Today after lunch with a friend, I decided to head to 2 banks to enquire about their debit cards. Well, from the way they served me I can feel that my presence there was not as important than say if I were to apply for a credit card. What I can deduce from this situation is that they either don’t earn much from debit card applications or they don’t earn at all.
The first bank I went to, I decided to head to a booth to collect a brochure. Then a staff noticed I was looking for something, and asked if I was interested in looking for a credit card and mind you he was also serving another guy simultaneously. When I told him I wanted a debit card he just “looked” for a brochure at the area I was and “realized” there weren’t any so he pointed me to the direction of the customer service counter. When I went there, the lady at the counter was on the phone. So I decided to wait till she was done. But since she was clearly waiting for the person on the other line to get back to her queries, she asked me what I was looking for, so I said a debit card application form. She gave me a copy and I asked her a question, but as I was asking she started talking to the person on the line. So I didn’t get to finish my sentence and I got cut off. It happened 3 times in total. Every time she had to hold on to the line she will explain bits and pieces of information to me and just happens when I needed to ask a question the person on the other line replies and I get cut off.
The second bank I went to was a rude experience for me. There was this guy who was standing outside the bank trying to entice people to sign up by shoving brochures at their faces. But apart from that it just took this one guy to make the bank look really ugly.
Firstly, since he was conveniently standing at the door I walked up to him to enquire about a debit card. He then asked me how much I earned and I told him I was a student. Then he told me I should get the student debit card. And he started asking me if I brought the relevant documents down because he could do it on the spot. I said I was only here to enquire cause I was still in the midst of trying to decide which bank offers better perks. Then he became insistent and I told him I just wanted a brochure and he reluctantly went back into his office to get one for me. I was still standing outside when he signaled me to come into the store. He did that in a way which I thought was rude, flapping his fingers, asking me to go in. After which, I went in and he wrote his name on the brochure and explained what I needed to fill in.
Second part was the worst part. My friend wanted to take a brochure for her fiancé as he just graduated recently and he wanted a credit card but was too busy to apply as he has started work already. So the guy’s face lit up and he started taking brochures without having to ask and started explaining and asking relevant questions. Then once again, he asked if she had brought down his documents and if she knew his singpass because he could do it on the spot and she could get him the card within two hours. But then she kept having to tell him she had to discuss with her fiancé first. So as usual he wrote his name on the brochure and gave her reluctantly. Then you think the nightmare is over but he started to ask her if she needed a card. He also mentioned he could give her various vouchers and that he can get her a card within 2 hours. I could tell my friend was having a hard time shaking this guy off, so I started to motion towards the door and she followed suit. But this guy followed and continued his sales pitch. Then he told me this “miss can you stop walking? Can’t you see I’m talking to your friend?” I was really taken aback and my friend just said, “no , thank you” to his offer and we both walked off appalled by this guy’s mannerism.
