Challenging the banks to put their money where their mouths are

Here is my challenge to banks: Please tell me why I should bank with you ? Massive weekend advertisements focuses on cost saving but nothing is said about client service - How knowledgeable is your staff when it comes to my needs as a client ? This is a question probably not answerable as easily as it seems - Think on it before you answer - I will be posting the answers on FB

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    Absa 
    

    John, a rather ominous and open-ended question indeed. We'd like to respond with the following: What we do; is offer great customer service delivered by talented, motivated people. How we do this is entirely different set of individual processes; The Group seeks to have a customer-centred mindset in everything it does to deliver a consistent customer service experience and to demonstrate professionalism and integrity in serving its customers. Absa has and continuously employs talented, energised and passionate people to make this happen. The Group also strives to create an enabling environment for its employees, which in return provides leading-edge service to our customers. Thank you.
    John Brandow Very ominous and open ended indeed - will soon comment on this on my own blog and send you the link - The theory is very nice - I would like to challenge you to prove it after I have related some my own experiences. I have sent the same question to all 4 of the major banks - lets start a discussion on this ?
    

    4 minutes ago · 

    

    Absa ‎John, unfortunately we will not engage with our competitors in an open ended online debate. It is against our Business Policy. If you would like this process to be formalised, please ensure that you use the correct channels for such an inquiry or processed debate on the matter. Thank you.

    2 minutes ago · 

Can you bank on your bank ?

The recent altercation between Absa and Solidarity and the massive advertising campaigns in the Sunday Press prompted these comments.
What are banks really focusing on ?   Where in the whole picture is the client ?  Do banks actually know what clients want ?
Here are some observations:

The main focus in the advertisements are costs.  Every one of them promises to reduce your costs.  Of course this is very important. They have been screwing their clients all along and now they are correcting the wrongs of the past and pay exorbitant advertising costs to tell us that.

Nowhere in any of the ads are there any mentioning of increased CLIENT SERVICES.

Nowhere in any of the ads does it tell you we will be looking after ENTREPRENEURS. Or we will make sure there are properly qualified staff to do the interviews with prospective clients.   Has anyone ever really ASKED clients what they really want ?

I walk into a banking hall ( and I have done that to 3 of them on the weekend)  No smiles unless I asked them where are the smiles ?   The guard at the cashier gate at one of them was checking us out as if we were going to rob the bank.  The Cashiers was not impressed because they were working on a weekend.  The formidable barrier between client and cashier makes you feel you are visiting a relative in jail and he really does not want your visit.  The pens at the desks of two of them did not work.  One was fixed to the counter with a piece of dirty string .

This is just my introduction on what I perceive as what is wrong with our banks - Watch this space 

Absa vs Solidarity

A very interesting duel is developing between Absa and Solidarity.  This might just become a very interesting study in the power of Social Media.
 
As we all know Banks lie through their teeth and they will cheat to the nth degree to get what they want - If you differ from me I will send you some proof of this in my own encounters with this same famous bank. So far Solidarity's action has had over 380 000 tweets going around - The largest every initiated by a trade Union in South Africa.  

What is really the truth ?  I know people that have gone through the layoff process - Absaspeak off course gives a different view. They were actually told to clear out their desks,  being "marched out the office" and escorted out of the building with no regard to dignity - I can just see the smirks on the faces of the managers standing watching on the side. Unfortunately we cannot reveal their identity as this might just jeopardize their "possible re-employment"  by the bank.

Maybe , Just maybe Absa should stop their court action - It is not going to go well off with clients - But lets wait and see.  

See also my comments on the blog : www.donottrustbanks.blogspot.com