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Phone banking takes its toll on irate clients

DUBAI — Since banks did away with toll free numbers last year, most people feel that phone banking has become expensive since they are kept on hold for longer periods, and more so, if they are making calls from another emirate or a mobile.

Banks, on the other hand, feel that due to the growth in the banking industry, the number of users has grown steadily thus creating a pressure on the call centres.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, several people said that over a period of one year since the toll free numbers were ended, the phone bank service offered by several banks had become a time consuming and expensive task.

“I rely mostly on phone banking because I do not have the extra time to visit banks to pay my bills, but I have noticed recently that my bank keeps me on hold for several minutes while a message keeps repeating that all the customer service staff is busy,” said Sathish K, who uses his mobile to pay his utility bills through phone banking. “The touch-phone system to access services takes up a great deal of time, and now that the customer service keeps me on hold for longer periods, my monthly phone bill is steadily going up,” he added.

A representative from Standard Chartered Bank said, “Phone banking is a convenience to customers; therefore, in present times customers prefer using such services to visiting branches or ATMs as one can do most of his banking transactions over the phone. We receive calls in excess of 100,000 every month.”

Explaining the popularity of phone banking he said, “Branches or other channels of accessing one’s account is not only an inconvenience when compared to phone banking but is also an expensive mode of doing business.”

He also said that it is evident from the call centre service level statistics that the average wait time for customers has gone up in recent times. This is due to the fact that a stringent identification process is carried out for every single customer prior to allowing him access to his account. Another reason is the limitation in the number of staff manning the call centre. Customers enjoy phone banking services free of charge when they use landlines within the emirate but are charged for calls when using their mobile.

A representative from Mashreq Bank said, “To lessen costs, it is the customer’s decision on whether to use a conventional phone, which in the UAE is virtually cost free. When calling from mobiles, nominal call charges apply and as most calls are answered in under 20 seconds. This can usually be contained to negligible call costs. We have over 120,000 users who call each month and use the IVR to satisfy their banking information and transactional needs such as telephone bill payments.”

“We maintain a 80 per cent service level, in other words, answering 80 per cent of calls in under 20 seconds.”