Banker, rhymes with. . .
December 31st 2006 03:21
Here’s a little tale for all you who love to hate bankers. My mother, who is eightyfive, thought she would send me some money for Christmas. Well, mothers do that sort of thing. She, being worried that the money should arrive for Christmas, went to a company called TravelEx, whose motto is “World Wide Money”, and bought a bank draft on the National Australia Bank. You know, one of those little, oh so people friendly, business’s that post record profits every year. Yeah that’s the one. And shame on you, you really shouldn’t know those kinds of words.
Well, as luck would have it the bank draft arrived in time to do some Christmas shopping. It really is nice to know that the wife and kids would have some presents under the tree. And there might even be enough left over so I could buy a new pair of work pants.
Anyway, off to the local, people friendly branch of the NAB. Christmas decorations in the window and all.
I front up to the counter and the cashier, with a great big Christmas smile says ‘Can I Help you?’
‘Yes, thank you, I would like to cash this.’ I slide the bank draft across the counter.
Now you’ve got to understand that this bank draft says “National Australia Bank” right across the top of it.
The cashier, whose smile is starting to look a bit frosty, says ‘Do you have an account with us?
‘No, I don’t. But this is a draft on the NAB.’
’I’ll just have to ask the manager, won’t be a moment’, she says. When she returns she says ‘I’ll have to make a phone call.’
Twenty minutes later she returns. ‘We can’t cash this, you will need to deposit it in an account.’
So on the one hand we have a company whose motto is “World Wide Money” and on the other hand the NAB, who would have it’s share holders believe that the NAB is world player in the banking game.
Of course my question at this point was “This is a bank draft written on the NAB, why can’t you cash it?”.
These are the reasons given for not cashing a bank draft written on the NAB; 1) I don’t have an account. The interesting thing is that even if I did have an account, I would need to have enough money in that account to cover the amount of the draft.
2) TravelEx might stop payment on the draft.
These reasons given show that with out a doubt the National Australia Bank is saying that TravelEx is not to be trusted.
I then contacted the Melbourne office of TravelEx and explained the problem to the young man who answered the phone. I suspect he thinks of himself as banker material as his answer to the problem of the NAB publicly stating that TravelEx is not to be trusted was “It has nothing to do with us, talk to the bank”.
It is of course very interesting that TravelEx seems to be quite happy with the NAB’s assessment of TravelEx’s reliability in the international money market.
Well, I shall leave you with the banks view of customer service, which seems to have been adopted wholeheartedly by TravelEx.
Customer - Any fool who walks in the door.
Service - What a bull does to a cow.
Well, as luck would have it the bank draft arrived in time to do some Christmas shopping. It really is nice to know that the wife and kids would have some presents under the tree. And there might even be enough left over so I could buy a new pair of work pants.
Anyway, off to the local, people friendly branch of the NAB. Christmas decorations in the window and all.
I front up to the counter and the cashier, with a great big Christmas smile says ‘Can I Help you?’
‘Yes, thank you, I would like to cash this.’ I slide the bank draft across the counter.
Now you’ve got to understand that this bank draft says “National Australia Bank” right across the top of it.
The cashier, whose smile is starting to look a bit frosty, says ‘Do you have an account with us?
‘No, I don’t. But this is a draft on the NAB.’
’I’ll just have to ask the manager, won’t be a moment’, she says. When she returns she says ‘I’ll have to make a phone call.’
Twenty minutes later she returns. ‘We can’t cash this, you will need to deposit it in an account.’
So on the one hand we have a company whose motto is “World Wide Money” and on the other hand the NAB, who would have it’s share holders believe that the NAB is world player in the banking game.
Of course my question at this point was “This is a bank draft written on the NAB, why can’t you cash it?”.
These are the reasons given for not cashing a bank draft written on the NAB; 1) I don’t have an account. The interesting thing is that even if I did have an account, I would need to have enough money in that account to cover the amount of the draft.
2) TravelEx might stop payment on the draft.
These reasons given show that with out a doubt the National Australia Bank is saying that TravelEx is not to be trusted.
I then contacted the Melbourne office of TravelEx and explained the problem to the young man who answered the phone. I suspect he thinks of himself as banker material as his answer to the problem of the NAB publicly stating that TravelEx is not to be trusted was “It has nothing to do with us, talk to the bank”.
It is of course very interesting that TravelEx seems to be quite happy with the NAB’s assessment of TravelEx’s reliability in the international money market.
Well, I shall leave you with the banks view of customer service, which seems to have been adopted wholeheartedly by TravelEx.
Customer - Any fool who walks in the door.
Service - What a bull does to a cow.
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Comment by Lily
Ars Poetica
....and i loved your view of 'Customer Service' ...
hehe ~ thanks for the laff.....
~Lily
Comment by Bullamakanka
Hughie's Ziff
Bagman's Gazette
There was a time when I might have reached across the counterand slammed their head on the counter a few times to see if anbody was home.
These days, well, I have sent this post to every email I could find for travelex. Also the Aust BRW magazine. Still looking for more places to send it.
My hope is to have Travelex contact the NAB and ask them what they think they are doing.
The moral of the story is,
Never upset a writer.