I have been puzzled whether I should write this post or not. Then, I thought, if I do not do anything, then I can consider myself as one of the people who contribute to this situation. There is a small chance, that someone who can actually do something about this will actually read my post, but hey, it is better than nothing. So what is the story about? Well, it is about how a certain bank made a fool out of me today.
It so happens, that I had some things to take care of at BCR (the biggest bank in Romania). Unfortunately, I rarely find the time to do such things personally during workdays, because I do not have that much free time. Today, however, I had a little more spare time, so I decided to visit the banks nearest office. The target office was a 10-15 minute walk away from my workplace, so I decided to go on foot. After a 15 minute walk, however (uphills), I arrived at the bank, but sadly, the operator told me that the lady responsible for the operation I needed to do was not working that day, and nobody else (!?) could do that task instead of her.
I said to myself, no worries, I will just walk down to the second nearest office (a 20-25 minute walk) and handle everything there. After all, these things may happen to anyone. Surprise, surprise: after arriving to the second office, another lady told me, to come back in 10-15 minutes, because the lady who is responsible for the operation I needed to do was just out, and nobody else (again!?) could do that task instead of her. This was more than a coincidence… was the bank fooling around with me?
There was no other choice, I had to do yet another 10 minute walk to the central office, and there the lady responsible for the operation I needed to do… was just in 🙂 . I successfully wasted around one hour of my one hour lunch break walking around in the city, looking for someone at BCR who can help me (it was NOT a complicated job)…
I did not work with BCR for quite a while now. I chose some more “user-friendly” banks… boy I made the right decision: these guys have a very poor management system. Let me point out a few key problems:
– Most clients, who have money, work all day long, and there is a high probability that they will pay a visit at lunch-time (not when they are also working), so… do NOT leave the front desk in that period.
– Task management 101: always have a backup for everything (if someone is not in, someone else should cover)
– And finally: do try to open up your offices next to busy office-buildings (e.g. Sigma center in Cluj) like other banks do.
I am not sure if I had a bad day, or if the bank really has bad organizational methods, but having two bank offices refuse a service due to the fact that the person is not in on the same day is, I think, more than a coincidence. I think something is wrong there…
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