Opening a BOI account - not as easy as it seems!

BennyHiFi

I've just returned from my local BOI branch (Walkinstown) having been told they are too busy to open a new personal current account for me.

I have a rare day off and had a number of chores to complete including this and now i can't and almost certainly won't.

The website makes it look easy. No mention of making an appointment so as not to be disappointed. I called the number where it says they can open an account for you immediately and was told i'd have to make an appointment with my branch to drop in the KYC docs but the blurb on the website says 

"[font=Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, sans-serif]Then, when it's convenient for you, drop into your branch to provide the required identification to activate your account."[/font]


This is not the case. BOI should change the misleading steer they're giving people here.

The guy on the phone said i was the second person in two days to highlight this issue.

What a waste of everybody's time. I could have made the appointment y'day had i known one would be needed now i've missed the window of opportunity i had.

Very poor customer communication here and an opportunity for BOI to fix it.

Bank of Ireland: Sarah

Hi BennyHifi,

Welcome to Boards and thanks for contacting us here. 

Sorry to hear you are unhappy with our account opening process. 

Can you clarify, did you already phone our New Accounts team and have your new account details when you called into the branch? 
The line you have quoted was referring to call in to a branch once you have been given these new account details. However we understand how this could be misleading to you, as it does not mention having an appointment. An appointment is necessary to confirm your account details and also go through your documentation with one of our colleagues in branch. 

Should you wish to make an appointment in your local branch, you can do so here

Please let us know if you need help with any other query.

Thanks,
Sarah

BennyHiFi

[font=HelveticaNeue, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif]Hi Sarah,


Thanks for your mail. So to clarify:


1) I visited the Walkinstown branch on spec with my passport, utility bill and bank statement as well as a couple of other docs with addresses believing (quite wronly it would appear) i could get in line and open an account in a few minutes


2) I returned home having been told they could do nothing


3) I called the online account activation service as advertised on your website - from which i quoted the line as you correctly point out - and was told they could 'open' an account for me but i would have to make an appointment to go into the branch with my docs to have the account activated.


It clearly says on the site you can visit the branch with docs 'at your convenience'.

Now perhaps i'm wildly misinterpreting this but nowhere does it indicate i'd need an appointment. You should remove that phrase and make it clear an appointment is necessary. 

Or perhaps the guy on the phone was wrong and he could have arranged the account and i could then simply have went back down to the branch at my convenience and they would then have found someone to process my application to finality? I doubt it though.

I'm not too surprised BOI's communication on this is so vague. 

As a communications professional i understand you want to sell the convenience of switching/new accounts and don't want to put people off with talk of 'appointments' but people who are time poor and would really appreciate a more business like approach.

This is my fourth communication with three individuals and in the same time its taken me to tell the story four times i could have opened an account.

<Sigh> Time to move on and find a plan B <Sigh>

Thanks for taking the time to respond.

Regards,
B.[/font]

Bank of Ireland: Sarah

Hi BennyHifi,

Thanks for your reply. 

Just to clarify, the full paragraph that contains your quote reads as:

"Call us on 1890 354 454 or request a callback and our Account Opening team will contact you shortly. We’ll give you your account number over the phone. Then, when it's convenient for you, drop into your branch to provide the required identification to activate your account."

To explain this further, when a new customer contacts our account opening team, they will open the account and will advise that an appointment needs to be arranged with a branch. This to make the account opening process easier for the customer and avoids you being delayed in a branch.

If you'd like us to arrange a call back for you from our New Accounts team, we would be happy to help with this. Please send a PM to us with your name and contact number. To send a PM, please click on the link in my signature (you will need to have signatures set to display in your own control panel settings).

Alternatively you can request a call back from our New Accounts team here

Please let us know if you need help with this or any other query. 

Thanks,
Sarah

BennyHiFi

Many thanks for the offer Sarah and i appreciate your attempt to help.

Seve OB

Was it something I said :rolleyes: