POSBANK: No common sense

A family member went to POSBANK to cash some money for Chinese New Year this morning and came back totally exasperated. She said she had to wait more than half an hour in the queue because only two counters were opened.

What was worse, she did not get the $50 notes that she wanted for Chinese New Year angpows although she was there early and saw notices posted all over the post office telling customers to get their new notes.

"Why didn't DBS anticipate the long queues as it was a Monday, the first working day. They should also know that there would be more people coming to the bank to withdraw money for Chinese New Year," she fumed. "Opening up more counters is such a commonsense thing to do."

She said one man in the queue was so angry that he told a staff member who was going around asking people what services they needed: "It is so easy to take our money, but when we want it back, you take your time!"

Soon after this, another counter was opened....

I don't know what excuses the bank is going to give but it definitely deserves a BOO-QUET.

***LATEST...Here's the reply from DBS to my email:

"We refer to your email of 25 January 2010.

Thank you for taking time to share with us your thoughts about our
products and services.

We sincerely apologise for the less than pleasant service experience
which your family member had encountered recently at our POSB Newton
branch.

Our branches usually experience peak transaction activity during lunch
hours, Saturdays, at the beginning or end of the month and also
particularly just after Sundays/ festive periods/ holidays. To speed up
the transaction turnaround and minimize disruption to customer service,
our Branch Service Managers and Deputy Service Managers would also
assist at the counter whenever possible.

According to our findings, there were 4 high counters and 1 Customer
Service counter in operation on the morning of 25 January 2010. The
Branch Service Manager Carol was assisting some customers in the sales
cubicle while the Deputy Service Manager Suhaidah, who was assisting at
one of the high counters, had attended to your family member.

At one point, two of the high counter staff had gone to the backroom to
open the cash vault leaving only two high counters were opened. This
took about 3 minutes and the two staff had immediately gone back to
their respective counters after that.

Concerning the request for the new S$50 notes, the stock had been fully
exchanged and there were no more new S$50 notes available for exchanged. Suhaidah had then offered new S$100 notes for exchange which your family member had informed was not needed.

Once again, we apologise for the unhappiness which the incident had
caused to your family member and seek your understanding towards the
matter.

On the request for new S$50 notes for exchange, we would appreciate it
if you could let us know how many pieces of the notes are required so
that we can make arrangements to have them available for exchange at a
branch of your convenience.

Thank you for allowing us the opportunity to address your concern and
for banking with DBS.

Yours sincerely,

Daniel Sy
Assistant Vice President
Customer Care & Feedback Management
Consumer Banking Group
DBS Bank Ltd "