Question:If I tell the bank to cease making a regular payment, what do I expect to happen? Discuss how this compares in practice with what actually happens.
Answer:
I cancelled the standing order through internet banking once it had become painfully apparent that the bank was incapable of not imposing bank charges in error. I had to complain every month, obtain an apology and a refund, and then repeat the whole process the following month. And the month after that. It is more cost effective to pull the cash from an ATM and visit my friendly neighbourhood money exchange. The FOREX rate is better too.
Internet banking confirms that the standing instruction was indeed cancelled. Unfortunately, it seems that internet banking is not attached to the rest of RTB’s empire. So three weeks later I found myself on the phone to the bank, spelling out that the standing instruction must be cancelled. “Yes, now. As in immediately, seeing as you failed to action my specific instruction three weeks ago.”
And it happened to Beloved Wife too, which makes me infer that the problem was not a one-off error, rather a profound system failure over at Red Triangles Towers.
Just as well, then, that the transfer is from me at RTB to me at GoatBank. What would happen if the money had gone to some third party; a party who then refused to refund it? The bank would reimburse me in full, perhaps. Unlikelier things have happened, but these are mostly limited to the pages of Sunday Sport and Fortean Times.
And what if the transfer (that I had cancelled) caused a cheque to bounce owing to insufficient funds? Would the bank compensate me for my extra-spanky short haircut and my stay in a minus-several star desert resort?
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3 comments:
This must have been HSBC?
We've discovered that it's a much better deal to take cash from the bank, trot off to Al Ansari Exchange and send it that way.
We get a better rate and they only charge Dh60 regardless of how much we send.
(It used to annoy me but now just amuses me that the bank has a policy of asking what we want the money for. One, it's our money so how we spend it is nothing to do with them. Two, I don't suppose many customers would say they're laundering money for the mafia or planning to buy a consignment of Kalashnikovs.)
Just had a giggle - Word Verification for this is 'upedight' - a slight misspelling perhaps?
Hmph. I remonstrated fully over email (I'm abroad and not paying Itisalot double roaming charge to yell at the fools at RTB) and haven't heard a word yet. I cancelled when I discovered the 'free' monthly transfer I had been doing was not -- the $25 fee I thought had been set by the receiving bank was actually levied by RTB New York. What's free about that? AND they screwed it up, to boot.
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