That's torn it... losing goodwill for £8.64!
It’s amazing that a big blue hued bank – no names – can be so disjointed in delivering their service. And that’s despite the fact I bet they have an internal staff manual with all manner of wonderful process charts showing how to move money from A to B, how to process this and that, and how to make money from the less fortunate and knowledgeable folk with time to queue in their Starbuckesque style coffee banking outlets.
Now I neither count myself as less fortunate, less knowledgeable or having time to queue so just why I found myself losing 60 minutes of my life in their lovely rebranded branch in Tottenham Court Road is beyond me. But I did. It was all down to a very new, crisp 100 Rand note which my lovely bank included in the packet of similar notes purchased just before I jaunted off to the sunny climes of South Africa. As the teller counted my wad of Rand, he proudly proclaimed the offending note was torn and couldn’t be taken. But I protested, it was originally included in the pack I was bringing back. My explanation of the number of 100 notes brought back plus some smaller denominations added up to a genuine claim.
The branch manager believed me, the patient teller believed me but did the lady at the Travel Line call centre believe us – no way. She was following procedures, she was living the brand, she was doing what she was told, totally blind to the fact that she was severely hacking off a valuable customer – all for £8.64. Just a few seconds away from throwing my toys out of the pram and storming off to open a competitor’s account, the Branch Manager stepped in. Even he couldn’t persuade the jobsworth on the phone to be flexible and see the bigger picture. So he went off ‘procedure manual piste’ told me he’d credit my account the £8.64 from his branch [maybe his own pocket?] just to make me happy.
Now £8.64 is not a lot of money. In South Africa it buys you one of the best bottles of Sauvignon at the Graff winery. In the UK a couple of happy meals for the kids, a cheap DVD from Tesco’s bargain bucket or Michael Buble’s latest CD for a Mother’s day present. But the principal of bringing back a torn note is worth more than its face value of £8.64. It nearly cost the bank my custom or as they say in the ads. Priceless.
