, a large number of the country branches are going to be "cashless" for 2-3 days a week. Again, this is all about cost cutting and the bank should be commended for doing all they can to reduce costs.

However, what annoys me more than anything is managements blatant disregard for staff and customers. Talking to ex staff mates and managers and they don't know one week from the next whether they will stay in the same place or shipped off to the back arse of nowhere.

It is like a dictatorship where people are afraid to voice opinions. Then you have idiots like Gerry Reeves, a man who told staff a few years ago that they work in the bank to make it successful and not for the money(easy to say when he has a salary like his and not 20k like the minions he liked to preach to) telling the media that they were moving with the times and changing their banking practices in line with what the customer want? If he had any balls the least he could do was admit what every one knows, it is about cost cutting. That statement alone would appease some people.

For everybody who has problems with the bank, don't take it out on the staff in the branch. Most, not all as there is always the odd cnut, are under as much stress as every single customer who walk into the branch. Complain. Do it properly though. Get the email addresses of the Regional Managers and complain constantly to them.

amacca

Degag wrote: »

Ok, so you wished that you said this. What did you actually say?;)

OK I am man enough to admit that I have been rumbled

I said something to the effect of I'm not moving I've had problems with the automated lodgement machines before + other bits and pieces

she was just as jumped up as I've described though and I've left her bits unchanged


My internal monologue as this was going on was equal parts witty, borderline psychotic and incisively well observed I can assure you however.

2 stroke

Wacker The Attacker wrote: »

In a sizable number of cases its the customers that causes the hold up

That explains why they are trying to shed customers. I've recently moved most of my business to the credit union. I only have enough going into boi to service direct debits.

Last time I was inbranch I told the staff member manning the q, that I'd be very happy to speak to her if she stood behind the counter.

amacca

In Exile wrote: »

It is like a dictatorship where people are afraid to voice opinions. Then you have idiots like Gerry Reeves, a man who told staff a few years ago that they work in the bank to make it successful and not for the money(easy to say when he has a salary like his and not 20k like the minions he liked to preach to) telling the media that they were moving with the times and changing their banking practices in line with what the customer want? If he had any balls the least he could do was admit what every one knows, it is about cost cutting. That statement alone would appease some people.

For everybody who has problems with the bank, don't take it out on the staff in the branch. Most, not all as there is always the odd cnut, are under as much stress as every single customer who walk into the branch. Complain. Do it properly though. Get the email addresses of the Regional Managers and complain constantly to them.

fair enough...well said. I actually will do just that.

2 stroke

You can tell boi what you think of their service here. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1522

amacca

2 stroke wrote: »

You can tell boi what you think of their service here. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=1522

aaaah noooooooo...they are everywhere, is nowhere safe anymore?

maybe they are replacing tellers with forum representatives......how long before automated responses?

Antar Bolaeisk

They apparently don't need to worry about customers in Ireland as we're more likely to get a divorce than change banks.

2 stroke

amacca wrote: »

......how long before automated responses?

I suspect we're getting that already.

2 stroke

Antar Bolaeisk wrote: »

They apparently don't need to worry about customers in Ireland as we're more likely to get a divorce than change banks.

Fact is that the only customers that can move easily are the ones not in debt.

MurdyWurdy

BOI have just increased the interest rates on their credit cards by up to 4% as well, effective yesterday - so watch out for any Christmas spending you have on your card. You'll end up paying more interest if you don't pay it off within the 30 days.

Fizman

2 stroke wrote: »

Fact is that the only customers that can move easily are the ones not in debt.

Which makes sense.

Biggins

MurdyWurdy wrote: »

BOI have just increased the interest rates on their credit cards by up to 4% as well, effective yesterday - so watch out for any Christmas spending you have on your card. You'll end up paying more interest if you don't pay it off within the 30 days.

http://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/latest-news/credit-card-rate-hike-heaps-misery-on-shoppers-3331526.html

What the BOI will do, the others will soon follow.

ben101

Very ,very bad experience with BOI.Messed me around with mortgage application,wanted to remortgage and switch from PTSB about 3 years ago.Cost me a large amount of cash as they accepted me application but withdrew at the last minute.Did the same thing to a friend of mine.I reckon they were "accepting" loan applications all over the place to make the books look healthy when they were under close scrutiny during the bailout but had no intention of granting any of them.

Chipboard

Prometheus wrote: »

Had the unfortunate experience of having to deal with the BOI over the last few days. The whole system in my local BOI is completely customer unfriendly.
They are trying to automate the whole system there, no human contact or as little as possible. This is how they treat the small guy, and take the sham that owes them millions out to dinner!
Anyway upshot is, changed to a bank that appreciates its customers.

I didn't go through this entire thread to see if anyone else already posted the explanation for the above so don't shoot me if I repeat what someone else has said.

I had occasion to go into my local BOI a couple of times lately and was totally perplexed at first at the new set up. Where the Customer Service desk used to be has now been replaced by two little offices. The Cashier points have been reduced from 6 or 7 to just 3 and they have been pushed way back into an alcove. Apart from that there is just a load of offices where the various advisers (I use the word cautiously), lenders etc do their work. I wandered around the branch for a couple of minutes hoping to find a staff member who would tell me where I could get what I wanted (I knew it was not a job for the cashier). I couldn't find any staff and began to think that that they were going to think I was casing the place for a robbery so I left. I made a second attempt a few days later but again just wandered around the branch like a gob****e before leaving.

I thought at first that this was part of their big campaign to push customers towards online banking but it just didn't make sense to me - there is more to it than that, and then the answer hit me;

Bank of Ireland know that the whole banking lark is basically fncked and they are not going to make any money for the next 5 to 7 years. Ideally what they would like to do is close alot of their branches - certainly any branch in a small town which is within (what they would call) a reasonable distance of a larger town, but because they have taken the taxpayers money to survive they can't do that. Instead they have done the next best thing.

They have reconfigured their branches so that they can be manned by a lot less staff. The service will be practically non existent of course but when you consider that they want to close these branches this isn't really a consideration. They get no heat from the government on the issue as they can dress it up as 'change' rather than a step backwards which it undoubtedly is, and if at some point in the future banking become profitable they can reconfigure the branches and re-open to the public.

The reason I am sure that the above is the explanation is that I am absolutely certain that this could not be part of a move to online banking. If it was only that it would have been done in a way that protected the business and their ability to cross sell (you go in to lodge a cheque, they sell you a credit card / you go in to lodge cash, they sell you an investment product etc). Given they way they have done it I am certain that it has destroyed a lot of their business.

I feel sorry when I see some 75 year old man or woman in there - its total crap sh1te to expect a person who was born in the 30's or 40's to adjust to all that technology.

Its a real crock of sh1t that the banks don't have the decency to provide a service to the people who pulled their sorry asses out of the fire. It rubbishes the claim that these banks were saved because they were systemic - even if they were systemic in 2008 they have ceased to be now. They are now nothing but a drain on the tax payer. Lets face it if these banks had been let fail and we were all back to using cash and the credit union/post office but still had our €64 billion we'd all be better off. These banks were saved because the rich and powerful were afraid that if they let them go it would cause a chain reaction and their wealth (which after the property crash was all tied up in the other three asset classes - cash, bonds and equities i.e. the financial system) would be wiped out.

UCDVet

It's easy to complain about banks. I am a BOI customer and I'm not too impressed with them myself.

But look at it from their perspective. If I'm just some typical (not wealthy) kind of guy, what do they get from keeping me a happy customer?

I wrote some stupid software app that is ad-supported. Each 'customer' of my free app - earns me PENNIES. But every week or so, I get an e-mail from someone wanting support or new features or help installing or questions about this or that and the other thing. I could give GREAT customer support - but it costs a lot of money.

With overhead/taxes/training/etc/etc... figure every hour of an employee helping a customer with something costs them 40 euro. But a typical customer who just gets a paycheck deposited, pays some bills, and takes money out of an ATM - isn't making them much money at all.

I don't keep much money in my account and the fees I pay are pretty darn small.

And the truth is, given the choice between bank A with low fees and bank B with higher fees (but great customer service) - I'd put my money in Bank A. Because most of the time, I can figure stuff out on my own and I don't need customer support.

So that's what banks give us.

Of course, I'm sure rich people have entirely different experiences. They probably have direct lines to their own personal account managers and experience amazing customer service.

cena

I don't like them new manchines they have. I like to be able to speak to bank workers

Chipboard

UCDVet wrote: »

It's easy to complain about banks.

Fianna Fail are back on top and we love the Banks. Amnesia or what.

There's a troll on here for every post. If I said killing people was bad you'd probably do an indepth analysis of it to see if there were aspects of it which had some merit.