and this is why I use UOB
31/07/2007
I just made a 20 minute call back home on Yahoo! Voice Phone Out. It’s choppy and gross. I’m trying my best to remain an avid Yahoo! user, but this isn’t very compelling.
<rant>
The 20 minute call was to our favouritest bank in Singapore, DBS – which probably stands for Damn Bloody Stupid. It lasted 20 minutes because I was on hold for 10. The other 10 minutes was spent on a really bizarre conversation with DBS Customer Care.
And this is me – Miss Utmost Respect for Customer Care – because of the calls I used to have to pick when our dear Linda was out of the office. But really. It was the dumbest process a bank could ever have. And it’s probably not just specific to DBS. It’s just that DBS annoys the heck out of me with their crap attitude.
It’s like they don’t really want to do business.
Before I left Singapore, I called DBS and asked them to change my mailing address for my credit card account to one in the US that I will be using. They told me I could either mail in a request, fax it in, or do it via Internet Banking. I wanted to do it by Internet Banking, but they told me I couldn’t get an internet banking account because I didn’t have a bank account with them. (And that was because they are a shitty bank and I wouldn’t let them have a cent of my money.) So, fine. I went through some trouble and finally faxed them a signed request.
I left them a cell number to call me at while I was still in town, told them when I would be leaving, and to contact me via email after that date. I called them a day after the fax was sent to see if they received the fax, but was told they were processing it. I left my email again, and asked them politely to email me if there were any issues.
So anyway, I check my Singapore cell number today, and realised that DBS tried to call me several times this week. So I call them back, and after 10 minutes of muzak, was finally put through to a helpful sounding bloke. I told him my situation and after a check he found out that they couldn’t change my mailing address because my signature in the fax didn’t match the signature they had on file.
Ok, I ask, what then?
The bloke said, Do you have internet banking?
“No.” (For the 2,000th time,) “I do not”.
“Well, you’ll have to send us a change of address form and sign it again.”
“Ok, where’s this change of address form?”
“It’s on our website.”
“Where on your website?”
“Can you go to www.dbs.com?”
“Yes.”
“Click on Singapore?”
“Ok”
“Click on Personal Banking?”
“Ok” – dude, if you’re reading this? You can just tell a person the url is dubdubdub dot dbs dot com slash sg slash personal. That’s how you read a short enough url.
“Can you see on the right you have Forms and Applications?”
“Yes”
“If you click it and go down the page, there’s the Change of Address form under the heading xxx”
“Ok. So I can update this and send it. But can you email me if you have problems with the application?”
“Err, sorry. We can’t. Is there a cell phone number we can call you at?”
“Yes, but I would really rather you email me”
“Sorry maam, but we need to record the phone call”
They also could not just SMS me on my new cell number to tell me to call back. No. They have to make a call. I guess it’s just me, but I get highly annoyed by these calls. I don’t mind calling them – so I have control over how, where and when to call. I don’t want to be called on my US cell number.
So here I’m telling the guy, I’m trying my best to keep this credit card service, but they’re just making it hard for me to do so. If I can’t administer it, I can’t really use the card anymore.
And the bloke – I don’t blame him – says he can’t really do anything about it.
So I told him I’d like to cancel my credit card.
He says fine.
I ask him if I need to send him a form.
He says – no. He can definitely do it for me. That he was positive about, and he sounded almost enthusiastic.
So right, they can’t change my address on the phone, despite verifying my details, but they can cancel my card with a call, tell me what crap dollars I still have will be forfeited, and leave the job of telling my supplementary cardholder that the card is cancelled to me.
So I cancelled the card.
I think I gave DBS/POSB a fair shot, but it really wasn’t worth the trouble. There were a few months in the beginning where I didn’t receive the credit card statements, and then they had the cheek to slap a finance charge on me! When I called them to tell them it was their fault, they told me that they could only waive those charges this number of times and they might not do it for me again. And yet – the sucker for pain I am, I hung on to the card for the 5% rebate at Carrefour that I used all of three times.
If it means anything, I’ve found that UOB is the way to go. Credit card dining privileges are good, the One Card and Signature cards have so far been fantastic for me, Internet Banking is well set up, and there are no lines for the ATM. All the banks in Singapore provide fairly crap service, but as long as I don’t have to talk to someone at UOB because of a problem with my credit card, I think it’s good enough for me.
</rant>
