I was in the bank today. There was a short queue but the man at the counter evidently had a complicated issue. Only one place was open. A member of staff came up to me to ask what it was I wanted to do. Pay in some cash I said, and then I wanted to discuss something.
You can pay it in at one of the machines, she smiled.
I prefer to pay it in at the counter, I answered.
It’s very easy, I’ll show you how.
I suppressed a sigh, not very successfully.
It’s not about the ease or difficulty, I prefer to complete these transactions with a person, not a machine.
She looked at me. She started again.
We went on for a little while. I explained that I preferred to deal with someone face to face. Machines are often convenient, but human interaction is better. Machines can’t answer complex questions, have only limited effectiveness. The thing I came in to the branch to discuss was the total failure of both the online help bot and phone helpline to provide the help I needed. I was repeatedly asked to provide a phone banking PIN number before I could proceed. I don’t do phone banking, ergo I don’t have a PIN.
It’s hard enough to find a bank at all, I went on, so many branches have closed. This one is closing in August.
There are some, she countered.
I managed not to snort. My turn to look hard at her.
Which branches that you used have closed? she asked.
Walworth Road, Denmark Hill, Elephant and Castle, St Paul’s Churchyard, Victoria Street, Bloomsbury, Fleet Street, Holborn.
Yes, she conceded, and this one is closing in August.
I know.
As it turned out I had one old bank note which the machine would not accept, so everything was paid in at the counter.
I was passed onto another colleague re my lack of help issue. It concerned a phone call this morning purporting to be from the bank, but the line was very bad and I could barely make out what was being said. I tried the helplines (see above) and got nowhere slowly.
Do you have your passport with you or other form of ID? We need to confirm your identity.
I have just paid money into my account using my paying in book. No one asked me for ID then.
That’s different. Now you are asking about your account.
I have my photo card for my bus pass which was verified with my passport details.
No, that won’t do.
You know that I can take planes internally in the UK with just this as ID?
In the end I won the argument, I think mainly because he realised my status as a customer with the bank would be very short-lived if I had to return home to fetch a passport so he could check I had not been the target of a scam. I thought the bank might be a bit hotter on scammers than frustrated customers.
It seemed that if I had been the target it wasn’t successful. we moved onto the problems getting help. He advised me I could try the helpbot. I did, I told him. Hopeless. He rang the number I had rung and we went through the same rigmarole. He thinks that way back in the dimmest mists of time I must have had to set up a code which was used just once to connect me to online banking (which I don’t use) and enable me to use the bank’s app. He also thinks there is no way of retrieving it and the only way I can access the bank’s helpline is by going through the signing up for and installing the online app all over again. I don’t think it’s a terribly helpful solution, but at least this employee gave me answers the online and phone services failed to do.
Don’t get me wrong, I love technology. But this is bonkers. Nothing beats face to face with someone who understands systems and knows what they are doing. Closing branches denies customers that choice. The banks may say they have our interests at heart. It certainly doesn’t feel like it.
Isobel (and Cat)'s Blog 
So frustrating.
It was, and I left feeling disgruntled.
Once I’d written this post I set about setting up the online banking again. It was much more straightforward and quicker than I’d feared, and then I wondered why this member of staff hadn’t done that with me at the bank. I’d have been a lot happier!
well said! I fear it is becoming increasingly difficult to speak to a real person in any interface these days.
It’s dire. You usually get things done much quicker if you can deal with a human being, though the way the staff at the bank spoke, I’d make a guess they have been trained to redirect us to machines and the website help unless we keep pushing. It reminds me of when I was a freelance journalist, once the internet became widely used it was so much harder to speak to anyone. I was constantly directed to the website, although I had already looked there and not found what I needed.
The various codes we have to remember are very well up to a point, but keeping track of them all is becoming a serious issue, and quite impossible for anyone with memory problems.
Sorry Isobel, but 4 paragraphs in I was laughing. I think we’ve all had similar experiences. Maybe not at the bank, but technology, apps, and less in-person customer service in general. It can be so frustrating 😤. But it made me laugh, bc it was definitely relatable 😂.
It’s demented isn’t it? And these businesses tell us it’s all for our benefit.
Yes, absolutely. I hate having to deal with bots or automated phones without real ppl. I get these companies wanting to spend less & make things more streamlined, buuuut, sometimes customers need to speak to an actual living, breathing human being.
I couldn’t agree more. A human being can understand the subtleties and nuances of a question which a bot cannot.