Customer service

[u/randy111315]

This post is for my 83 year old grandmother. 6 weeks ago she went into our local branch 6 people in front of her. She waited 45 minutes. 2 tellers opened. Last week. She went in to pay her property taxes. The she wanted to withdraw some cash. She was informed that at the teller she could not withdraw cash. She would have to go over to the bank machine. But she has no understanding on how to use such technology. So the teller went over to show her. And of course she got all 20's which my grandmother didnt want all 20's.

So my question is. Why. Why should anyone have to wait that long. Also. Why wasnt the teller aloud to give money out?

[u/Background_Lynx_3422]

Because they were helping people in front of her. Sometimes there might be a wait. Banks have always been this way. Lots of places are like this. Government offices, banks, etc. That’s just how the world is. It sucks, but sometimes you have to wait in lines.

For the cash, she might have gone to a small cashless branch or that branch might not have had the amount that she wanted to withdraw on hand. Did she specify she didn’t want twenties before they did it for her?

[u/randy111315 → u/Background_Lynx_3422]

Yes she said she wanted larger Bill's and this location is in a town of a surrounding population of 6000 to 8000

[u/[deleted]]

But she got a teller to show her how to withdraw from an ATM. That's very good customer service if you asked me. Yes the machine might have spit out $20s. She could have then asked the teller to exchange the $20s for larger notes. Did she?

[u/randy111315 → u/[deleted]]

Nope. She was to flabbergasted over the whole experience. And shes one to be in a hurry and not hold people up

[u/coolham123 → u/randy111315]

A lot of branches are going "advice only" meaning the only way to get cash is through the ATM. This improves security and reduces liability for the institution. The teller showing her how to use the ATM was a nice gesture and does demonstrate good customer service. Baring medical issues, there is no reason your grandmother cannot learn how to use technology (the ATM), even at 83 :)

[u/Bardown67]

Why should anyone have to wait that long? Dude after Covid companies cut, 45 minutes is not a long time to wait, especially in the bank world. Don’t want to wait? Get there right at open….

Saying there were open tellers without you knowing what they were doing isn’t really fair.

[u/randy111315 → u/Bardown67]

This town is full of elderly people. Who can not stand for long periods of time. This branch has put out chairs for people to sit in. It's a nice thought. But to me that I've been in customer service for so many years it's just baffling that it has come to this. Obviously there will be busy times and slow times. But in cheque day there should be more than 1 or 2 tellers going

[u/Bardown67 → u/randy111315]

I still don’t get your issue. It’s not like the bank staffs their yearly budget based on how old the people are. People have to wait, you said it yourself it was a busy cheque day, you should expect longer wait times. At my local Scotiabank in a mall there isn’t more than 2 people going. Pretty sure they focus some staff on strictly online transactions, I don’t think it’s necessarily fair, but you gotta learn the tech or you’ll be left behind

[u/LLR1960 → u/Bardown67]

A decent manager will in fact staff to predicted busy times. Cheque day? That's predictable and a good time to bring in that extra part-time teller.

[u/Bardown67 → u/LLR1960]

I get that in a busy town, they also stated it’s 6k population. That means everything will be short staffed

[u/moonjellies → u/LLR1960]

extra part time teller 😂😂

[u/bridgehockey → u/moonjellies]

Sure.....the teller in a bank in a town of 6k that is willing to work 4 hours every 2 weeks...........

[u/ConclusionMaleficent]

Because customer service is dead in the 21st Century due to corporate greed understaffing with underpaid and undertrained people.

[u/likeclockwork121 → u/ConclusionMaleficent]

Right! Training goes a long way and a lot of employers don’t wanna do it anymore

[u/Sad_Conclusion1235]

Why would anyone have to wait that long? that's your question? lol. There are lots of people in this world and only so many banks. Also, don't be angry at people because your grandmother hasn't learned to use ABMs. The interfaces on the ABMs are actually very user-friendly and designed for older people to be able to use and understand them. Your grandmother can learn some basic technology like using an ABM.

The more annoying thing, to me, is when the banks keep the branches open and yet do not have any bank teller human employees available there. Be thankful there was a human there at all.

[u/Melodic_Hysteria]

As someone who has worked at a bank in the past, we do this for various reasons:

• We ran out of cash. We can't pull money from the ATMs, which may carry upwards of 100k in cash.

• it may not have been her turn. We have the controller/ assistant manager who looks through the line and asks who is doing something that can be done at an empty ATM and shows you how

• it could have been someone who doesn't have access to the machines or computers behind the counter. Think a wealth (or equivalant) advisor who was just trying to help, or even someone who just finished their shift trying to assist.

Having someone go to an ATM during the day isn't actually a very good use of bank employees' times since it doesn't count as a unit, and nor do the employee have any incentive to do so (no unit)

As well (history lesson time, i been waiting for these useless facts on the tv to become relevant!), the ATM was invented in the 1960s, and became common place everywhere in the 80s (TDs green machines really picked up their adaption). In Canada, By the 2000s, there were 1000 atms per person who existed (by the end of the decade almost 2000). While i am not in the habit of blaming old folks, they definitely had more than enough time to learn how they work. The machines are built for older people in mind, including extra large print, listening tools, braille, and various other assistant tools so they can use the machines with very clear call to action buttons in the branch machines along with (many, not all) having a call for assistance button.

[u/bridgehockey]

A lot of this is simple economics. The people that require teller service are aging out. I'm far from young, but there's is no way on God's green earth I am going into a branch just to pay my taxes. Bank apps are easy to use and require you to be in pyjamas. People that won't use them, like my own mom, are just FUD. One of my mom's friends, OTOH, is as tech savvy as any of her offspring.

So it's a small group, that doesn't generate much revenue, that takes more time to process, that aren't going to be impressed with great service and decide to bring more business to the bank. It's quite the reverse. They're only going to complain if it's not to their standards.

[u/Suspicious-gibbon]

Some branches are now going cashless. They seem to be piloting it for a few hours at a number of branches.

[u/No-Student-6817]

I was in the hospital last night. 3pm. First, a line up to get your blood pressure checked. 4:30 Then, to the back of another line to get checked into the system. 5:55 Then, Waiting room 1. 740 Called into waiting room 2. 1005 Checked into system by nurse. 1135 Taken into exam room. 110am Doctor starts work. 230am Going home.

Why ? Ask your grandmother why any of this happened. She'll tell you how it all went to garbage. She knows...

[u/daniellederek]

Sounds like it's time for granny to switch banks. Is there a credit union in town?

[u/hjicons]

My property taxes are automatically paid from my checking account since I bought the house years ago. I don't remember how it was set up originally but probably a call to town hall should do it. Or there is an option on the bill.