PSA: BNZ Customer service

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Forums › Finance and wealth management › PSA: BNZ Customer service

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ANglEAUT

1941 posts

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#3030585 2-Feb-2023 00:06

BNZ = 🤦‍♂️

Several times across the years, I've received letters from them

Name is unknown to me
my postal address
my transactions

This happened across a time span of being a customer, closing all accounts & then years later opening new accounts.

They swear their systems are all in order.

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SirHumphreyAppleby

2516 posts

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#3030601 2-Feb-2023 07:53

I had a similar issue with the ASB last night. I tried to make a card payment and it was declined four times. It took almost half an hour to get someone on the phone (in the past, and this changed long before COVID, ASB answered almost immediately). Yesterday I had sent a general enquiry about the new process for disputed transactions and indicated I may need to file a dispute based on an amount discrepancy (not a compromised card)... co-incidence? I doubt it.

BNZ story...

I signed up with BNZ because ASB got rid of their fast deposit boxes and BNZ claimed to offer freepost envelopes. I asked for some in one of their main branches and was told they hadn't seen them in a long time. Eventually, after a couple of complaints via their Website (which still showed these as being available), I was sent a stack of freepost envelopes addressed to "The manager" at BNZ, with no address at all. I didn't feel at all confident that was going to be delivered, let alone processed, given there was no accompanying form to fill out my account information.

They wouldn't give me usable credit card limit and insisted on documentation supporting my income that went well beyond what I would consider reasonable. I supplied all they asked for originally, but because my IR3 was electronically filed and not a paper copy they demanded even more documents, at which point I told them where they could stick their card (not really, but the same effect). The IR3 receipt has all the relevant numbers on, and I'm hardly going to pay more tax than I'm required to!

cokemaster

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#3030659 2-Feb-2023 08:26

I called BNZ the other day and the agent was having a bad day. She loaded a transaction block onto my account (without telling me).

Bemused, since the contact centre wouldn’t resolve the issue - I had to go down to the local branch who took it off (they were awesome). It’s a good thing that they weren’t my daily driver of bank accounts.

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johno1234

1332 posts

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#3030664 2-Feb-2023 08:34

dryburn:

This morning I received a text from Kiwibank about suspected fraudulent activity on my credit card. I rang them them to order a new card ( I know I could have done it through the app or online but I thought why not check their call centre service) Call got answered within 2 mins and no issues with ordering the new card.

I can't speak for their other services but this was pretty good.

I've had the same bank manager at Kiwibank since I joined them in I think, 2018. He actually remembers me and knows who I am. I left BNZ because I no longer had a long term bank manager there.

invisibleman18

1176 posts

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#3030973 2-Feb-2023 14:43

Couple of BNZ stories here.

Recently received what felt like a bank card with the letter address to 'Null Null.' Opened it and the card also has 'Null Null' printed on it. Sent them a message via the app to check if this was real (find that way easiest if you don't need an answer urgently and can wait 2-3 rather than sitting on hold). Turned out it was a new EFTPOS card for our joint account as the previous one was expiring. Bit weird they couldn't get either of our names on the letter but no big deal. They have also spelt my wife's name wrong on her credit card (typo with 2 letters around the wrong way).

As for the said joint account, when my wife and I set it up about 4 years ago in a branch we were never told we needed to nominate a tax rate - both of us having never had a joint account before didn't realise this wasn't just linked from our individual accounts. We originally set up just a cheque account (it was at the time of moving in together so an account we'd both transfer into on paydays to deal with household bills, groceries etc), but later added a joint savings account via the app. It was only recently (6 months or so ago) that I was playing around with the app and ended up in the tax details screen and noticed that whilst it had my individual rate, under the joint details it had my wife's name and IRD number but listed the tax rate as "not supplied" so it turned out our joint savings account had been taxed at the non-declared 45% rate for 3 years. Checked on her app and it had the same - her rate but in the joint details showing my name and IRD number but the tax rate as unknown. Maybe we were a bit naïve here but having never had joint accounts we were not told when setting up that we needed to choose this - thought it was reasonable to assume that as they already held both our individual tax rates from our individual accounts (which happen to be the same), that these would have been automatically linked to the joint account too.

Figured out how to choose a tax rate then sent them a message to say we had never been informed to do this and asked what to do about the tax we must have overpaid by being on the incorrect higher rate. They replied along the lines of "we would have sent you a reminder to update you tax details, and contact an accountant for tax refund queries." Neither of us ever received any sort of notification about the tax details. That's really something the person setting up the account in the branch should tell you, and ideally make sure one is selected at the time. You'd also think IRD might contact you to let you know your tax rate hasn't been supplied, although I guess it's in their interests to keep collecting 45%. Wonder how many other people have not known you need to do this and ended up paying 45% on joint accounts. Maybe we were just idiots and should have known.

floydbloke

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#3031210 3-Feb-2023 11:09

invisibleman18:

...

As for the said joint account, when my wife and I set it up about 4 years ago in a branch we were never told we needed to nominate a tax rate - both of us having never had a joint account before didn't realise this wasn't just linked from our individual accounts. We originally set up just a cheque account (it was at the time of moving in together so an account we'd both transfer into on paydays to deal with household bills, groceries etc), but later added a joint savings account via the app. ...

They seem to be particularly shit at this.

Mrs .Floyd and I have had several joint accounts (same account number with different suffixes) for more than 20 years and they have had our IRD numbers since day one. We rolled over a term deposit the year the new 45% rate came in and the certificate showed it was being taxed at 45% and "IRD number unknown". Turns out that previous certificates also had 'IRD number unknown' but I never paid attention to it since we were being taxed at the correct rate (we both file IR3s and check/declare interest 'manually).

When we contacted them to query it we pretty much got the 'we don't have your IRD number' response despite us being able to demonstrate on the other accounts that they did. They doubled-down and got the shrug - 'nothing we can do about it now' response. When I suggested an apology might be in order for having a broken process I eventually got a "we're sorry we weren't able to meet your expectations" message.

I was this close to changing banks due to their arrogance, in the end decided to stay put because I received excellent service in a branch when I went in to discuss what that would involve.

After I was born, I didn't talk to my parents for two years.

invisibleman18

1176 posts

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#3031264 3-Feb-2023 13:13

Not surprised to hear something similar happened to someone else. You'd think they could just link your individual details when they already hold them, or at least send you some sort of notification to do it.

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