41–50 of 316 posts
All systems have their limits, but the current electronic ones are much better than the mortar and paper of yesteryear. I just finished renewing tags for my cars in 5 minutes from the comfort of my home, as compared to 2 hour Tag Office visit 20 years ago. (Happy bday to me!).
Regarding financial institutions, AmEx is basically the only one I enjoy dealing with. I’ve never had any issues with them.
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I thought about it but I don't want to reveal who I bank with sorry :)
The question, though: is that to avoid more targeted attacks against you (like not telling people you own gold or bitcoin) or to avoid your bank becoming so successful that they can use their market position to become abusive to customers (like not telling people where you get your news on the off chance that you have a trustworthy source of news)?
This is very, very much the vibe of my entire experience living on this planet as an adult, dealing with financial services and tech: "No we won't do the one thing you need us to do, even though it is extremely simple and easy" "Hey would you like to try this thing we spent a billion dollars on, you definitely don't need it but it's very trendy"
Strikes me that there is potential here for businesses to genuinely make customer service their focus, at the expense of profit or maybe by offering their services at a slightly higher premium. The Groundhog Day cycle of doom that we all feel all the time is deeply damaging to everyone concerned apart from shareholders. It'd be a breath of fresh air if companies went back to focusing on their customers first and foremost.
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Branches are equally powerless. See: Bank of America's policy on two-party "and" checks. I walk in, having had a checking account with them for decades: "Hi, I need to deposit a two-party check into my account here. This is the other party with me, and we're happy to show ID." Door greeter / agent: "Sure, I can do that for you." {Proceeds to verify my information and set up deposit on her tablet} "Hmm." {Walks over t…
I have found that, as long as your name is on the check, they will allow you to deposit a two-party check via the BofA app.
Incidentally a BoA teller just told me yesterday that the phone all is not supposed to accept two party checks at all.
the existence of a terrible bank doesn't mean they're all awful like any market, there are competently run companies and there are terrible ones (e.g. HSBC)
Can you please name for me any that you think are good?
Credit Unions are usually hyper-local or for special interest groups so you'd need to look around by you.
the existence of a terrible bank doesn't mean they're all awful like any market, there are competently run companies and there are terrible ones (e.g. HSBC)
At a certain size you just become too big to be competent, and the incentives get FUBAR. After that they don't really care about customer satisfaction because they're really focused on investors or the next 1mm corporate customers.
However, if you can develop an in-person face-to-face rapport with someone at a bank, you'll find that they can bypass, sometimes, much of the infuriating petty bureaucracy.
I once had a bank employee print almost a ream of statements on the spot for me. I was almost in tears from the generosity of their time and effort. This was after going to a different branch an being told it would cost hundreds of dollars and take weeks because it was a "back-office" job.