Stories from the horse's mouth.

Katherine E - Not allright with NZ Banks;

A couple of years ago I had a student account with a $1000 o/d that I only used in emergencies. As a result I forgot my pin and one day I was using an ATM and forgot my pin number so the machine stole my card. I then went on holiday for three weeks so did nothing about the card and used my other account. When I finally got my ass into gear and went to the bank to get my card back I found that I was $900 poorer. Hmm. When I went to the bank they were really apologetic and promised to investigate it at once. Wasn't that nice? Except when I went in the next day and the next day and the day after that, they were still 'just getting onto it'. About a week later they finally told me that the money had been taken out of an ATM somewhere I've never heard of a week after my card had be confiscated. The plot thickens. When I found this out I bypassed my local branch and went to the regional manager who also promised faithfully to do something about this travesty immediately. 3 weeks later and seriously pissed off, I got a lawyer friend of my dad's to write to the NZ manager of the bank. Surprise surprise he was shocked and appalled both by what had happened and how his staff had handled it. I got my money back but needless to say I've since changed banks. I've yet to meet a helpful bank worker who is not totally inept. Where do they get these people?

Tony G - More US tales of woe

Banking regulations vary from state to state in the United States, and because my state, South Carolina, decided to de-regulate banking, that means my bank does not have to deposit my funds immediately. My employer direct deposits my wages at Midnight on Wednesdays. But my bank holds onto it as long as possible. Which means it doesn't go into my account until Thursday at 2pm. So, when this causes me to bounce checks, they charge me: $27.00 for the overdraft, and two $2.00 accounting fees, for a grand total of $31.00 for each check bounced.

Nari W - experienced woe on both sides of the pond.

I studied at Kingston University this past year and was looking to find temporary part-time work, so I opened a bank account with CrapWest. Everything went fine at the bank itself, but the work never did materialise. At the end of the year, I finally went back and read the terms and conditions on my account -- so, in accordance with them, I sent a formal request for account termination although the balance was a constant £0.00! The terms and conditions said you had to send in cheque cards and ATM cards, and when I finally looked through my documents I realised they had never sent the cards to me. A PIN number had come through, and a guide to services -- but neither included my flat number! And I lived in a giant complex of students! It was a miracle the PIN and guide came through; as for the cards I can only imagine their fates. So... as part of the account closure formality, I sent a letter stating why I wouldn't be sending in the cards. Three weeks later I get a letter saying "Your account has been terminated; enjoy your voyage back to the States." Two days after this letter, I received a confusing letter from customer service stating that my complaint had been filed and would be investigated. What in the hell are they talking about? My only guess was that they are so used to being on the defensive they assumed my explanation was a complaint! Well, this is a mere peanut compared to the bank I use in the States. They managed to double charge me for withdrawals made in Belgium totalling $350. Charming, isn't it? Not to mention they failed to send me a new debit card after mine was stolen -- instead they sent a copy of the old one and then couldn't explain to me why it wouldn't work. Lucky I worked out the number was the same as the stolen one.

Emma - had this problem with the people at 'sounds like' car boot

Try to ring them up.... Phone lines out of order. Try to go on the website. Because I have had no correspondence from them I don't have password user ID etc so cant get on the website. Try to email them - hear nothing. In the mean time waiting patiently for their customer service telephone operator to come back from his fag break. Phone lines are working - hooray! I fail security checks over the phone because I still don't have password. Manage to charm customer service person into talking to me about my account. I ask for refund & a card to be sent out. They cant simply refund account - a cheque has to be sent out & yes another card will be sent. 2 weeks on I still have no card.... Email them to say due to all the problems I want to cancel my account with them. Their response - I have to close it myself on the website. I STILL DON'T HAVE ANY CORRESPONDENCE FROM THEM SO HOW THE BLEEDING HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO THAT. No doubt when I phone up again - the phone lines will be down, I will fail the security checks & this loop will begin all over again. All I wanted was a little credit card........

Graeme W - wanted to get this off his chest

Darklays were good enough to offer me £650 pounds overdraft, very nice but I didn't need it. So I popped in and asked them to take it down to £250. Then through my own stupidity I went a tenner over this amount. Then Darklays said they were fining me £20 pounds for doing it and would do every three days until my balance went back into the black. So lets get this straight, they want me to have a large overdraft, when I choose to have a smaller one they fine me for going over it, despite being well within the £650 they offered. So to stop me going overdrawn they take money from my account, before I get paid, COS THAT'LL GET IT BACK IN THE BLACK!!!!!! TW*TS.

Natasha C - is much happier now.

Crapwest switched me from a student account with a no interest overdraft to a graduate account, cut my overdraft from £2000 (and I was on the limit) to £500, and then charged me £15 for the privilege of being told about it! The real piss-take was that I still had 6 months to go before I could graduate and get a proper job (but I did work part time). It took me 3 months to get it sorted, during which I couldn't pay rent or buy food. Luckily, my landlord and housemates were great about it. I'm with Smile now and all I can say is THEY'RE GREAT!

Leigh G - Long one this, but I feel obliged to publish

I remember calling voids/csb asking for an extension on my overdraft. No one answered. I called the new spangly "phone banking" and they said... I'd have to contact my branch... I called my branch.. they said I needed to speak to the account manager, who was unavailable - but they'd get right back to me. No call. Next day, I call again. Get same story. Need to speak to account manager, not available. Gonna call back Next day, still nothing. By this time I KNOW I'm going to be overdrawn VERY soon and I need to get this sorted. Call branch back. No answer. Call again. No answer. Call phonebank, they inform me it's a bank holiday. It wasn't. I said, "No.. it's not". They insisted it was. Next day I call again, the branch are bemused. They were apparently open yesterday after all, and no-one knew why I'd been told otherwise. Strange. I ask to increase my overdraft. But HEY!!! I need to speak to the RUDDY ACCOUNT MANAGER.... as the pleb on the phone "isn't authorised" ... AGGGHHH!!!.. He's busy.. AGAIN... and they DEFINITELY WILL call me back. No call... I get desperate, call phonebank again. They say they will fax the branch and get them to call me. Nothing. Next day I go overdrawn. I get charged 25 quid. I get a letter saying, "You've gone over your agreed overdraft. To avoid this happening, please contact us to increase you agreed limit in advance"........ AGH! That's what I was TRYING to do for nearly TWO WEEKS!!!!!!! I complained. Guess what. They didn't reply. I complained again, they replied, saying this was a "serious case" and would be sent to the "head of customer relations". An "intensive investigation" started, and I received a letter every month saying, "our investigations are still on-going, please be patient". Good stuff, now I'm getting somewhere! After a few months the letters stop. I'm still 25 quid out of pocket, plus the account charges. I call the complaints department, who appear to have no record of my complaint. I write to them, enclosing my original letter and the letters they sent me. They wrote back saying, "We apologise for this matter, please accept our offer of 20 quid compensation". 20 quid? Hello? I wrote back again, saying that they'd obviously not read anything, as it was at LEAST 25 quid they owed me and it was THEIR own fault!!! I wrote back, asking if this letter from them - which was 3 lines long - was the result of the 6-month "instensive investigation" ... They replied back, saying that they don't know what had happened, and they couldn't get me any more details about the matter. Offered me 25 quid. I complained again, and completely spam-emailed their entire complaints department. Eventually, after 8 months - they gave me 75 quid to maintain my "loyalty as a customer". I grabbed the 75 quid, and moved to an internet bank.