Wednesday 28 January 2009

Standard Chartered, You Suck!

I went to the Standard Chartered branch in Lot 10 to open a Saadiq Saver-i account. After waiting half an hour, it was my turn.

When I explained to the Associate Personal Financial Manager (APFM) what I wanted, she said I'd need to go to the Taman Tun Dr Ismail (TTDI) branch to open the account because they didn't have the service at the Lot 10 branch.

I was surprised because I had called up the bank's customer service line the day before. And the agent there said I could open the account at any branch. The paperwork/documents will be sent to the TTDI branch for processing and everything should be completed within 7 working days.

When I told the APFM that, she looked lost and her colleague who was standing nearby suddenly said I could open my account there. I think the colleague must be her supervisor or something.

Then they asked how I was going to make a deposit? I told them I wanted to transfer from my existing Standard Chartered current account. They said I cannot do so; I'd need to use fresh funds. Apparently the bank doesn't want a slew of customers transfering their funds because of the better interest rates that Islamic Banking offers.

Now I would like to ask Standard Chartered these questions:

  1. First of all, how can you make your customers wait for half an hour when customers at other banks only have to wait 5 - 10 minutes max, even during peak hours?

  2. Secondly, why did your customer service agent at the call centre and the APFM gave me different answers? What kind of training and briefing did you give your staff before launching the product?

  3. And lastly, why don't you allow customers to open an account by transfering from an existing account? I did that when I opened my Maybank Premier Mudharabah Account-i. It's also an Islamic account with similar way of calculating interest rates. But opening that account was a breeze.

Since I didn't have any deposit with me, I told the APFM and her colleague I'd come again in 2 days to open the account.

Yes I'll definitely come back, but this time to close my existing account. I'd rather put my money in banks who give better services that are hassle free.

Sorry ... but Standard Chartered ... you suck and you've just lost another customer.

14 comments:

Salt N Turmeric said...

Id think StanChart have better service than most banks but then again maybe its just your luck at that branch, that time and that cashier. But i share your feelings. Id be pissed too esp after waiting for half an hour.

Julie Lim said...

Farina,

Yes you're right - the wait brewed my anger more.

Despite being one of the more popular internatinal banks around, Standard Chartered's service have failed to live up to its name. Many people have told me that too.

I personally have encountered many problems with Standard Chartered, but this was the straw that broke the camels back.

Raymond said...

Julie,go try Al Rajhi Bank. I have a current acc with them but very minimal interest i think

Julie Lim said...

Raymond,

Thanks for your recommendation. But there's no Al Rajhi branch within walking distance from my office leh. Guess I'll be sticking to Maybank and Public Bank.

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

Hard Luck brother. I just open my account today. Didn't have any hassle. Maybe what Salt N Turmeric says is true just hard luck.

Oh yeah for the Saadiq account they are extending the promotion for 7% petrol rebate + 5% rebate on all major hypermart till 30th June 2009!

Cheers Julie and have a nice day! ^^

Julie Lim said...

Hi KampungInvestor,

Yeah, maybe it was just my luck on that day. And I also think different branches have different standards of service. So it's pure luck where we choose to open our account.

Anyway, thanks for dropping by!

Anonymous said...

Same here,as a long time customer,I do see Standard Chartered service has been droping from year to year. I agree that maybe each branches are different but most important is their way of sending message to the customer.

Today itself, I went to Standard Charted to have the FD updated, but guess what, the teller at the counter (not just one but all of them) telling me I need at least
RM200K to update my FD!!! The teller just say - "This is our new policy change."

When I asked them what about the board near the counter which stated - min RM1K for 1 months,etc...The teller told me - "oh, the board is outdated."

Standard Chartered bank is supposed to be an International bank and the teller is telling me the board which displayed the money exchange rate and the FD rate is outdated??

This is really ridiculous. I guess, we will never encounter the problems when opening or signing up until, the problem appears during maintaining, it will test how good the bank is..and yes, Standard Chartered sucks. :P

Julie Lim said...

Hi Anonymous,

200k to update an FD?! How many of us mere mortals have 200k in the FD? That means only a small percentage of customers would be able to update their FD. I think StanChart really sucks here!

I think you should just close your account and put your money in other banks. then you won't have to deal with this kind of poor services anymore :-)

Anonymous said...

Whenever I get the 'you cannot transfer from existing nonsense' I just ask them to wait a moment, go over to the ATM withdraw the money and come back. Simple workaround.

But yes, Standard Chartered are run by muppets!

gognap said...

We opened a fixed term account with standard chartered bank in delhi. Attended branch in person to open account. Fixed term period expired 3 years ago. since then we have been trying in vain to get our funds out. We live in the uk and they insist that we cannot access our funds from a uk based branch in the UK. A family member was given full authority to withdraw my funds in india. All necassary documents were in his possesion but they refused to allow transaction claiming that my original signiture whence i opened the account does not match with the signiture on the cheque for withdrawal.For three years now they have frozen the funds due to inactivity of the account.
Never open the account in India because they inform me that they will not transfer the funds overseas. Furthermore the customer service prividing managers are so arrogant. Its been frustrating to deal with the staff in delhi we in the UK are not accostomed to experiencing such poor service from our local high street banks like lloyds tsb / barclays etc.

Julie Lim said...

Hi Gognap,

Thanks for the tip! Looks like Standard Chartered services sucks across the globe.

KL girl now in Ipoh said...

I too am having my run-in with Stanchart PJ (Malaysia) branch and I am not happy! Just wondering did u guys complain formally to the bank? Well I am doing that now!

Julie Lim said...

KL Girl Now in Ipoh,

No point making any formal complaint because it would only fall on deaf ears.

The most effective way I can think of is to write blog posts like these and get fellow frustrated customers to post comments. And hopefully Standard Chartered will listen up and improve their services.

Anonymous said...

Yesterday thursday 30/05/13, evening around 3.30pm I went to bank in my coins rm 650 in TAIPAN SJ Malaysia branch. But when the amount bank in rm 529.95! it is not the same amount my husband had counted. So I ask them to withdraw the coins and re check but they insisted the machine it is right. So I ask them check on by one the 50 cents, 20 cents, 10 cents and 5 cents which all same amount except old 50 cents coins missing almost half of it!! And the amount difference is Rm 120 difference!!! They keep on insisted my side calculation is wrong or money missing on the way there! I had packed all coins according their range so 50 cents is all in one bag and I put it together with another 10 and 20 cents bags in one large shopping bags. I even different out new coins and old coins. So it is Not logic at all only old 50 cents coins missing almost half but the rest others coins is accurate amount!! And especially 50cents it is impossible for anyone to count wrong and if wrong it is not going to be so huge amount! I and my husband deeply dissapointed. My husband had counted three times!!! We take money to bank in because we trust SCB and it's international bank, but in the end when amount not accurate they push the blame on customer fault. I and my husband search throughly our car and house as they the tellers ask us to do. But no matter what it is not logical to drop only 50 cents but the rest accurate!! And such a huge difference! We are their customer for many years. I understand the teller want to defend themselves but please put themself in our shoe. The losing amount not the main matter we here for but it is the righteous and principles and trust!! So everyone just learn from my experience! Beware of this big bank.

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