Bad experience with AIB: What should I do??

brightbyte8

Hi,

I'm the owner of a small technology company and I recently set up an account with AIB Grafton Street Dublin. In order to launch a website I needed something called an "internet merchant agreement". Getting this required me to fill in three nightmarish forms (very technical), which took many hours (and about 2 packs of comfort jaffa cakes) to complete. Together this these forms I bundled a set of other documents, including my original certificate of incorporation, which is the business equivalent of your birth cert.

Scared that these documents would be lost in the xmas post, I dropped them into the branch personally, on the 18th of December, in a brown envelope reading "ATTN: *name of bank manager*".

I then forgot about the documents, presuming the process would have contined smoothly.

I was wrong.

A few days ago I found out they had lost all the documents, and that I'd have to fill them out again. I'd also have to get another certificate of incorporation. All of this is going to delay the launch of my product - the bottom line is I've lost money and possibly a small competitive edge.

I complained to a member of staff but I was met with arrogance and a refusal to listen. I'm quite young (23) so I don't think they took me seriously. Nevertheless I am a serious entrepreneur - I run a technology company and I was educated at Oxford. Already I'm employing 3 people.

My question is what should I do? Who should I complain or write to? Should I change bank? If so, does anyone know any banks that are in someway competent - or at least treat their customers kindly.

Thanks

jimoc

If it was me I would change banks straight away and make sure that you send a letter to the manager of AIB detailing exactly why you are leaving.

Also, make sure you make copies of all the documentation when you submit it to the new bank.

I've been with BOI since I was in first year in secondary school and not had anything to complain about with them yet.

BuffyBot

Address it with the branch manager/person in branch in charge of customer care.

If that fails contact the Customer Care Unit at AIB Bankcentre, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 or get talking to them through 01-6600311. The CCU seems to be quite efficient from memory, but they'll probably try to get you to resolve it at branch level first.

monkeypants

I've been with AIB for years and my experience is that every so often they do something to annoy me. They turn down a loan for no reason or lose some correspondence bounce a payment. I haven't closed my account, but I have mostly stopped using it. I've a joint account with BOI and a mortgage for two years now and they've been great. So far. Long may it continue.

As the other posters said, take it up with them directly, preferably in writing, and give them a chance to put it right.

Kila

I had a bad experience with BOI and then a nightmare trying to get it resolved. You should first try to complain to the bank itself. If you send a letter, they are obliged to respond in writing within 5 days.

Your provider must write to you within 5 business days of receiving your complaint. They must give you details of a person you can contact, and they can't let more than 20 business days go by without letting you know how your complaint is being dealt with.

If they do not resolve your complaint within 40 business days they must:

* let you know how long more they expect it will take to resolve
* let you know of your right to refer the matter to the Financial Services Ombudsman or Pensions Ombudsman and
* give you contact details of the relevant ombudsman.

At this point you can wait for the firm to resolve your complaint or you can go to the relevant ombudsman scheme. )

Source: http://www.itsyourmoney.ie/index.jsp?1nID=94&pID=663&nID=760

Address your letter to the manager, and outline your complaint. Keep a copy for yourself too, noting the date that you sent it, along with names and dates of who you spoke to and the outcome.

In the letter, be sure to outline the general distress that their actions have caused, and that you are extremely unhappy with current efforts to resolve it.

Then wait a bit. If they don't call back, or write back, try to call the manager once more. After that, I suggest referring it to AIB general complaints rather than branch specific. Send them a letter outlining the same complaint, and including the fact that the branch has not satisfactorily resolved the issue.

Once again, wait for a response. If they still do not respond adequately, refer the case to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

Read that link I posted above, as it contains lots of useful info. If you want to see how I dealt with BOI when they jerked me around, it's here in this thread.

Good luck with the fight, I hope it turns out well for you.

pog it

I'm personally fed up with AIB as well. This evening I rang the phone banking number with a relatively simple enquiry about receiving funds electronically from a company I deal with in US. The girl had no information, repeatedly said to ask the US company when it clearly was a question for AIB. I then asked to speak to a team leader and she didn't know either. 20 minutes on hold- none the wiser.

They also sent me out a bank statement for an old business account when I had requested my current account statement instead.. did this in a branch in person! How incompetent can you get? I was held back big time by this. No apology, if I want a refund for the bank statement I didn't order they told me I have to go into my home branch to request this!

I'm opening a PostBank account and am going to move everything to them, bit by bit. You won't get much apology or humility from them. Finding them arrogant almost every time I have a query to follow up on, and this is the test of a bank's customer service.

jhegarty

I would demand they search the branch until they find your forms.

You really don't want those ending up in the wrong hands , espcially your certificate of incorporation.

Bishop_Donal

Kila wrote: »

I had a bad experience with BOI and then a nightmare trying to get it resolved. You should first try to complain to the bank itself. If you send a letter, they are obliged to respond in writing within 5 days.

Source: http://www.itsyourmoney.ie/index.jsp?1nID=94&pID=663&nID=760

Address your letter to the manager, and outline your complaint. Keep a copy for yourself too, noting the date that you sent it, along with names and dates of who you spoke to and the outcome.

In the letter, be sure to outline the general distress that their actions have caused, and that you are extremely unhappy with current efforts to resolve it.

Then wait a bit. If they don't call back, or write back, try to call the manager once more. After that, I suggest referring it to AIB general complaints rather than branch specific. Send them a letter outlining the same complaint, and including the fact that the branch has not satisfactorily resolved the issue.

Once again, wait for a response. If they still do not respond adequately, refer the case to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

Read that link I posted above, as it contains lots of useful info. If you want to see how I dealt with BOI when they jerked me around, it's here in this thread.

Good luck with the fight, I hope it turns out well for you.

You might be mixing up consumer lending rules with non-consumer lending rules. Think the rules you are quoting are from the Financial Regulators Consumer Protection Code.

That said, I'd still be addressing the issue to the Custoer Care Unit in Ballsbridge if I was treated inappropriately.

themoneyguy

Try writing to customer care in AIB. I had a bit of bother with them last year and they were great

brightbyte8

Wow thanks for all the input everyone.

It's so good to get to express yourself when you are treated badly by a company. The great thing about the internet is that power is returning back to us, the consumers. As soon as large companies realize this they might start treating us better.

Let me fill you in a bit more about what happened when I went into the bank. I went to customer care and asked to speak to the manager. The member of staff I dealt with first laughed in my face, "you?". I reckon he saw a youngish looking guy and thought that was a good reason to disrespect me - I wasn't wearing a suit either so perhaps they reserve good treatment for those dressed to impress - not exactly a policy I'd agree with. I felt insulted and got very angry and demanded to see the manager - he chuckled, rolled his eyes, walked off and said "i'll see what I can do".

I was never put in touch with the branch manager. Apparently my custom isn't good enough for that. Instead I was talking to someone "on the managerial team", although I had my suspicions this was a lie.

At this point I had gotten quite angry. Yet I was met with no empathy or compassion. I was asked why I didn't copy the documents in a condescending "this is your fault" voice. I told her my company was environmentally conscious and tried not to use paper - she looked at me like I told her I like smell my own ****.

Throughout the discussion I was made to feel like their negligence in handling my documents was actually my fault. I felt like a child in school - I was talked over and they did not want to hear me out.

I was told they "sent round an email", and that it was normal human error. I told her it was human error, but I rebutted that it wasn't normal - especially for a financial service. In particular they had had lost my original certificate of incorporation, the business equivalent of a birth cert. Now I have to reapply to the company office for a new one.

I demanded compensation of some form for my wasted time but I was refused.

Because I was so angry at how I was practically ridiculed and laughed at by the staff I just fumed "If you can't handle my mail, I doubt you're in a position to handle my accounts". With that I stormed off.

An absolute waste of my time - especially considering I launch in 3 weeks. Or at least I planned to.

Edgeoftown

Banks will rip you off any chance they get. I came home from USA a few years ago. While I was abroad I had a legit non resident a/c. A year after returning I had to prove to Revenue that my a/c was genuine. Copies of old passports, lease agreements utility bills and a letter from my accountant. All of this because our banks advised their most valued customers to open a bogus non resident a/c.

brightbyte8 wrote: »

Hi,

I'm the owner of a small technology company and I recently set up an account with AIB Grafton Street Dublin. In order to launch a website I needed something called an "internet merchant agreement". Getting this required me to fill in three nightmarish forms (very technical), which took many hours (and about 2 packs of comfort jaffa cakes) to complete. Together this these forms I bundled a set of other documents, including my original certificate of incorporation, which is the business equivalent of your birth cert.

Scared that these documents would be lost in the xmas post, I dropped them into the branch personally, on the 18th of December, in a brown envelope reading "ATTN: *name of bank manager*".

I then forgot about the documents, presuming the process would have contined smoothly.

I was wrong.

A few days ago I found out they had lost all the documents, and that I'd have to fill them out again. I'd also have to get another certificate of incorporation. All of this is going to delay the launch of my product - the bottom line is I've lost money and possibly a small competitive edge.

I complained to a member of staff but I was met with arrogance and a refusal to listen. I'm quite young (23) so I don't think they took me seriously. Nevertheless I am a serious entrepreneur - I run a technology company and I was educated at Oxford. Already I'm employing 3 people.

My question is what should I do? Who should I complain or write to? Should I change bank? If so, does anyone know any banks that are in someway competent - or at least treat their customers kindly.

Thanks

skippy2

As already mentioned simple answer is close your account, even better leave 1c in it and let them do some paperwork for nothing, and send an email with received/read receipt attached to both the Branch Manager and cc AIB head office. Put it very nicely, dont lose the cool, notify them you are closing your bank account for these reasons and will be advising your business colleagues who to bank with in the future.
Don't waste your time arguing with them and don't upset yourself even more save your energy for your business. Hopefully in a few years time you will get the opportunity to rub their faces in it at some stage. We know nothing in this country about customer service.
Nothing pi****s them off more than people closing accounts even though they hate to admit it. But do follow it up with an email to the manager and cc the head office also. Always put it in writing and name individuals

skippy2

considering your business is in technology and not linked to them in any way but you could try this company

http://www.cashflows.com/payment_channels/index.php?page=online

main website here

http://www.voicecommercegroup.com/cashflows/index.php

interesting options for accepting payment online

Best of luck

Toots

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