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www.independenthighlander.co.uk
October 2013 Issue number 41 Beneath the rule of men entirely great The pen is mightier than the sword

Bank of Scotland Bank for Scotland

is NOT the
The Bank of Scotland is not the Bank for Scotland, that is according to one very disgruntled customer, who applied for a Debit Card for a long established dormant account with the Dornoch Branch of the Bank of Scotland, situated on Tower Street, TAIN. Mr Ross, a contributor to the Independent Highlander, claims that on the 23rd of July 2013 he contacted the Dornoch Branch of the Bank of Scotland in Tain only to be told that that branch does not deal with applications for Debit Cards. This was despite the fact that all Mr Ross wanted was a Debit Card so that he could deposit or withdraw cash from, or to, his account elsewhere, other than necessitating a round trip of some twenty miles to the Dornoch Branch of the Bank of Scotland situated on Tower Street, Tain. Yet once more Mr Ross approached the helpful teller in the Dornoch Branch of the Bank of Scotland in Tain and lodged a formal complaint over the treatment meted out to him, as he was a pensioner of some eighty years of age travelling expenses were something he could do without. Yet again he telephoned the Bank of Scotland Call Centre number, to be fobbed off with the lame excuse that the form must have got lost in the post. This procedure was carried out more that once. (To date 21st October) Mr Ross is not in receipt of his debit card! Telephone calls to the centre made little difference but at long last an application form did appear but due to an oversight by the applicant it came back once again. Now three calendar months later Mr Ross is still waiting for a Debit Card to arrive from the uncaring Bank of Scotland.

Mr Ross claims that the advice he got from the very helpful teller was that he had to contact a call centre in In the interval however Mr Ross did receive a letter for England where his request would be processed. This Mr the complaints department of that bank. In it Ms Martin Ross duly did on the afternoon of the 23rd July 2013. offered 30 towards accrued expenses and 70 for the stress. Quite insulting was the verdict of the OAP. The respondent to his call, a Mr Kirk, could not have been more helpful, offering the banks support. This The letter also stated that The staff in their The Bank promise entailed some 39.00 expenditure in samples of Scotland branches are unable to help customers with and postage to Mr Kirk. He said that there would be a business accounts. Have you the reader ever heard of straightforward form to complete and return and that the such a ridiculous practice? issue of a Debit Card would be a formality. At one time the Bank of Scotland, especially in Tain, Alas, some two weeks after the initial enquiry there was catered for a considerable number of farmers and nothing forthcoming from the English based call centre, business people in Easter Ross. You can read extracts on representing the Bank of Scotland, Tower Street, Tain. the next page from Ms Martins letter.

Letters and more

Dear Ms Martin, (Response dated 14th September 2013) Thank you for your letter and enclosure re the inability of the BoS to provide me with a Debit Card for my account. In this modern age I find it almost unbelievable that your bank cannot provide a customer with a straightforward request for a Debit Card. My neighbour and Mentor Len, lays claim that it may be a case of your bank discriminating against me because of my age (80). Is this possible? In your letter you write. We will need to receive a completed application before we can consider issuing a card to you. Does that mean that the BoS has discretionary power when it comes to issuing a Debit Card to a customer? I can understand that discretion if a customer wanted a Cheque Book, Credit Card or an Overdraft facility. What I want is just a simple method of withdrawing money from my account, or to pay for items purchased by Debit Card. If this is too difficult, state why, other than lost in the post application forms. Would it be helpful if I contacted the postal services? As I already expressed to you by telephone I am very disappointed with the whole of the Bank of Scotlands attitude and the fact that your branch offices are there to primarily support retail customers is a far cry from the service the Bank of Scotland provided to its Scottish customers in days gone by.

HALLELJAH
After some thirteen weeks and two days, umpteen telephone calls and letters, (many were recorded delivery), a rather handsome business Debit Card arrived in the post, from the Bank of Scotland. The following day another letter arrived allegedly containing the all secret and all important (PIN). Just Mr Ross luck for unbelievably the slip that should have illustrated the (PIN) for his eyes only was utterly BLANK. This entailed yet further telephone calls and letters! Today, the Lord be praised, (the Bank of Scotland cannot be) a second envelope arrived with the elusive conclusion for Mr Ross quest for a Debit Card. Ed.

Scottfab-Osprey Publishing 'Seacrest, Barbaraville West, Delny, Ross & Cromarty, Scotland. IV18 0NA. Editor:- Euilleam Ross waived unless stated otherwise. Copying encouraged Scottfab-Osprey Publications is a Voluntary Non Money Making Scottish Organisation.