Tag Archives: big banks

Not a Good Week For the Royal Bank

It hasn’t exactly been a good past week for the Royal Bank. Let me get this straight: They get a bunch of temporary foreign work permits from the government, bring in a team from India. That team is getting trained by Royal staff to take over their jobs. Then the foreign workers go back home with the jobs and the Royal team is out the door.

Nice…and then their apology, which was really a non-apology didn’t make things better before the weekend. They called it “part of normal business practices.” Ironically, that outsourcing story happened the same month as their notice of service charge increases went out. Really makes me wonder… Now, they’re not alone in outsourcing. It’s just that this story got traction. Even back last summer, a family member received a phone call within days of depositing $30,000 into his chequing account. He asked if “they were calling from Canada” because of the heavy accent. The answer was: No…

With most huge financial institutions, and other retailers for that matter, the larger they get, the more they turn into dinosaurs. They’re slow to react and tone-deaf. They’re less and less focused on customer service because you’re one customer out of millions. With those odds, what are the chances they’re really motivated to help you? Still wonder why I’m such a fan of credit unions where even the CEO and Board of Directors live within 100 km of you?

If you remember a few months ago I detailed the horror I had to go through with the Royal on the death of my father. It’s now the seventh month and they STILL send his mail to the address of a dead person – in spite of four written notices and documentation. Did I say dinosaur already?