On Monday - December 15th 2008, we had to go to 2 banks to drop the payments for the loans we had (We were closing the loan).
The 1st bank, which is an international bank had good service and we had no issues with completing the payment formalities.
The fun started when we arrived at the 2nd Bank (a very reputed Bank).
First there were 2 entries for the Bank - one for the day to day operations (retail banking) and one for the Credit cards and loans department.
"Although there were no boards or signs which will tell you where to go for which service."
So we entered the Main entry which lead us to the main branch, where it was fully crowded and there were more than 20-25 desks of Bank executives; triple was the number of customers waiting for their chance to grab a executive. Somehow we managed to ask the executive - " Where should we go for the Loan payment?", the reply we received was - "To the loan department" (Very knowledgable answer, as if we did not knew about it). So we had to ask for the exact direction, for which we were told its on a different floor.
We went to the "different floor" and when we reached there, we saw 30 counters of the Bank executives (although only 6 were occupied). Here starts the whole saga - the process was to take a coupon (numbered coupon) from the 2 ladies sitting on a counter with the most disgusting frowning faces we must have ever seen till date and then wait for the coupon number to appear on a screen (basically a TV).
The best part was that the counters were 30(although only 6 were occupied), whereas the seats available for the customers to wait were around 60. With that said, they had a poster which said - "If we do not attend you within 10 minutes, contact our Branch Manager" - Pretty impressive, but of no use. As there would be nobody ready to tell you where the Branch Manager is sitting.
Well after a wait of 1 hour (contradictory to what the Bank mentioned on the poster), we finally got our coupon number displayed on the screen, so we went to the executive's desk. There starts one more story - the story of the gossip queens a.k.a THE BANK EXECUTIVE.
When we told her about the task which we came for, she was more bothered about the -
- customer's at her colleague's desk
- customer's calling directly on her cellphone
- customer's calling at the landline
Between all this, she also wanted to discuss her evening plans with her colleague but would not pay attention to what the customer (in this case me and my wife) wants. And when I noticed the other executives, they were too on the same level of "Customer Service".
I wonder how this Bank is getting people to come to them and open their accounts/manage the finances. Because frankly speaking, this is the worst bank I have ever seen or experienced in my whole life. And I say this, not only because of this scenario, but the also what I have already experienced with them from last few months.
I hope I never have to deal with this bank ever again in near future.
