My sympathy to Jenobryan’s mother. I have just tried to renew my caravan insurance with AAMI. I have previously used B-pay via ANZ without a problem but because the bill has gone up $150 from last year I must have come up against a $ security barrier as it is near $1000 as the system would not proceed without sending me a code which I never receive as I use a W11 desktop. Next attempt was to use their robotic phone service, after several tries I could not enter all the 16 digits in the short time allowed and was timed out. I see they also offer an in person at a post office but I suppose they charge a fee and ANZ may put up a barrier there. I must look to transfer to an easier to navigate bank. The bank has removed all instances of their phone No when I log in to my a/c and now has no tellers in my local branch, and if you want to talk to someone you have to make an appointment. At nearly 85 I am over it.
Can’t agree more. My husband’s son is blind, and while he can use apps on his phone to some extent there is far too much detail on a banking app to do complex transactions. He needed to alter the automatic transfer he made to his real estate agent because his rent went up. He used to do this over the counter at ANZ but now the tellers are not allowed to do this type of transaction. They told him he had to use internet banking, but he is not allowed to tell anyone his password so they can log in and do it for him! He kicked up a polite fuss and eventually a manager came out and did the transaction. They have zero provision for people with this sort of disability.
Worth further consideration, although the recommendations rely on having access in to a full service bank branch.
I’m near mid 80s and thank goodness I’ve been using computers since the 90s and am reasonably competent. I prefer emails rather than phone calls from businesses such as banks, insurance companies, etc as for one thing my hearing is rather poor and for the other, very often the rep of the business has a strong accent that I can’t understand or they often speak so damned fast I can’t follow it.
Recently a friend died. He had always done everything in regard to payments and using the internet. His wife, who is about 10 years younger than me, has no idea about any of these things even accessing her own email account, paying of bills, etc. So my wife and I along with another friend are trying to sort out things for her and give her basic training to do some of these things. Her way of paying premiums (larger sums of money) is to go and get cash from the bank and carry it to the insurance company office, etc, to pay - or to take the money home in an envelope. The latter led to another problem in that she does not know what she has done with an envelope containing a sum of money and can’t remember if she paid account(s) with it. My next task is to go through her accounts, her withdrawals from the bank and match them with her receipts - if she has them. If I can do that, I’ll know either that she used the money correctly or that has lost it. I want to teach her how to do direct deposits on line or, as my wife suggested. go to the bank and have her bank do the direct deposit for her. We’re also thinking of having her go to the library when next they have a computer course for elderly people. It shows how important it is for people to learn to be modern and somewhat capable with computers and of doing some basic things insect as emails, accounts, banking and so on.
Of course, if an elderly person has become too deaf or has lost some of their reasoning abilities to be able to safely do these things, then their needs to be a trusted relative or friend who can and should have POA as you will soon have, Jenobryan. All the best with looking after your aged mum!
Within one month of moving to this town they closed my Bank. It has moved to the neighbouring town. However, even though I have a disability card, the Bank is in a very busy street and there is never any spare parking. The parking is too far away for me to walk. They don’t have a phone number on there website, because they don’t take everyday calls. One needs to go to the National number that takes a long time. The other thing is that I joined Woolworths car insurance to get the 10% off, then they took that away if we ordered on line. I can’t do a once a fortnight big grocery shop because I can’t wheel the wheelie walker and the trolley at the same time. I need to sit down every now and again, therefore can only do small shops. This means I can’t get the 10% off my big shop. They give the 10% off one shop a month. If I could get the 10% off, I could order online and then drive to the shop and they even put it in the car for you. So because we are disabled and we can’t afford to not get the 10% off, we can’t order on line.
I hear you. I am in my late 70s. I recently opened an account with Bendigo because they have a branch in my town I have found them to be very helpful. I feel trapped into keeping some funds with NAB but will spend hours waiting to speak with them if I ever need to Their infuriating message says that tasks can be completed on line but that’s not true. Anyway. Bendigo Bank have been refreshingly easy to deal with
I’m in the process of cutting ties with ANZ after nearly 50 years. When I had a problem with phone banking, I tried to phone for help, but after 30 minutes I decided that as I was going to town the next day I would call at the branch and get it sorted. I was told to make an appointment and come back tomorrow. I opened an account with Bank of Queensland because they issue cheque books and had a local shopfront. Service was good and I was happy. A month later I was notified that the branch was closing. So far I am managing okay, but am watching to see how it goes. A further factor in my moves has been ANZ’s involvement in fossil fuels which BoQ steers clear of.
I am with you on problems for people with a disability. I have had moderate to severe leg and back pain which limits how far I can walk or how long I can stand without sitting down. I do not own a car and do many frequent shops. Supermarkets take zero account of people such as ourselves. The marathon walk of the aisles trying to find something which used to be in this aisle and now is in that aisle. Standing, waiting, in a queue to access the checkout while enduring ever increasing pain. Fortunately for me, things are not that bad now, but I have experienced it, and that phrase “I have to sit down” caught my eye.
My recent experience of banking involves a close friend on a disability support pension. I am a tech nerd and I set up her internet access and email and provide all the tech support. A few years ago I persuaded her to set up her online banking account so that we (I) could easily check for payments and withdrawals. She lives in a property managed by a community housing organisation and gets items like electricity and water deducted directly from her pension, so it became important to be able to verify such things.
I live in a suburb of Sydney that once had 3 bank branches and now has none. We are down to 2 ATM’s. The nearest branches are a short train ride away. When we set up her online account we visited the bank branch that still existed in my local suburb and received excellent service from a very helpful bank teller.
Recently, I had reason to want to check the details registered in the online account. In order to access the registration details, the bank wanted to send an SMS for 2 factor authentication. But they had the wrong phone number! The phone number they had was an obsolete landline from decades ago. The local branch had closed. But we could not change the number online because we could not receive an SMS!
We both try to avoid phone banking due to the risk of being stuck in a phone queue for a long time. She would never do this with her own phone, because she uses pre-paid and waiting on hold chews up the minutes. So we set off for the bank branch in the next suburb, armed with ID and cards. The first attempt failed because we had neglected to bring anything with her address on it. She has a pension card but it does not have her address on it. A couple of weeks later we tried again. This time we failed because she does not have photo ID of any sort. I know you can get photo ID from Service NSW, but she refuses to do this as she is very careful about her privacy.
So, apparently, while photo-id was required at a bank branch, it is not needed for phone banking! We tried a third time, using phone banking over my landline so there was no extra charge from the phone company for waiting in a queue. It took about an hour from first call to success. We got her phone number changed.
I also strongly suggest changing banks. Do some research. Maybe look into Community banks who more than likely still serve customers face to face. Bendigo Bank, People First Bank & Bank Australia.
I have had a somewhat similar problem dealing with Bankwest when my phone was stolen while overseas. It is still unresolved and I have told them I will be referring it to the Banking Ombudsman when I return to Australia. Bankwest used to provide good customer service but it started going downhill after Commonwealth Bank took them over. Now they have no branches open at all and their telephone service is terrible. The banks ignore the fact that it is our money that they have and not the other way around in most cases. The more people that complain to the Ombudsman the more chance of getting changes to improve the service.
The abrogation of customer service and essentially disdain for customers is not limited to banks.
‘We are having a higher call volume…’ that goes 24x7 with extended hold times, but are not going to hire even 1 more agent to serve…
Until boards develop executive kpi’s weighted to customer satisfaction, not just lip service to customer satisfaction, not much will change. Profits are important, customers often less so.
Yes I agree Phil. Interesting that we constantly get asked for feedback and review from services but does this change anything in the real world. I am tired of being asked for a review because it is pointless unless it makes a difference to service.
Just as an update on my issue with my mothers banking difficulties the ANZ is now asking for her to be "verified " before the POA can be enacted! which means another trip of 120kms to the nearest branch in Horsham. I have now been to my branch here with limited success and I have to say very poor communication. No emails or phone calls to follow up what is happening and I can’t email the customer service person I spoke to because his email address says “invalid”! So I have to make an appointment and go into the branch each time! Too bad if my mother needs help from me with her banking as her POA because that is not valid yet after one month of waiting ! IT really is Appalling. If she had a million dollars with them I wonder if they would act quickly? Makes me understand why my grandfather had a tin of cash under his mattress because he did not trust banks!! he had a hammer under his pillow for security incase anyone came to steal his cash!!!
I have lodged a complaint formally about the ANZ’s poor service but have heard nothing.
And thanks everyone for your supportive comments. I wish I could change my mums bank but in a very small rural town I doubt there would be much difference as she would still have to travel to get to a branch and she cannot do any banking online. She still writes cheques! Not very well of course as she has poor literacy and numeracy skills.
Here’s another example of how banking services don’t cater for older people. My 94 year old mum was slugged $30 to transfer $1,000 between Westpac and ANZ. She did the transfer at a teller. If she was able to do internet banking it would have cost her nothing. You can’t tell me it cost $30 for a teller to do the transfer.
And Regional Australia Bank if you are in the north east quarter of NSW. Excellent service.
It is not so much cost or even profit on the transaction. It is educating customers 'do not do it using a teller ’ so we can continue reducing staff and thus branches. It encourages those who can to ‘shop around’.
Business has a surprisingly consistent metric that 80% of profit comes from 20% of the customers. Seniors and the technology challenged are not ‘good business’ because they do not turn sufficient or sometimes any profits, and businesses do not consider themselves as charitable or non-profit enterprises so are not concerned about losing nonprofitable customers.
It is all and only about shareholder value and executive KPI (bonuses).
