Some time back I was at a Maybank branch in KLCC to open a banking account. I didn’t do enough homework to know that a simple savings account needed at least RM250 to start with. I didn’t have enough cash in hand and asked the customer service lady if there are other accounts that I can open for less than RM250. Apparently not.
Dismayed but not wanting to give up, I kept enquiring on alternatives because I didn’t want to return another day to get the account opened. All I had with me were credit and debit cards from other banks, as well as an ATM card from Citibank. She lit up at the mention of the Citibank ATM card and suggested for me to withdraw some cash with it at Maybank’s ATM. I told her it’s not possible as it doesn’t link up like the other local banks’ MEPS cards. Then she asked me this:
“Citibank is a local bank or foreign bank?”
I momentarily stared at her, shocked. Well, for her to be working in a bank, I would expect her to know her competitors, even though she may just be a customer service person helping customers open their bank accounts. Don’t you expect that of people in the industry to know such things?
Anyway, I did manage to open an account in the end, by taking up a product that came with a savings account. I’ll talk more about that in another post and you can see how smart Maybank is in locking a customer’s money over a long period!
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
She worked until blur already…. lol…. The question really shouldn’t be asked by a personnel like this.
Maybe she thinks its “City Bank”
This is nothing new. We also have TM workers who donno anything bout Maxis broadband, Celcom, etc. And bank staff who donno about other banks. Luckily they do know the bank they are working in is a bank
Penny, you will get all sorts of funny questions and answers when you deal with Maybank. Recently they called me up for a survey and I ranked everything at the bottom and the guy in the end ask me why I still kept a Maybank account if I wasn’t happy. I told him I still kept the account for convenience sake (they do have branches almost everywhere) and I limit my direct dealings with them. I’d rather deal with machines
Superman, I think she’s really blur! Haha.
Sf, luckily not Shitybank as many often call it!
Alvin, it’s true how a lot of employees don’t seem to care about what else is out there.
Amy, you’re so funny! You actually bothered to answer their survey, wow! I would’ve just said thanks but no thanks.
Well, I wuold normally say no too but this time I decided to spend 5 mins and give them a piece of my mind. Hopefully it gets heard
might be she just testing you. HOho..
Hmm…if she was, then she was doing it in the expense of putting the company at a bad reputation risk!
But seriously speaking, I really doubt she was testing me. Haha.
The Customer Service in Penang, Air Itam branch sucks.
Not only they make you go around the bank to make a simple Transaction but the way the Customer Service personnel question you about the transaction form which was actually written by their own staff makes you sick about their professionalism ( let alone someone sitting in a Customer Service chair). He should know what Customer Care stands for …. “CUSTOMER don’t care how much you know, but will know how much you care” If he’s not suitable for the Customer Service job..find someone who can.
On a side note, though we all know that the WAWASAN 2020 funds from Bumi lot will be opened tomorrow, already observed a bank staff helping a customer to prepare the form & making the thumbprint !!! What’s this practice? Is that fair to the rest of the public who came in early to queue for the subscriptions?
Jack, it’s not the first time I’ve heard of this pre-selling. Deny as much as they want, we all know it’s happening. I guess we aren’t in that category to be able to pre-sign those forms yet…our bank accounts are not big enough!
You guys are the reason why customer service is at its worst state. The hostility and disrespect nature of expectations is totally uncalled for. Get a life people.
You shouldn’t be bias from myopic thinking. Grow up & more constructive feedback, please.
I agree with Iris. Tiger50 is probably from Maybank
This is Malaysian that we are talking about. For malaysians, customer care or customer service is no longer about providing a service. It is providing anything and everything that they want regardless of whether the request is reasonable or not. It means breaking all the rules to get what they want. This is clearly seen in all the daily activities that Malaysians do from driving, shopping, requesting. There is never a respectful way of asking. To top it off, everyone never bother to get their facts right and starts to argue base on “customer is always right”. Sad but true. Malaysians just want more…plain kiasu and greedy.
It would be great to see people complaining and commenting about poor service in the shoes of the person delivering the service rather than receiving.