why do people get so offended and angry when i tell them they can't have an overdraft

mayfair1985

I work on the phones but not in a bank. Just a tip people, the nicer you are to me, the more i'll try to help you by going above and beyond what i 'have' to do. The minute you get shirty, rude, snippy or obnoxious then i'm not interested and i will do nothing more than the basics for you in order to minimise the time i have to spend getting shouted at and abused down the phone.

And don't ring me when you haven't got time to talk or are in a bad mood. I'm not calling you, you're calling me, if you're rude before i've even tried to help you'll get the minimum.

Remeber, nice breeds nice....

mayfair1985

JDC14 wrote: »

There's always a way to buck the system and help the customer out, but precious few staff do it.

Not true. Our operators can't buck the system. Any system bucking takes weeks and weeks and a lot of management time and effort and there has to be a solid, genuine reason that this is required, not just a client taking the view of, 'the more I shout the more i'll get my own way', because if you have that view, chances are you won't. If you want the system bucked, try being respectful, polite and kind to the person talking to you. No one will help an assh*le.

jen245

mayfair1985 wrote: »

I work on the phones but not in a bank. Just a tip people, the nicer you are to me, the more i'll try to help you by going above and beyond what i 'have' to do. The minute you get shirty, rude, snippy or obnoxious then i'm not interested and i will do nothing more than the basics for you in order to minimise the time i have to spend getting shouted at and abused down the phone.

And don't ring me when you haven't got time to talk or are in a bad mood. I'm not calling you, you're calling me, if you're rude before i've even tried to help you'll get the minimum.

Remeber, nice breeds nice....

Couldnt agree more. I work in local authority (hated as much as banks! LOL!) and although its not a call centre environment, we do take a lot calls in our office. Most of the calls are fine, but we do get those obnoxious, stuck up tw*ts that think they are better than you, and try and talk down to you even before youve tried to help. I have no time for people like that, and as you say, will do the bare minimum to get them off the phone.

I always get the "I pay your wages" cr*p. I say, "really? Thats odd as it says **** on my payslip" Shuts them up every time. They seem to think we dont pay Council Tax!!

ihateyes

most agents have their hands tie as to what they can do for the customer..... We want to do more for an easier lie, but we cant, as the other posters say, be nice to us, we be nice back...

To the morans that call in shouting and squealing.... please post your telephone number, and let me ring you, and abuse you dont the phone*

* by entering your telephone you agree to be abused down the phone, and you have no recourse!!!

dtsazza

JDC14 wrote: »

Why should I treat a company or its workers with respect, when they work under ridiculous ethics?

Where is it reasonable to give me a card with an £800 limit, rather than an overdraft for £100.

Don't forget that it might well be down to mechanical reasons, rather than
ethical ones.

You're assuming that a credit card limit and an overdraft of the same amount are essentially fungible, since that's the case for you as a consumer. However, legally and financially, they are distinct products. One may directly require the bank to hold more capital than the other; one may appear on a different section of the bank's balance sheet and thus affect its capital adequacy ratios differently to another; one may have a different legal status than the other and so be more easily recoverable in case of bankruptcy - and so on, and so forth.

In fact, because you're implying that the two are broadly equivalent to you, it makes a lot of sense for the bank to give you the one that will be easiest to fund/sign off/recover funds in a bad situation.


And of course, since they're a business they're ultimately going to do what makes the most money. Most of the time this will be what's ethical because a short-termist money grab means they lose all their long-term business (see First Direct spending much more money on customer service so as to acquire and retain customers in the long-term).

If a bank has bad "ethics", then take your business elsewhere. If the community as a whole agrees with your assessment, then the bank won't have any customers and it will fold. The only companies that continue to exist are the ones that consumers "vote for" by giving them money, so ultimately any problem with what a company's doing is implicitly endorsed by their customer base.


(And I see no problem with deciding not to give someone an overdraft - the bank has the final say on whether they want to do this, it's not a right of the customer's.)

stclair

abbas5001 wrote: »

I work in a call centre part time for a bank and often we have people phone up to see if they can get an overdraft, more often than not they cannot have one and people are usually extremely snotty, rude and even abusive when i tell them they can't even when i try to be as nice as possible and explain why it might be.

Personally when I look at there credit file.

I think to myself you havent got a hope in hell then politey tell them to contact experian and equifax

Then theyll say but my credit rating is excellent. Im thinking not from where I am sitting it isnt lol

2sides2everystory

Strewth ... like moths to a flame.

It's a lot worse than I thought

MoneySaverLog

GettingItRight wrote: »

Just because someone works for a business or an organisation, this does not mean they completely agree with how their employer operates. They could be doing the job to simply earn money and pay the bills, not because they share all the beliefs and values of their employer.

If you really feel like that, I'd start looking for another job. Working for a company with values in conflict with your own can only result in you being unhappy at work.

I do understand what you're saying though.

Beki88

I have the opposite experience....Banks always try to offer me one and I always turn them down. I have managed the last 5 years without one I don't want one now. They always seem shocked when I say can you remove the overdraft

JuicyJesus

dtsazza wrote: »

In fact, because you're implying that the two are broadly equivalent to you, it makes a lot of sense for the bank to give you the one that will be easiest to fund/sign off/recover funds in a bad situation.

Bear in mind also that you HAVE to make some sort of repayment towards a credit card as per the terms, whereas an overdraft can be left to sit, and that if the bank dislikes the way the card is being managed they can simply withdraw it, with relatively few negative consequences for the customer compared to withdrawing an overdraft and all of their priority bills bouncing and the inevitable "how am I supposed to feed my kids?" bellowing that typically ensues.

The best candidates for an overdraft are those who don't need one. Using one for very short-term debt (like while you're waiting for a cheque or BACS payment to clear) is fine - you're not running up a debt, you're using it for cash flow, as intended. Using it for day-to-day living rings alarm bells.

Frankly I don't think overdrafts are a good thing at all for most people. That's just me though. People see them as free money that they never need to pay back.