I spend so much time complaining about poor customer service that when it goes well then it feels like all my birthdays have come at once. Given I am pushing 59 that’s a lot of joy to get in one moment. Today is one of those days.
Just prior to the holiday period my bank card stopped working. It must have been the spin cycle I put it through in the last pre-holiday clothes wash 
Anyhoo – that meant a visit to the bank and a request for replacement. About a week was the ETA. Yesterday a note dropped through the letter box advising me the new card is ready for collection. It’s a 25km drive to the bank so not trivial.
Arriving at the bank I join the inevitable queue. You get used to queuing for everything here.
Eventually I trot up to the counter with paper in hand. It explicitly says I need to take ID. As I hand over the piece of paper to the person behind the desk, her colleague hands her my new card. No prompt, no question. An unspoken understanding perhaps. I proffer ID: “I don’t need it. I know who you are,” says the lady. I’ve maybe seen her four times in five years and yes – I’m an oddball because almost no-one around here is English let alone speaks my native language.
One piece of paper to sign as a receipt and a sheaf of Ts&Cs for me to keep and I am out the door. Not before the lady and I laugh at the thought of my wading through the paperwork.
How good is that?
Bottom line: there really is nothing better than good old fashioned person to person customer service. No technology in the world will top that. Period.
The BS reference? Banco Sabadell.
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This is why I actually go to the bank to transact – mostly deposits. Including getting out of my car rather than going through the drive-through. All the tellers know me.
Of course the fact that the bank is 1.2 miles away helps and the fact you and I are the same age explains a lot.
Interesting that you have to pick it up in person. Here they’re happy to mail it to you, though there’s usually an activation over the phone once you’ve received it.