logic explained

i believe it is right to complain as well as praise
if you get exceptional levels of service you should acknowledge it
equally if things are bad (especially if you have paid for the service) then it is perfectly ok to say so ... for me this is usually quickly followed by high blood pressure and losing it big time as i discover that the bad service is enhanced by a complete lack of understanding in the area of customer service ... every now and then you stumble across a nice normal human being who listens and goes a long way to making it alright again

with this in mind i agreed to go and speak to the bank manager about the card fiasco while in NY over Christmas ... the first thing to confuse me was a nice cheerful cashier who agreed immediately to find me a manager

what no telling me nobody more senior than a cleaner is available? ... and what's with all the smiling and friendly attitude? ... sarcy bint!

manager arrives with a nice smile attached and asks me to join me in her office
i start to explain my story (going with the not so much a complaint more trying to discover a way it can be avoided in the future kinda style)

i explain that we had been in NY over Christmas and we had informed the bank we were going to be away ... she interrupted with the neatest non sequitor ... oh no this is going to be another story about the Spaniards ... baffled i asked her what she meant

apparently the bank have a shiny new off-shore department based in Spain (hence the Spaniards) and nice bank manager had heard quite a few stories in recent months about how over cautious to the point of stupidity they had been

she told me how she had called them to cancel a direct debit on her own account only to find they had helpfully cancelled her mortgage payment which she only discovered after it had bounced ... and as she said ... 'if a bank manager had problems with the system what chance did we have'

nice bank manager pulled up our details on a screen, frowned and said ... 'ahh i see your wife asked for your card to be blocked so you wouldn't shop too much while you were in New York' ... my mouth fell open in shock ... my mind filled with a deep sense of betrayal ... nice bank manager smiled and said ... 'just kidding' ... doesn't she realise there are some things you just don't joke about!

nice bank manager checked our details ... yep they had all our phone numbers ... there was no reason at all to do what they had done ... she added a note to our account ... these people don't go overdrawn ... they do travel ... and would appreciate it if their cards were not blocked every time they buy something other than the groceries

a pleasant experience ... a nice funny person who understood ... apologised on behalf of the Spaniards and did something to avoid it happening again

2007 the year of helpful people? .... so far so good