Level of service at retail banks.

Claw Hammer · 09-06-2022 2:57pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119179086#Comment_119179086

When you have a clubs with hundreds of members, some quite elderly, there are always omissions and it is time consuming to chase them. Most small clubs are not going to invest in software and pay licences etc and train a new treasurer in the use of it every couple of years either. Clubs have to go at the pace of their members and if members are slow to change it is not for the club to lead society in general.

This is in fact the nub of the problem. A technical means of doing something is provided and then any alternative is immediately discarded to ensure that only the technical method persists.

The baby goes out with the bathwater.

Citrus_8 · 10-06-2022 9:08am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119179493#Comment_119179493

That's what I thought so... It makes sense with clubs. Sadly, in my small ideal word I'd imagine running a club differently :)

Jim2007 · 10-06-2022 7:44pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119179493#Comment_119179493

At the end of the day the clubs are not willing to pay for such a service and banks and other pay agents are not benevolent institutions. If the clubs are not willing/able to operate like everyone else, they will have to directly finance it.

Dodge · 11-06-2022 1:17am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119179493#Comment_119179493

Most clubs just change and get on it with it. It’s really not that big a deal

Strumms · 11-06-2022 2:01am

bank of Ireland reported a net profit of €1.05 billion for 2021….

i don’t bank with them but a family member who does lives 3 minutes walk from her nearest branch and last week from leaving her front door, making a cash deposit and retuning home was 40 minutes… they had one person serving people… in a branch that covers a very significantly populated residential urban area..

their Union as many might expect describing their staffing as chronically short staffed.

c.p.w.g.w · 11-06-2022 2:03am

People often say that we are too demanding of banks...

But many have stupid restrictions on daily withdrawal's...I needed 5 grand in cash a few months back...no sorry we can't do that, limit is 1,500...

Like WTF

11-06-2022 6:43am

Going back to the OP, the point of internet and telephone banking is to relieve pressure on branches, which are expensive to run and short on staff.

Calling the phone centre and asking to speak to your branch isn't the same as using their telephone banking.

Imagine you were in a branch. The cashier has an elderly lady crying at the counter about something personal and they can't move her on. There's a queue of impatient customers behind her, giving out. And then the phone at the desk rings. Should the staff member interrupt the customer and let the person on the phone skip the queue?

To tackle that quandry, how about they make sure they have dedicated phone staff? And why not centralise those agents in a call centre so that it reduces costs and so that the agent doesn't get pulled into non-phone activities in the branch (which they most certainly would). So they set up a call centre with telephone banking.

If you call it up and ask to speak to the branch, you're actively bypassing the solution they've put in place to avoid the problem you had.

coylemj · 11-06-2022 2:36pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186741#Comment_119186741

You start by telling us how much profit BoI made last year. Then you tell us about your family member who can't get a cash lodgement processed in a few minutes because the branch is understaffed.

Which is a bit ironic. One of the reasons why the banks are moving back into profitability is because they are pulling staff from branches. Because the vast majority of branch activity generates little or no profit.

Most BoI ATMs can now take cash and cheque lodgements - why does your family member even need to go into a branch?

Jim2007 · 11-06-2022 3:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186743#Comment_119186743

You don't know the terms of your account, but it is their problem.... You need to take some responsibility for your own situation and stop expecting everyone else to look out for you.

Jim2007 · 11-06-2022 3:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186741#Comment_119186741

You seem to be mistaken banks for charities....

Banks don't make profits by giving away services and maintaining loss making activities. They don't owe you anything, if you don't like the service go somewhere else, if you can find somewhere, but I doubt it.

The banks owe it to the Irish taxpayers to make substantial profits so they can recover the money they invested in take of the banks, the pension funds, public institutions, benevolent funds, charities etc... that invest heavily in banking sector expect the banks to make money, so they can continue to pay pensions, fund services, do charity work etc.... all have right to those profits not you.

Jim2007 · 11-06-2022 3:26pm

This thread has run it course and then some. I'm going to close it down tomorrow. So last orders please....

Strumms · 11-06-2022 5:16pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119188310#Comment_119188310

No…You seem to be mistaken . They are not charities. That I call for a proper provision of efficient and customer focused services to be made available to customers is not mistaking banks for charities :) I have no idea how you can deduce that from what I said

im not requesting a right to profit… I expect decent and responsible service when I use their business. Simple.

Jim2007 · 11-06-2022 7:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119188785#Comment_119188785

Then be willing to pay the actual rates of for the service. If people were willing to pay for the services, they'd be offered.

Claw Hammer · 12-06-2022 2:23pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119186838#Comment_119186838

Once upon a time the branches had a person at a switchboard. The clerks at the counter didn't stop to answer the phone. What happenmed to me in the end was the branch manager rang me on his personal mobile. I, as the customer, can't be expected to hang around waiting on someone from a branch to call me back at some random time which is what the current arrangement is. I am going to have to move branch as a rsult of this and would move bank if there was a better level of service available elsewhere.

12-06-2022 5:28pm

The branch manager calling you isn't a 'current arrangement'. That was something the manager took upon himself because a customer called telephone banking and then asked to get served by a branch. That's not what telephone banking is.

Level of service at retail banks.

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