It seems BNZ has removed most of their physical branches, and their telephone services are so short staffed you can't speak to a human. Some services (eg credit card disputes for highest tier cards) are by email or leaving voice messages!
I made a dispute on 8 Jan and last night received an email about it, by the time which i had already sorted it out with the merchant. I had forgotten about it, last night they said they received my dispute and blocked the card, now i can't speak to them ... did the email and left voice message
So if you are thinking about a new bank, I'd strongly advise you look elsewhere ...
But sometimes everybody is like that and you might not get better service elsewhere.
*Sigh
/end rant
(this is not my first issue, every time i have to deal with BNZ in the last 6 months i have not been able to get hold of them over the phone. now Dunedin only has 1 branch that opens at 10, there is another branch but that's only open 2 days a week!)