Stress Factor: Standard Chartered Bank in Uganda!!!

Having been brought up in a very strict time management environment, I have over the years come to appreciate and cherish time. I do understand when at times things fail to be completed in the scheduled time scale or when due to technical reasons, things just fail. I do understand that.

But what I don’t understand is why customers especially in banks are made to line up for over an hour to access a service. Why does the management of such banks notice the influx of customers and assign more people to offer a service temporarily or more so plan in such way that they always have back up plans just in case they get an influx of customers?

Recently I opened up yet another bank account for my Small and Medium Enterprise – Hosting Smiles. I have been with Standard Chartered Bank for some time so I opted for it. As expected, I was not disappointed at the time of signing up for the SME account. The girl that helped me was fast, polite and knew what she was doing. The signup was great and I left feeling a winner.

Problems arose when I was told that I could not deposit my cheque on my new account because the bank system was down. Well, being in the IT sector, I understood and thanked the lady with a promise to bank the cheque the following day.

I went to the bank the following day as promised and was told the system was still down. I could not bank my cheque. I was advised to try the next day.

The third day, I went to the bank and joined the queue and after about 3o minutes of queuing up, was told my account was not ready. I was upset so I called the lady that helped me open the account. She offered to bank the cheque for me. She even gave me my account number. Once again, I left feeling a winner. I was very sure that after 3 days, I would have money on my account. In Uganda, cheques take 4 working days to mature; however, this was an internal cheque so I knew it would mature after 2 days.

After 3 days, I went to the bank to withdraw money and as usual, queued up for about 45 minutes but was told that I need to wait for 7 working days. I was really disappointed. 7 working days for an internal cheque?? I asked for any alternatives and was told to write to the bank requesting to withdraw money. I was further informed that the letter must be on headed paper. I decided to just wait for the seven working days.

After 7 working days, I went back to the bank and queued up for an hour. When my time came, I was told that I have to write to the bank on headed paper requesting to withdraw the money. The reason was that my account was considered a company account hence the need for headed paper. My explanations that I was a sole proprietor and sole signatory to that account were in vain. I was really disappointed for this was now towards two weeks since I banked the cheque.

I returned to the bank that afternoon, with a letter introducing me to the bank on headed paper written and signed by me. I was still disappointed and I believe it showed on my face. The lady that helped me was very polite and went an extra mile to ensure that I get the money. However, the teller refused to dispatch the money on grounds that my letter did not indicate the account number. This was beyond.
I was lost for words. It was now past six pm (This particular branch of Standard Chartered opens till 7pm)

It was then that I requested to see the manager of the branch. I had run out of ideas and wanted advice.

The manager was very supportive and he immediately signed my letter. With the manager’s signature, I headed to the teller who immediately gave me the money. I breathed a sigh of relief and left the bank.

Though I still believe that Standard Charted is a great bank, unless they improve, this kind of stressing clients will drive many clients away from the bank.