Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Humph

Have you ever got a letter from the bank saying......Dear Mrs ....... Please contact us about your account on this number. Yours sincerely .......??????? I opened this letter today when I walked in from work. The heartrate zoomed into impending doom mode. The blood pressure soared to the stratosphere, and I did indeed try to ring that number, got a ridiculous man in some foreign part, who was distinctly challenged by the English language, so leapt into the car and took off to town. I was not a serene presence as I stood at the information desk with my hair looking like Medusa, hyperventilating. I slapped the letter down and asked what it was about, thinking financial catastrophe, and the 12 year old (it seemed) behind the desk smiled brightly and said..... oh, we just wondered if there is anything else we can sell do for you? Any service we can offer?

Now I do believe I am a reasonable woman. Sometimes. I leaned over the desk and spoke very slowly..... You do realise, don't you, that you have just knocked 5 years off my life by sending me a letter which will make me terrified that something awful has happened? Oh, she said, we didn't mean to alarm you or anything. No????? Rest assured I was alarmed. I was very helpful. I edited the letter to read....... Please contact us about your account, as we really value your custom and would love to see if there is perhaps any way we could assist/serve you in the future. I underlined the serve bit for good measure. And left it for her.

The banking industry needs me to set them straight.

8 comments:

Chris said...

GO GET 'EM, LINDS!!!!

That's my kind of woman there, folks.

GOOD FOR YOU!!!

Linda said...

And that about sums up the way trying to deal with any large company goes these days. I love the part about the 12 year old. Every time I walk into the bank I think to myself that it looks like they decided to let the middle school kids take over the banking industry for the day!! They sure do look younger and younger.
You handled it absolutley perfectly. Wish I could have been there to see the look on her face.
Good job!!

meggie said...

I burst out laughing! I love this post, & Good for you!
My daughter & SIL got a letter offering them a home loan. They were overjoyed, but on enquiring they were told it had been sent in error! to a lot of customers, who were all enraged. I would have changed my bank.

Susan said...

Go get em Linds!! If I ever need help I'm giving you a call!!
Susan

Dawn said...

I get so tired of junk mail! And junk e-mail from "banks" asking me to "verity my information" - are people really dumb enough to do this for banks where they don't even have an account???

Good going, Linds. I think I would have done the same. Especially since you can't get a "real live person" who speaks your language on the phone.

You should have seen me when I was trying to help Sema take care of Kev's left behind financial mess when he went to Teen Challenge. I was talking to a guy in India who knew absolutely nothing that I needed to know - nor did he care.

Carole Burant said...

Oh dear...that'll teach them!! lol It's so ridiculous the way they can put us in the panic mode so easily with the way they word letters or phone calls! xox

someone else said...

Get 'em, Girl!! I'm surprised you could muster up that much niceness. It would be a miracle if they actually paid attention to you.

Anonymous said...

So funny, I laughed out loud! So glad you set them straight. Thanks for posting on my blog. It's nice to meet someone with South African ties. We really miss living there. I love the pictures you posted of the fields....the sheep, the poppies. We are going to visit England next year in April. I can't wait to see the countryside.
love and prayers, angie
www.lechnersinmoz.blogspot.com