Bank of Ireland tellers can't/won't help with filling out forms

2Clueless

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Had a bad experience with local BOI branch recently. I have had an account with them for over 30 years but am seriously thinking of ending that "relationship".
I usually do most of my banking online but had to transfer money to a new transferree so rushed from work to sort it out. When I got to the branch, the self-service machines had long queues. I went to the teller and there was only one customer ahead of me (2 tellers behind counter). This customer was obviously after been sent to the machines and was returning for assistance-the teller sent her back to the machines and this customer left obviously confused.
I went to the other teller and showed her the details of the account money needed to be transferred to (these details were very confusing as they had a long IBAN number) Teller gave me a form and I asked her for assistance with filling it out (no one else was queuing). She told me she couldn't do that as customers had to fill out form themselves. I sheepishly left the queue to go for assistance from floating customer service but they were really busy and it was near closing time. I made a pathetic attempt at filling out form and returned to the (other) teller hoping that she might be more helpful. She disgustingly said "you've filled it out wrong". I replied, "Maybe if you gave me some assistance, I would be able to do it properly." She repeated the other tellers mantra that they could not fill out forms-I just wanted her to show me the correct no. to write in the correct spaces. I left fed up and embarrassed.

P.S. This was the same day that my wages were delayed.
A week later the online banking system was down when I needed to pay a bill.
 
Yes I can understand your frustration.The old style of customer service in banking is gone.The issue is:If the teller makes a mistake you can blame the bank so they are told not to fill out the Iban info etc.However they should assist you with your questions.Unfortunately all the banks are the same.

Email your bank manager and use the post office for basic transactions such as bill pay
 
I wouldn't have left the teller until she supervised me filling out the form, if necessary redoing it as many times as possible until it was correct.

And don't be deluded that the bank has a 'relationship' with you. Most of us are just numbers.
 
Vote with your feet. The teller must be taking a leaf out of Boucher's book - contempt for everybody, even those paying their wages.
 
Sadly , this non-service is happening too often.

What other shop would you tolerate such bad manners from.
Clueless , If it suits you move. If it doesn,t suit you ,stay , but on your terms in future.
 
These days I don't expect anything different from BOI. Their customer service is just deplorable. I recently had an experience of paying my mortgage (with a different provider) via BOI and was informed it was not possible to do it on that particular day as their teller only worked a half day on a Wednesday. I politely informed her that my mortgage was due on that particular day and I urgently needed to pay it. She shrugged her shoulders and embarrassingly apologised. The lady who informed me of this was a bank worker who worked on customer service and had no authority to accept cash unless somebody lodged via one of those machines.

I can well understand your frustration OP.
 
. I recently had an experience of paying my mortgage (with a different provider) via BOI and was informed it was not possible to do it on that particular day as their teller only worked a half day on a Wednesday.

That's quite amazing.
 
If the teller makes a mistake you can blame the bank so they are told not to fill out the Iban info etc.However they should assist you with your questions.Unfortunately all the banks are the same.

Email your bank manager and use the post office for basic transactions such as bill pay

That's very true, the iban numbers are very long and it is so easy to make a mistake, people could be transferring very large amount of money and it could very easily end up in someone else's account. We are going to hear terrible stories of people losing large sums of monies as time goes on. I feel very sorry for people who are not familiar with this technological system especially the old. I was in Ireland recently and I was amazed at the sheer number of machines in the banks and practically no staff.
 
I worked for the BOI many many years ago. I got fantastic training and I wasn't let near anything unless I had been properly trained, sometimes up to 6 months with someone looking over my shoulder. After 15 years of working there, there was no job I couldn't do blindfolded.
These days when you visit a branch you can see the lack of training. There are many times when it is obvious that the staff don't even know their own products. Ask them a question and they immediately ask you to make an appointment to speak to someone higher. They constantly kick to touch.
Having said that, there is nothing very complicated about filling in a form and inserting an IBAN number. Normally the boxes to be filled in equal the length of the number. I am not sure what is difficult about transcribing a long number from one form to the other.
 
The irony of this is that it sounds as if BoI's online systems force you into a branch and there is a clear policy in BoI of not helping customers but that you must "help yourself".

I've had a similar experience and stood my ground at the counter until the got someone to take me into a cubicle to assist me with an issue. I know it's not fair on customers queuing behind me but the floor walker person was so irritating and rude she got my goat up
 
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