To think this service was just terrible? This man was on a power trip

[SmeganMegan]

I went into my local bank branch to make a transfer - it was above the daily limit I have on the app. At the counter the man again tried to force me to use the app, advised I couldn’t as I’m over my limit, he said to use facial recognition to increase the amount - I didn’t want to (politely).

He made me wait in the queue to be served by someone at the desk. 30 minutes I sat there, she was still serving the same customer that entire time.

The guy eventually walks over to me and takes me back to the counter to do the transaction. No apology at all and clearly could have done the transfer for me there and then.

For reference it’s a small branch and there was only me and the other customer in there when I walked in.

I don't know why you'd assume power trip. It's probably not strictly his job and he thought you'd only be waitng a short time, but when he realised how long you'd waited decided to help you.

When I was branch manager, I was capable of doing any of the tasks, but it wasn't really my job to do it.

Make a complaint to the branch manager.

The "greeters" at the bank are there to direct you to the right place. If they can get you to use the app they will. Directing you to the line was correct, he is supposed to remain free to greet other customers
I suspect after 30 minutes he decided it was time to step in. He should have apologised but if you were already giving attitude etc he might have just thought "eff it"

He wasn’t a greeter, that branch is too small for that. He was at the counter where you queue up at the “please wait here” sign.

The entire process took less than 5 minutes when he did decide to serve me.

So he just sat at the counter for 30 minutes twiddling his thumbs at the desk?

That's shit service. Worked in retail for over 20 years, no way would I leave a customer standing at the cash desk waiting to be served for half an hour. Yeah it might not have been his job, blah blah blah, but surely after 5 minutes he could see you were still waiting and could have stepped in to serve you. The woman serving the other customer should have said something to him too. Many times I have been serving someone and knew it was going to take a while so called someone else to serve the customers waiting in the queue. Even if technically they were working on the footwear department or the fitting rooms.

Definitely complain. No wonder the branches are closing with staff like that.

I don't understand where you were if he wasn't a greeter but a server and then made you go out of the queue? To wait.

Write a letter to the manager and ask them to view the CCTV for the time you were in there. This will verify your complaint.

Even if it wasn't his job he could have checked in with his colleagues how long the wait might be. Shoddy service

He served one other person who came in after me. And was then was sat there after they left filling in paperwork

It's one of the reasons I changed my account to Metro Bank. They make a point of hiring people for their customer service skills. They're always extremely welcoming and proactive and I never feel punished for my utter disorganisation.

Barclays?

I mean, it was only a half hour, and it got done...worse things happen in life.

Maybe you should have just used the facial recognition...?

So you could've increased the limit on the app but you didn't want to use the facial recognition thing. Why didn't you want to do that?

NatWest

Done a lot of work for one high street bank. I can assure you that this is the whole point – they don't want you coming into the branch and seeking proper customer service. What they want is for you to use their app, for everything.

They see customers as an irritation, a hindrance and a money-sink. All that shite about diversity and inclusion, yet they have no interest at all in providing the face-to-face, helpful service that's particularly needed by some older and/or disabled customers.

I'd also add that all this reliance on facial recognition is dangerous. I know of IT security consultants who refuse to use it. Even two-factor authentification (where you get a text/call with a code when logging in) isn't 100% secure.

I refused to pay my house deposit via the app. I went to my bank (after going to my solicitor in person to double-check their account details). And the attitude was that I was weird and silly for wanting to make the biggest transaction of my life in person.

The lack of customer service at the bank is frustrating.
I tried to pay in £150 cash 3x£50 notes. The greeter directed me to a deposit machine even though cashiers were free. The machine only registered £100 so I had to seek help, they had to open machine etc. It took 20 minutes to sort. If they'd served me when I went in, it would have taken 2 minutes.

Because I don’t need or want to increase my limit to transfer £20K daily.

This is a one off transaction (for an operation). I said politely I don't want to do that and that really should be the end of it. If a customer doesn’t want to do something they aren’t comfortable with then you shouldn’t force them to do it.

And really a payment transfer (when I can’t use the app) in branch isn’t a big deal.

Ah I was confused what was happening sorry
You are not unreasonable to want to speak to someone about transfers, I don't think you should have to "use the app" if you don't want to I'd complain to branch you could probably use the app 😀

Yes I very much got that impression, that I was asking for the world. Even when he decided to serve me he again he tried to push the facial recognition when I’d clearly stated I didn’t want to do that when he first brought it up.

Do you like having your time wasted?

Just to point out I did use the app but it has a limit of £750 per day and my operation costs more than that. So I physically couldn’t use the app unless I used their facial recognition which ups it to £20K. But I just don’t want to do this, I have no need for it either.

Go and sit on a chair and stare at a wall for 30 minutes and you’ll see that when you’re bored and waiting it’s actually a long time.

And if that’s how long it took then I can deal with that, but he could have just done it there and then when he was free and I was the only customer (apart from the customer already being served).

Staff in a lot of banks are directed to push using the apps really hard. I've recently gone to the bank for things where they couldn't actually help me at all - they did help me add the phone baking to my account, but could not take the action I wanted themselves - the phone account was the only way.