2012-08-05ft.com

I can state with certainty that, had I received a call from the branch manager instead of the bank's ex-military security officer and the manager had said, "Mr Combs, Patrick, may I call you Patrick? I see we made a mistake and cashed a junk-mail cheque. Our bad! May we have the money back?" I'd have returned the $95,093.35 to the bank that same afternoon. I'd have secretly hoped for free banking for a year but, no matter what, I'd have returned the dough, pronto. I'm quick to understand that everyone makes mistakes and it was, after all, just a joke. But the bank's approach was not polite, or courteous, and neither did it take any responsibility for the mistakes the bank made, which were now piling up. Most other businesses would, I like to imagine, having realised their mistake, approached the customer in a polite, civil manner. Not the bank, they began with their attack dog, released their sharks and then later sent in their men in black...

Diane Sawyer knows what most people feel about banks. Banks don't do business like the rest of us do business. Banks don't do lunch to resolve an issue. They send a lawyer. Banks don't care about your rights. They care about their rights. (Read your bank's provided explanation of your banking rights, if you don't believe me.) Banks don't care about your bank balance. They care about their bank balance. And what banks really don't do is take responsibility for their mistakes. They enforce penalties for ours.



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