Banks suck, people rock
I had a really good experience recently when I consolidated all my banking. And today I had a really bad experience with phone support.
I had Bizsmart accounts, but since they are, umm, finished, I moved all my stuff to CIBC. I had a no-fee account through Nortel, but since they didn't renew their relationship with CIBC, it was going away.
So, I went into the CIBC Bank & Queen branch, proceeded to cancel my old account, open a new one, and put some money in etc. All went well, I had really great service, and so on. There was a bit of a problem at the end, since they don't give out blank checks anymore (the ones that have the encoding, but aren't printed with your name/address), but Janet at the front desk was a great help and gave me a form with all the routing and account numbers (which is what I needed).
A week or so passed, and I had to go into the branch again to make a big transfer to another CIBC account at a different branch. Again, Janet at the front desk was awesome! I asked her if they had a comment box (they don't) because I wanted to communicate to the manager/whomever what great service she had given me. She just basically replied that she liked her job and liked helping people. Janet even faxed a confirmation with all the teller information to the account owner -- directly from the bank.
Turns out that I had left a receipt behind that day, which I just got in the mail -- Janet had stuck it in an envelope and sent it to me. The moral here: people rock!
Now, some time passes again. As part of this financial house-cleaning, I get Quicken all set up and want my online banking info downloaded. Hmmm...no transactions showing, no history, can't download anything. And I can't link in my CIBC credit card so I can view it as well. So I make some calls, get bounced around a little, and they tell me a developer will call ("and what version of Windows are you running?" "I'm not running Windows" "Oh" ...)
No big deal (well, except for waiting for 45min to talk to someone -- thank goodness for headsets!). Today, I went to buy something using Interac. Umm, what? My card doesn't work?!? Looks like they've screwed up my account somehow, since another card works fine. So, I call and report this. The person on the other end checks all the settings (money in the account...yup...allowed to use Interac..yup, etc. etc.) then proceeds to tell me my card is de-magnetized. I explain that I'm pretty sure that it isn't, since all my other cards are fine, and this other stuff just happened. Nope. Their script says if all the settings are correct, then my card is broken, and I need to go into my branch directly.
Very annoying. I asked to have my case escalated. Nope, the script says...OK, OK, I get it! There is no "second line" for cards. Now I'll have to make some time to get into the branch. I'll put in an update to see whether or not my card is de-magnetized...
Comments
ING
I'm thinking of moving over the majority of my savings to an ING savings account with high interest and no fee banking. The only other high-interest account I know of is with BMO, and even then they offer less interest than inflation, so you still lose money. Offering you interest below the inflation line is one of the greatest violations of its customers that a bank could commit, in my opinion. Oh, no, actually the greatest violation is to have service charges for small balances, and no charges for high balances, effectively charging low income-earners another tax and taking money from them that could otherwise go to savings. I think the government ought to make a law that flips the relationship - charge service charges for accounts with more than $3000 in savings, so those people that can afford it end up supporting the system. Also, I think the government should also require that banks offer a minimum of par-inflation interest rates (we are actually their creditors, in our relationship with them).
Hmm. That just brought a curious idea to mind. Thinking time...
try this
Take your card to an ATM; if it works there then the Interac machine you used was hooped or your card was having a bad day.
I have this happen all the time to me when I am riding my motorcycle. Essentially my card is too cold (?) to be read by the swipe machines so I just rub my thumb over the black strip until it gets warmed up.
Works like a charm.
Heheh - Don't get me started
Yes... people rock... though, they too make mistakes. My recent experience with CIBC has definitely opened up my mind to search for another finiancial institution at the point I purchase a house (new mortgage -> switch banks). My problem started with a teller making a mistake, but boy did it take a long time to fix... Anyway, in the end it was all sorted out, but still a large pain.
I'm wondering if the recent run-up in bank profits (last 5 years) is going to start forcing more people to credit unions (I know lots of people have moved to PC Financial -> Another CIBC product). To me, the big problem with credit unions today is that they're like independent american banks - too small. They (and I don't know this for a fact having never been a customer) probably have shoddy online banking, they've got probably one to a few branches, and probably the same number of ABMs. I hope they'll figure out that they'd be much more successful if they build their own "Interac"-like network/understanding that allows you to use another credit unions ABM much as you would your own (deposit, withdrawl, etc.). Maybe then they'll be able to provide some real competition to the big banks.
Funny you should mention the
Funny you should mention the Credit Union ABM Network. They have something in place already called Acculink. Basically you go to any CU ABM in Canada and do whatever transactions you normally would, with no fees of course. I know in Alberta we have the Alberta Regional Network (ARN), but that's just ATB Financial and the Credit Unions, so Acculink actually does offer a much larger network in that respect.
Just no credit unions here
I don't know why, but Ontario just doesn't have the same history of credit unions as BC (I don't know about other provinces).
As per Evan's comments, they do have their own networks. Or rather, they are part of the same networks as many other banks. Interac is particular to Canada -- try paying using a debit card in the US (I tried in Boston -- they don't even have the right buttons to press...).
My parents have been with credit unions in BC for almost 30 years. I only switched because when I came to co-op terms out here...none of the networks were out here.
For the most part, online banking etc. is fairly simple to implement -- you just buy it off the shelf instead of completely rolling your own like the big ones here do.
When I move back to BC, I'll move everything to a credit union.
CitizensBank.ca
I have been with CitizensBank for about 3 years now(?) during which time I have essentially dropped the Royal and given up (well, actually they went under) on BizSmart/CIBC.
Their online banking is better than the Royal by far and I get free Interac/ATM (if on the "Exchange" network; the blue and green card symbol).
They have no "real" branches as everything is done over the phone/web/email or fax. I love 'em.
Plus you get a 1000$ overdraft when you sign up! (or more in my case...)