Only Hotline Officers Available To Attend To Problem At This Foreign Bank, And This Is Not Good Enough

Source : The Straits Times, Oct 5, 2007

I TOOK up a housing loan with Standard Chartered Bank at the end of July. Since then, I have not been able to get any answers on any of my queries, not only from my 'Personal Financial Consultant' but also from the people handling the bank's hotline.

Since I thought my 'personal financial consultant' was too busy chasing other deals, I turned to the only other avenue available, the bank's hotline.

After talking to at least four service officers through the hotline, my problem was still unsolved. Even then, they refused to give me any direct telephone number to any officer or higher authority who could handle my problem. No names, no numbers and no one responsible! Each time I call the hotline, it is a different person answering and each time I have had to repeat my whole situation, and still nothing gets done.

It's as if after signing on the dotted line with the bank for a loan facility, I'm left dealing with a virtual bank, with only the call centre available.

This whole episode has stretched over one-and-a-half months and it was only after insisting that I would not speak to anyone other than a service manager that I was reluctantly given a direct telephone number.

This is the first time I have taken up a facility from a foreign bank. All the time that I have dealt with the local banks, I have never had such bad service.

How can anyone have confidence in a bank that only gives a hotline number? At DBS, there was always someone who was responsible for the account.

Toh Mei Lin (Mdm)