So that’s what bank branches are for, Click and Collect…
My bank has let me down in a way I would never have anticipated!
I’ve been a loyal personal banking customer with this particular bank, in fact I’ve been an advocate, for years now – in the general run of things they meet my needs simply and effectively and the fact that they don’t have a branch network has been more of a benefit than a problem. I say this because I’ve been doing all my personal banking online and on the phone for a long time now and I’ve only used a branch (different bank) for business banking interactions. So what changed my view?
Recently I started having some trouble with my personal account debit card, it failed to read at chip and PIN terminals and then it stopped working at ATM’s. That doesn’t sound like much of a problem although it is quite inconvenient because I’ve been using a credit card more often than usual and at the ATM this attracts a fee that the debit card doesn’t. So I rang my friendly, efficient bank and as usual I got a lovely agent to listen to my little problem. She advised me that there must have been a security issue and I would need to reset the PIN at an ATM, that sounded quite logical and even felt like something designed for my security benefit so I left the call quite happy with the solution in my head.
However, I then spent days trying to access PIN services on a variety of ATM’s all over London, and a couple out of town whilst travelling on business, none of them would even let me get to the option I apparently needed. So a week later and now feeling rather frustrated I called the bank again, after speaking to another lovely lady and being on hold for a bit I was advised that my debit card transaction records showed (and presumably would have showed a week earlier if someone had looked) an error on the card when chip and PIN terminals tried to read it. So she says the right solution is to issue a new debit card to me.
This is actually where my problem with the bank begins – I guess I’ve come to accept that all banks can make the kind of customer service mistake I’ve explained above and that isn’t enough on it’s own to make me consider a move to another bank – but the rest of the story does make me consider it.
Because my bank doesn’t have branches they needed to arrange a secure delivery of the new card to me. Sounds fine doesn’t it?
Well no it’s not fine actually, the whole reason I use a bank without branches is because I’m a busy and mobile person, basically it works better for me to call them or go to their website when it suits me and when I have a suitable gap in my schedule. So the whole idea of arranging to be either at home or in the office on a particular day (for a whole day by the way) is a nightmare. In fact at the time of writing I’ve already missed one delivery to the office because I had to go out for a client meeting, and now I don’t know when or if my card will be re-delivered.
So now I understand what bank branches are for – I would happily have popped into a branch near my office to show my ID and pick up my new card at my convenience. In fact if the bank were truly multi-channel I would be able to order a replacement card on their website and arrange to pick it up in a branch of my choice during that web transaction – Click and Collect it’s called in multi-channel retailing.
So actually my ideal bank will be rather like Argos – let me do my simple transactions online, offer me a Click and Collect service when I need it and don’t have lots of staff wandering around in branch trying to sell stuff to me.
