I had to change my address at four high street banks yesterday as I’m moving house this week. I used to work in customer service on desks in the banking hall of branches so I know what it’s all about and I can tell you that a lot has changed since I left in the mid 90’s.

The first thing that struck me was that not one of the banks asked me to show any proof of ID. I had to use my PIN from my bankcard in one of the branches but no other ID, such as a passport, was required anywhere. I also had to fill in a form that I realised I had filled in wrong, so I highlighted this to the chap on the desk and he read it quickly and said, “ah, this’ll be ok, don’t worry about it”.

Another branch asked me to redo my signature three times as they said that none of them matched. I do have a signature that can vary a little but it isn’t ever that different and I couldn’t see the need to do it three times – each one was almost identical in this case and I asked to be shown where the differences where. The response? A very blank and troubled look from the lady behind the desk, as if I had asked her to lend me £50 from her purse.

I also had an old, now expired, credit card for a bank that has never been used and I asked the clerk at the bank in question to let me know if this account was still open. I was told that the bank had closed the account as it hadn’t been used. I had not been given any advice of this and asked why this was the case but was told that it was “the standard procedure”. Hmmm.

I think banks have really lost their way when dealing with customers and this experience yesterday reinforced that fact. I do a lot of banking online now and so the point of engagement with a face in a branch is an opportunity for them to impress me and make me want to use more of their services. Sadly, it does the very opposite. We really are just numbers to them and the way they treat us as customers does little to enhance their very poor overall reputation. A little bit of effort from them would go a very, very long way.

—

Ian Mountford is a Strategy Coach providing motivation and guidance to entrepreneurs, wannabe or fully-fledged. He draws from his own experience of building businesses from the ground up and spending many years helping clients to consistently achieve their goals and aspirations. Ian works with clients face-to-face and internationally.