Thursday, December 9, 2010

We find ways… to piss you off!

I just can’t take it anymore! BDO is really ruining my used to be perfect banking experience with them. The first incident happened last Friday at the main office in Makati Ave.

I was encashing a check. They wouldn’t let me because apparently, the other ID that I was presenting was not a valid one. It’s a government-issued ID, by the way. I asked why. I think I was speaking to the supervisor at this point as the teller immediately called him and asked about my ID’s. I told them that it was the same ID I used to open an account with them. He said that’s different. That was opening an account. This was encashing a check. I asked what difference would that make and he just kept saying that my ID is invalid. I told him I resigned from the company issuing the check that’s why I don’t have a company ID anymore. I even told him to call up the company to verify. He just kept insisting that my ID is invalid.

I told him that I needed the money as I will be going to MMC right after the bank. He said to just deposit it in my account. I told him I didn’t bring my ATM as I was already expecting this money. He asked for my bank account number. I told him I don’t know. Then he asked for my address. I asked which address he needed, my house or the company’s and in a haughty voice he said, “ Ewan ko. Ano bang address ang ginamit nyo pang open ng account? Malay ko ba kung anong ginamit nyo.” And he was looking at me as if I stole the check or something. I told him, can’t you check? My account is at SM Makati. First they said that they do not have access to the other accounts then after a few minutes, they found my account. I was fishing around my bag to see if I have a copy of my account number and apparently I had one. I tried giving it to the teller but she said she already has it. Lies.

Oh, after a lengthy discussion, the supervisor had the nerve to ask me for an NBI clearance! What the hell??? Why would I need an NBI clearance to get MY money!

I was really pissed off that day and told the supervisor, I thought you find ways. And he said, that is all I can do for you. For you to deposit your check and withdraw it from the ATM. That’s my “we find ways”.

Let’s step back for a moment and analyze what he said. Assuming I had my ATM with me that day, he wants me to deposit my check. Let’s say I did. After that, he wants me to go to the nearest ATM which is just a few steps away from the counter and withdraw my money. Now tell me, how idiotic is that? That is such a waste of time, effort and paper! Why are they doubting my identity when I already have 2 government-issued ID’s in front of them and they even verified that it’s the same ID used to open my account?? They have my pictures and ID up on their monitor!

So I ended up not withdrawing my money that day and not going to MMC. I already told them that it’s an emergency and they wouldn’t budge. Siguro if I passed out in front of them or collapsed then they will release the money. I’m also wondering if they will do the same thing to some famous person like Kris Aquino. They will probably encash her check without asking for ID’s.

The second incident happened today, just a few minutes ago. I received a letter from BDO’s collection agency, Capital Collection and Recovery Specialists Inc.  saying that I’m not paying my loan with GE. I immediately called them up and told them that this was impossible as I’ve issued postdated checks good enough to cover my entire loan and my account is well funded. The guy on the other end just said, ok ma’am, just disregard that notice. WTF???

I called up BDO to complain because this has been going on for the past 4 months now and it’s such a hassle! They have been calling me up every month asking what my mode of payment is and then to end the conversation they would say, “O sige ma’am, tatawagan ka na lang namin pag di ka na nakakabayad” /We will just call you up again if you’re not able to pay anymore. The other time it was, “O sige ma’am tatawagan ka na lang namin pag hindi mo na napopondohan ung cheke mo.”/ We will just call you up if you’re not funding your checks anymore. Now tell me, if you’re somebody who pays your bills on time, even earlier, how would you feel if somebody says that to you? That’s very rude di ba? And improper! I feel insulted. I’m proud to say that I pay all my bills days before their due dates.

So this was the last straw. This idiotic letter. And they even got my minimum due wrong! BDO gave me a bunch of numbers to call and directed me to another agency handling my account.The guy I spoke to said that the other agency will call me up every month to “update” their records. The first thing he said was to remind me of my due and not update their records. Clearly, they just want to piss their clients off.  He told me that I can complain at the head office. He also said to call somebody else, who is in charge of the GE loans and ask if one of my checks bounced. I told him, I am absolutely sure that none of my checks bounced otherwise, the bank would have called me plus I deposit more than enough funds TWICE a month to cover everything. Besides, why would Capital Collections tell me to disregard the notice if I’m not paying my bills? They clearly made a mistake.

I ended up not calling anymore as I know this will go nowhere unless some higher up reads this blog post of mine. It’s such a waste of time, money and effort. I can do more productive things than stay on the phone, wait and be transferred to God knows where.

I used to be proud of my BDO account. I used to tell my friends and family to open a BDO account as it’s the best. I told my mom the other day to open an account with BPI, BDO’s number 1 rival. Now I’m going to tell all my friends about my very bad experience with BDO.

So yeah, BDO – We find ways… to piss you off, to ruin your day, to annoy you,  to make you miserable.

10 comments:

  1. Aw. I feel bad for you. You're better off with BPI.

    I used to work at a bank now owned by Unionbank, and despite having my first bank account there, I maintain several accounts with BPI since then. I'm very much satisfied with their service both at the branch level and in mobile/phone banking services.

    Even with their credit cards, I'm happy with BPI. Sure other rivals have nicer promos (movie tickets and stuff), but BPI has a better dollar conversion rate if used abroad based on my experience buying two tickets to Australia, one using BPI and the other using Citibank. Both tickets were priced the same but upon conversion, the ticket purchased with Citibank was more than 1k higher than the one purchased with BPI. Even in my itunes purchases, BPI CC has a better conversion rate. I'm more into that than the promos.

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  2. I am also very happy with my BPI CC. They've been wonderful. I don't have a BDO CC. For the past several years, BDO agents have been calling me up saying that they will process my papers for a CC and then they will send me a message that says I was declined. I didn't even apply in the first place! Their agents keep calling me and I keep telling them to jog on. Waste of time.

    I will open a BPI account asap!

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  3. hay naku kapatid isa silang pain in the a**... kakaloka...I had the same experience when I encash my check...pakialaman ba pati preferred name ko sa bank account ko...Sabihan ba naman akong hindi valid name ang maiden name ko. Anu yun ilusyon? Then they charge me a huge amount for late payment...late payment for what???? simply they forget to inform me the payment due date of my loan and the account number to which I am supposed to deposit the payment...my issue? definitely you will agree that it's not...I challenged them to check my bank records if I am a delinquent payer..and the classic one is their reason na i'm paying a few peso more than what I am supposed to pay...db dapat thankful pa sila...delinquent ka kasi sobra ang bayad mo and ahead of due date...classmate yata sila ni MBA,DBA..

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  4. wahahaha! hindi valid ang maiden name mo? mas marunong pa sila sa iyo! hindi ka ba nila kilala?? isa kang princesa tapos ginaganyan ka nila! ang tanga naman nun!

    oo, i said the same thing na lagi akong nagbabayad on time. at saka kaya nga postdated checks ang inissue ko para sure na bayad on time. tapos tinanong pa ko kung ano raw date ang nilagay ko sa check. eh di ung date na sinabi sa akin ng bangko! malamang classmate sila nun. nagkopyahan sila!

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  5. Like I said, BDO SUCKS!! They find ways to steal your money and make your life with them a living hell!

    You are not the only one, my friend also had issues with BDO.

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  6. grabeee! BDO is like that pala :| I think it's an insult for them to ask for your NBI clearance!!! and about the 2nd incident naman, it's very unprofessional of them to do that :| tskkk.. buti nalang you blogged about it. i'm sure many people will be turned off with BDO.

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  7. @Hazel: Exactly. In this country, I think you need to make a noise in order for your concern to get noticed. I gave up with all the red tape and just said that I will blog about it as a warning to other people.

    My former Canadian boss said that the problem with Filipinos is that they let other people treat them like crap that's why they are given crap in return. He taught me to always demand for the best service because I am a paying customer... Because I am a customer.

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  8. @Kitten: Di ba binwisit din nila si M?

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  9. i have both BPI and BDO accounts. while i found the BPi better in terms of service and portfolio, i never had any problem with BDO. my ex-gf was a manager of BDO but not the same BDO that my account was opened. i never hear her saying clamors about BDO clients too. but maybe because of her natural allegiance with the company she worked for.

    what happened to you is really aweful from a customer perspective. you could have gotten the name of a BDO employee who was being snooty and verbally arrogant on you, then file a letter of complaint to their head office.

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  10. Yup, and that was just opening an account.

    When they asked you for an NBI clearance would be the last straw for me, super insulting yun.

    Yung friend ko same with you, couldn't encash a check, tapos minsan walang pera lumalabas sa ATM pero may bawas sa receipt. tsk tsk!

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