My experience

Ok so I have landed myself in a predicament.

I resisted signing up for NCB's e-financial services for about a year to allow them time to work out the kinks in the system. I was then encouraged by their staff to give it a try and considering that my family has become so busy that noone has time to go pay bills, I thought it might be a good time to sign-up.

I completed the paper-work and submitted it. I was told that it would take a week and that someone would call me to complete the process over the telephone. Well 3 weeks passed and no call, so I called the number (1-888-NCB-FIRST) and was told that my application had not been processed as yet. I asked what's the hold-up and they said that a bit of information was missing and so they were unable to complete the process. I asked, "would it not have been easier to call me to obtain the missing information?" She said that it was the responsibility of the branch to alert me of the problem since the collection of the information for the process was their responsibility. So I ascertained what was missing and made my way in to the branch to which I had submitted my application. After-all I was the one begging to shift to this service, which is cheaper for them and benefits them more with its paper-less option.

I explained the situation to the Customer Service rep and she took the missing info and promised to send it in to them. A month passed and I heard nothing further so I took it upon myself (bright like) to call them again. They said that my application had not been processed but as soon as it was they would call me: "do not call us we will call you! Thank you for making it NCB. Have a good night".

I've become mello in my old age so I let it slide. I went into the branch office two weeks later and explained myself again and asked what was the deal. They expressed shock and completed another application and promised me that this time all would go well. They were appalled at the words of the operator indicating that I ought not to call.

Sure enough a week later I received my call to complete the process. That went smoothly and I set-up all my payees/creditors and began paying my bills on-line. Time span: January - March. I started my blog the day I finally got through.

In July, on the eve of Hurricane Dennis, I realised that my ATM card was missing. We rushed to the bank to have it replaced. My brother and mother went and got the new card. They said it would take 24hrs to be activated. Which meant that as Dennis was hitting we would be gaining access to funds to prepare for Dennis. Well we finally got access to the funds a few days before Emily (just over a week later).

I cointinued to pay my bills on-line for July without any hassle. Then end of August comes and I find that I am unable to login with a password that ought to work. It had 22 days before it expired. Maybe i was entering it incorrectly. Like a dumbass I used all 3 tries (arrogance is a bitch!). I then tried to reset the password but........ the system had the old card number not the new one. They never submitted the paperwork to have the account updated. So I called and they explained that I needed to go to my branch and have them submit the necessary form. (Where have I heard that before?!)

I went in to my branch during my lunch time and waited on line during school paying season. I got the form and completed it. Upon submiting it (after waiting on line again), I realised that I ought to have completed it in black ink not blue. I was given another form and I repeated and waited on line again. Upon accepting it she responded "I'll send this in this evening. That way they should get it by tomorrow, Tuesday. Give them a day to enter it, so call them Thursday afternoon. Thank you for making it NCB!"

I left and called them
Friday evening........ "I see nothing on the system sir. Are you sure you completed a form?" Following Wednesday....... "Are you sure you submitted it last week Monday sir?"
That Friday............ "I'll put a note on the system sir so that they put a rush on it when it does come into the office"
Wednesday again...... "I can't understand why it would not be here sir. I'll put a note on the system and I will call you tomorrow after calling your branch to find out what has happened."
Thursday she called me and asked if I had completed the correct form. I wanted to retort "which ones are the wrong ones?" Afterall, I didn't go in and ask them for a specific form. I explained my situation and was given a form. Her parting advice to me was that I ought to return to my branch and complete another one and make sure that this time I complete the correct one.

The saving grace is that I still have Midas card enabled transactions. I must now do that which I signed up for this service to avoid..... trecking to the places to pay my bills. It costs me to go to the bank to withdraw money having signed up with the e-financial services. I don't have a passbook any more so in bank is not the best place to go. In bank they won't update my book but are willing to write on scrap paper any balances I may wish to query. Paymaster won't accept the card for payments of cable and internet bills.

In the end my water bill went unnoticed and thus unpaid. I owed them $2300. They sent thugs to disconnect the water. These thugs walked past the lock-off that only they can use, past the meter that they refuse to read and thus send me estimated bills month after month despite my monthly protests (I have no dogs, shoot I have no gate!!!), past my one way valve to prevent my tank water from running back into the main and leaving me to pay for it but unable to use it, to the useful piece of pipe on my side of the meter. Then they cut it in 2 places. This was Wednesday. They were stopped when they heard we had paid the bill that day (incidentally we had). Instead of repairing it they left it with the water spraying all over the place. My brother got home and lodged a complaint. I got home and lodged a complaint.

Today, Friday, I walked through the spray to my house and thought that if I blocked the road my mother and all my working friends would pay for the destruction. Plus I am not inclined.

My story ends here because I was informed that I have 5 working days (until next wednesday) for them to repair it. In the meantime, "Water is Life" is running down the road and increasing my bill which they thought I could not pay and thus attempted to disconnect. All because I bank with NCB.

What a raaass!!!