Author Topic: Bank versus old lady  (Read 3490 times)

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ice and a slice

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Bank versus old lady
« on: June 22, 2007, 05:55:54 PM »
A SENIOR MOMENT - I HOPE I HAVE THEM LIKE THIS........... A 98 year old woman wrote this to her bank. The bank manager thought it amusing enough to have it published in The Times.

Dear Sir,

I am writing to thank you for bouncing my cheque with which I endeavoured to pay myplumber last month. By my calculations, three 'nanoseconds' must have elapsed between his presenting the cheque and the arrival in my account of the funds needed to honour it. I refer, of course, to the automatic monthly deposit of my Pension, an arrangement which, I admit,has been in place for only eight years. You are to be commended for seizing that brief window of opportunity, and also for debiting my account ?30 by way of penalty for the inconvenience caused to your bank.

My thankfulness springs from the manner in which this incident has caused me to rethink my errant financial ways.

I noticed that whereas I personally attend to your telephone calls and letters, when I try to contact you, I am confronted by the impersonal,
overcharging, pre-recorded, faceless entity which your bank has become.

From now on, I, like you, choose only to deal with a flesh-and-blood person.

My mortgage and loan payments will therefore and hereafter no longer be automatic, but will arrive at your bank by cheque, addressed personally and confidentially to an employee at your bank whom you must nominate.

Be aware that it is an offence under the Postal Act for any other person to open such an envelope. Please find attached an Application Contact Status which I require your chosen employee to complete.

I am sorry it runs to eight pages, but in order that I know as much about him or her as your bank knows about me, there is no alternative.
Pleas note that all copies of his or her medical history must be countersigned by a Solicitor, and the mandatory details of his / her financial situation (income, debts, assets and liabilities) must be accompanied by documented proof.

In due course, I will issue your employee with a PIN number which he/she must quote in dealings with me. I regret that it cannot be
shorter than 28 digits but, again, I have modelled it on the number of button presses required of me to access my account balance on your phone bank service.

As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.Let me level the playing field even further. When you call me, press buttons as follows:

1 -- To make an appointment to see me.

2 -- To query a missing payment.

3 -- To transfer the call to my living room in case I am there.

4 -- To transfer the call to my bedroom in case I am sleeping.

5 -- To transfer the call to my toilet in case I am attending to nature.

6 -- To transfer the call to my mobile phone if I am not at home.

7 -- To leave a message on my computer (a password to access my computer is required. A password will be communicated to you at a later date to the Authorised Contact.)

8 -- To return to the main menu and to listen to options 1 through 8

9 -- To make a general complaint or inquiry, the contact will then be put on hold, pending the attention of my automated answering
service.

While this may, on occasion, involve a lengthy wait, uplifting music will play for the duration of the call.

Regrettably, but again following your example, I must also levy an establishment fee to cover the setting up of this new arrangement.

May I wish you a happy, if ever so slightly less prosperous, New Year.

Your Humble Client

(Remember: This was written by a 98 year old woman;
DOESN'T SHE MAKE YOU PROUD!!? )

Offline Snoopy

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2007, 06:01:29 PM »
Where are the Affs when you need them  ::)
I used to have a handle on life but it broke.

ice and a slice

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2007, 06:09:57 PM »
Where are the Affs when you need them  ::)

No sorry you lost me there.  Affs???

Offline Snoopy

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2007, 06:13:11 PM »
Sorry.
The Affs = a poster of prodigious memory who could always be relied upon to post a link to the last time a particular joke/post had been used.

Meaning that one is so old it's got whiskers on it.
I used to have a handle on life but it broke.

ice and a slice

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2007, 06:14:27 PM »
Sorry.
The Affs = a poster of prodigious memory who could always be relied upon to post a link to the last time a particular joke/post had been used.

Meaning that one is so old it's got whiskers on it.

Oops - sorry redface:

Misunderstood

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2007, 08:02:48 PM »
Sorry.
The Affs = a poster of prodigious memory who could always be relied upon to post a link to the last time a particular joke/post had been used.

Meaning that one is so old it's got whiskers on it.

Oops - sorry redface:

No matter...  We all do it at one time or another.

I would like to think that it was once a true story.

... even if the cast does change from time to time...    ;)

Berek

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #6 on: June 23, 2007, 04:38:27 PM »
Its a repost but not from this site, I think I originally saw it where the big boys hang out

Offline Snoopy

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #7 on: June 23, 2007, 04:50:17 PM »
To be honest, and this is not to knock Ice n Slice as we have all been caught this way, I have seen this on many sites and have had a number of people email it to me ~ all swearing that they know someone who knows the "old lady".
Another urban myth I'm afraid ~ though it would be nice if it was true.
I used to have a handle on life but it broke.

Misunderstood

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #8 on: June 23, 2007, 07:58:32 PM »
To be honest, and this is not to knock Ice n Slice as we have all been caught this way, I have seen this on many sites and have had a number of people email it to me ~ all swearing that they know someone who knows the "old lady".
Another urban myth I'm afraid ~ though it would be nice if it was true.

It (or a very close version of it) was pinned on the wall of my bank above the managers desk in 1985.   So don't start a forum copyright issue now.   I'd say it's probably well out of copyright by now, it dates way back to the circulate by fax days..  confused:

Berek

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #9 on: June 23, 2007, 09:39:29 PM »
 So don't start a forum copyright issue now.   

AWWW, I was looking forward to the involvement of SOLICITORS !!!! ( and larger than yours, dads )

Shy Talk

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2007, 09:44:24 PM »
Its a repost but not from this site, I think I originally saw it where the big boys hang out

The Latrines ?? rubschin:

Mr Happy

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2007, 09:45:06 PM »
On the subject of useless banks, phoned Crappy National twice last week to cancel a dd the Mrs had set up to help poor orphoned dogs with tourettes or some such bollocks.  Ten security qurstions later i got to the nitty gritty and their system 'crashed'.  Lovely foreign lady told me to 'ok call later sometime ok, i hope this service has been of use...' hung up  Banghead

Went to bank today to perform this simple task and was informed that they could no longer perform said task over counter due to propensity of errors.  How can it be cocked up more by at least one half capable individual (me) talking to them?  Are they quite sure that speaking to an Arab is more likely to be successful?

And the worst thing about it, my rant.  The shouting, swearing, threatening to take my custom elsewhere, moral highground, gathering support from other customers, ridiculing banking systems et al were... non-existent.  The girl behind the counter was well mannered, understanding and simply gorgeous  redface:  

So i asked for a statement, a re-iisue of checkbook etc etc etc and enjoyed 5 minutes of her time.  A younger me would probably have requested her phone number to sort the issue, if you can't sort out the dd love at least allow me to make a deposit!  When did i get old?  noooo:
« Last Edit: June 23, 2007, 09:48:06 PM by Mr Happy »

Offline Barman

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #12 on: June 24, 2007, 06:47:08 AM »
Mrs. Barman has been trying to close an account with Nat West (spit) since May 7th.

Quite simple you would have thought - transfer remaining funds to a Barclays account then close aforementioned Nat West (spit) account.

Of course, we could have just written a cheque and told them to fuck off when it came to collecting the fees (it is a business account) but being nice, respectable people we decided to do it properly.

What a complete shower of useless shite those people are! Unbelievable that, nearly at the end of June we still don?t have our money.

I really wouldn?t trust Nat West (spit) to look after? um, well something of very little value ever again.

Complete utter, utter useless bastards.  angry037
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Offline Snoopy

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #13 on: June 24, 2007, 07:56:41 AM »
All the banks have signed up to a code of conduct that sets time scales for dealing with transfers of accounts to another bank. They also all have codes of practice, including details of compensation payable if they break them. These codes form part of your contract with the bank. Write to them with details of your complaint, ask for a copy of their code of practice and tell them you want compo. You'll be amazed how fast they will then move to do as you ask.

When I retired I activated the insurance policy with MBNA that covered exactly the circumstances I found myself in. The policy duly paid out but MBNA still claimed I owed them a vast amount of "interest, fees and, believe it or not, insurance premiums they said they had continued to debit against the account whilst the claim was processed.
It took 5 years but they finally wrote off a claimed debt of ?7.5k and  paid all my expenses for the letters written, phone calls made plus a small "?token" as a "matter of good will".
Take no prisoners or sh!t from them and they will cave in.
I used to have a handle on life but it broke.

Offline Barman

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Re: Bank versus old lady
« Reply #14 on: June 24, 2007, 08:50:36 AM »
All the banks have signed up to a code of conduct that sets time scales for dealing with transfers of accounts to another bank. They also all have codes of practice, including details of compensation payable if they break them. These codes form part of your contract with the bank. Write to them with details of your complaint, ask for a copy of their code of practice and tell them you want compo. You'll be amazed how fast they will then move to do as you ask.

When I retired I activated the insurance policy with MBNA that covered exactly the circumstances I found myself in. The policy duly paid out but MBNA still claimed I owed them a vast amount of "interest, fees and, believe it or not, insurance premiums they said they had continued to debit against the account whilst the claim was processed.
It took 5 years but they finally wrote off a claimed debt of ?7.5k and  paid all my expenses for the letters written, phone calls made plus a small "?token" as a "matter of good will".
Take no prisoners or sh!t from them and they will cave in.
No shit will be taken by Mrs. Barman - I can assure you of that!  scared2:
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