Comments on: Laughing all the way to the Bank

By: The unreliable historian

The unreliable historian — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:52:02 +0000

My trick when approaching the impossible to obtain number for either banks or cell phone services, or utilities or any other version of "No Exit" updated for the modern world is to pretend that I want to actually buy something from the company or add to my current plan, whatever it might be. This quickly gets me a live person who has numbers of other live people. Then I suddenly remember that I want to remove services or take money out and I try to say this very fast before they put me back on hold. I can not say that this removes the need to be on hold in hell- but it gives me a small amount of pleasure to say "Did I say I wanted to put a million dollars in my account? I mean I want you to wire me $200...easy mistake, my bad, send it now please, bye. " or "Did I say I wanted to add cable and wireless? I meant I wanted to reduce my number of text messages, ooopsy. " The unreliable historian’s last blog post..Running with Brooms- College Quidditch comes of age.

By: brenda

brenda — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:57:59 +0000

I know it is so frustrating, we have managed to get them to transfer the money, but nearly everytime, something goes wrong, either it is the wrong amount, they lose it!!! I mean how can two banks lose your money??? The list is endless, I think they take delight in frustrating us expats, because we actually had the gall to leave old blighty. brenda’s last blog post..Offers at The Gift Experience

By: katherine

katherine — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 11:18:04 +0000

Ahh c'mon now, you're not being fair; doesn't that money deserve to stay in the UK? Fred Goodwin et al deserve a little windfall after all the hard work they've put in? Wrecking the economy is, after all, no mean feat. I know just how you feel though, I am involved in a little tete a tete with a plasterer the moment. I've talked him into contradicting himself several times (well...it's fun)but that won't finish my fireplace off...plus he's screening his calls now. BAH! Very frustrating, BUT I'm in the mood so (and I hate the following turn of phrase) bring it on! Off to some soothing garden centres now...a bit of calm before the storm breaks! katherine’s last blog post..It's Top of the Pops! aka Yikes! Not another retro post: part 1

By: BritinBosnia

BritinBosnia — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 09:58:29 +0000

International Banking. How can it cost so much money? How is it possible? It cannot be that expensive to transfer our money to us.

Internet Banking is the way forward. Can’t recommend it highly enough. I’ve had no problems with the lovely Smiling people at the Very Cooperative Bank. My husband on the other hand, working with the dark forces of the black horse is having a nightmare.

BTW – can we use this post for the expat mums blogging carnival on Tues?
“On Tuesday 21st April we’re hosting an expat mums carnival over at expatmumsblog.com.

We hope to collect a good group of posts about the unique experiences and challenges of being an expat mum. Please send over a link to any posts on related topics to expatmumsblog@gmail.com”

BritinBosnia’s last blog post..Getting my cultural references

By: Catharine

Catharine — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 08:48:51 +0000

Oh, what a nightmare! I'm with Iota about the exchange rates too - we always had to jiggle where the actual translation from sterling to kwacha was done: once we lost about 5% of the value because the UK bank took a rate so significantly lower than the going rate in Zambia ... and also charged us for the privilege of transferring the money! Catharine’s last blog post..50 not out

By: Iota

Iota — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 20:51:59 +0000

And to add insult to injury, when you finally manage to transfer the money, the exchange rate is so low that your hard-won pounds will be worth hardly any dollars in any case - so you'll spend most of them on the cost of the transaction. And by the way, why do international transactions cost so much? I mean, they only have to press a few buttons on a computer somewhere. It's not as if they're bundling up the money in brown paper, or putting it in sacks, and then transferring it to you via a sailing ship and pony express rider. Iota’s last blog post..Easter Monday movie titles game

By: A Modern Mother

A Modern Mother — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 07:52:58 +0000

I can relate to this. Just wait until you have to contact BT! A Modern Mother’s last blog post..What time is it?

By: Caroline

Caroline — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 23:36:04 +0000

You might want to try one trick I did when I bought a car over here. I wrote out a check drawn on my UK bank account, and my local bank (Key) negotiated it through their international department and deposited the funds in $ into my checking account. That WAS 9 years ago, but surely things can’t have changed that much. Try asking your local bank if they’ll negotiate an international check for you.

By: Mothership

Mothership — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:13:17 +0000

Caroline: I believe NutFest now belongs to the Royal Bunk of Scornedland. This could explain a lot. If I was talking to India I am most impressed by the West Country accents they have learned!
Red Shoes. Thank you for your solidarity!
Maternal Tales: They are happily sitting on a very large sum of my money and clearly do not want to give any of it back to me. I HATE them even more than when I was poor.
The Mother: I have already spent several early mornings being caustic and outraged at various persons but to little avail. I am now reduced to “Furious in Stepford” types of letters fired off to as many people as I can think of. GRRRR. Yes, staying here. The shine has worn off the fantasy.
Jessica: I have known many people skip off and leave overdrafts in the UK. Perhaps they are trying to make me pay for this and obscurely I can sort of understand this as I don’t feel any kind of animosity towards those people, try as I might. Still, I WANT MY CASH! And my BM’s head on a platter, apple in mouth.
NappyValleyGirl: My advice to you is DON’T have a business account, DO set up telephone banking, DO set up a Fax Authorisation and make sure you have internationally accessible phone numbers for all relevant people BEFORE YOU GO. If you have friends nad family in the UK then they can also ring up for you which will alleviate some of the pain.
Coding Mama: Your faith in the internet is touching. You are right, there is a page full of numbers that are accessible outside the UK. None of them, however, will connect you to a BRANCH, and due to the peculiar nature of being a ‘preferred customer’ and being given a BUSINESS MANAGER, none of the ordinary customer service people are authorised to help you. Plus whenever you ring up from California all the relevant departments are CLOSED. AGHHH!
I hope you managed to settle that crazy bill – I had someone call me here for a debt of $50K (yes, fifty thousand dollars) that someone else with my name had run up before I ever set foot in this country. Took some sorting out, but did it in the end. Whew!

By: Coding Mamma (Tasha)

Coding Mamma (Tasha) — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 08:59:53 +0000

Very hilarious moan - though obviously must be extremely frustrating for you. I'm sure there's a website somewhere that will tell you the normal numbers to call for 0845 numbers and 0800 numbers and so on; there is always an alternative. I had to find one once to deal with a bizarre letter I got from a debt-collector claiming that my late father owed £3000 for gas supply to a pub where he never drank, let alone lived or had responsibility for the bills. Actually ended up writing a letter to the Guardian Money section ranting about it all, in particular the the fact that the only numbers they provided on the letter were high-charging numbers. Coding Mamma (Tasha)’s last blog post..Splish splash