Warning!! Do not trust the ANZ Bank in New Zealand.
Yes, that’s right, do not trust the ANZ Bank. After upwards
of 40 years as a customer of the bank I find that I can no
longer trust it to take good care of my funds. In April of last
year I deposited an Australian cheque with the Woolston,
Christchurch branch of the bank which they accepted.
However, as a result of what I can only describe as gross
carelessness, they lost it! Somewhere in the inner workings
of the ANZ my cheque disappeared. Lost, destroyed or
just ceased to exist, I know not. They did make a ham-fisted
attempt to claim through a photocopy they had made but the
paying bank in Australia rightly declined so the ANZ held me
responsible and debited my account with the proceeds of
the cheque. I had to pay for the bank’s rank incompetence!
This contrasts markedly when, in February of
2010, I wrote a cheque but did not have sufficient funds in
my account to cover this cheque. The fact that I had 2
other accounts with the bank, both having ample funds to
meet the shortfall, was not taken into consideration nor
was the fact that I had been a customer for nigh on 40
years. No, it couldn’t wait to get its greedy mitts on the
$8.00 fine it slapped on me. I would rate this at zero on
a scale of zero to 10 for courtesy and customer
consideration. Then, I made a mistake....and I paid for it.
But, when the bank makes a mistake as it did when it
lost my cheque, it did not pay for its own carelessness but
expects me, again, to pay for the mistake. The loss of the
cheque was the bank’s problem but it has tried to make it
my problem. I am prepared to pay for my own mistakes
but not, in addition, the bank’s.
Is it any wonder I can no longer trust the ANZ Bank?
r.dobson@xtra.co.nz