I just had the most retarded conversation with Hellenic Bank, which usually is quite understanding and cool, but in the last couple of month freaked me out a couple of times. \u00a0The situation is simple and complex at the same time. \u00a0I had a prepaid card (P-Card) on my name, connected to my account. \u00a0I gave it to my father so he could withdraw some money from the ATM in Russia. \u00a0This worked nicely quite a few times, until today there was a situation with a wrong PIN. \u00a0The bank in Russia was willing to sort it out, if only they could speak in Russian with some sort of bank representative. \u00a0So, I called the bank support line, and here is what transpired.<\/p>\n
Support<\/strong>: Hello, sir, how can I help you?
\nMe<\/strong>: Hello. \u00a0I have a rather tricky situation and I need your help with it. \u00a0I have a prepaid card on my name, which I gave to my father to withdraw money. \u00a0He is in Russia currently, and he all of a sudden got an “invalid pin” error, even though it’s the same PIN that worked several times before.
\nSupport<\/strong>: OK, can I have the card number please.
\nMe<\/strong>: Yes, sure, it’s 4173*********.
\nSupport<\/strong>: Can I have your name please.
\nMe<\/strong>: Yes, sure, Leonid Mamchenkov.
\nSupport<\/strong>: It was an incorrect PIN, sir.
\nMe<\/strong>: Yes, I know, the system said so. \u00a0But first of all, it wasn’t, and secondly, what can we do about it?
\nSupport<\/strong>: Is your friend still holding a card?
\nMe<\/strong>: First of all, it’s not a friend. It’s my father. Secondly, no, it was taken by the ATM. \u00a0However the bank in Russia is willing to return the card if they can verify the identity of the holder and such. \u00a0Do you have any Russian-speaking support or branch or something?
\nSupport<\/strong>: The policy is that the other bank does not have to return the card. \u00a0They will send it back to Hellenic Bank to get destroyed.
\nMe<\/strong>: I understand, however that would mean quite a huge delay in time for the transaction, not to mention an inconvenience. \u00a0Is there something we can do here?
\nSupport<\/strong>: No, the policy says …
\nMe<\/strong>: Yes, I understand what the policy says. \u00a0But the situation seems solvable. \u00a0All you need to do is verify my identity and speak with the Russian bank, who will call some number of yours. \u00a0This way we can avoid a lot of …
\nSupport<\/strong>: We cannot verify your identity, Sir.
\nMe<\/strong>: What do you mean?
\nSupport<\/strong>: We cannot verify your identity, Sir.
\nMe<\/strong>: Listen, the prepaid card is connected to my account. It’s in my name. I’ve been a client of the bank for years now. \u00a0You can ask me any question in regards to that account, I will be able to answer – current balance, address, date of birth, the ID card number, anything.
\nSupport<\/strong>: We cannot verify your identity, Sir.
\nMe<\/strong>: Can you please connect me to your supervisor then.
\nSupport<\/strong>: I am the supervisor, Sir.
\nMe<\/strong>: And you cannot verify my identity? \u00a0You don’t have the procedure for that?
\nSupport<\/strong>: No, Sir. \u00a0The procedure for this case is that the card is being destroyed.
\nMe<\/strong>: OK. Can I have the money from that prepaid card then?
\nSupport<\/strong>: Sure. You can go to your branch and ask for the money.
\nMe<\/strong>: OK, thanks. Then I’ll do that tomorrow and will use Western Union or some other money transfer service. \u00a0And you can follow your procedure further on. \u00a0Well done. Good bye.
\nSupport<\/strong>: Good bye, Sir.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nYeah, well. \u00a0And then we wonder what happened to the economy. \u00a0How freaking difficult is it to verify my identity and then speak to a bank in Russia. \u00a0And that’s when Russian IS one of the three language choices on the same support number that I just called, and not only – Hellenic Bank does have representation in Russia too. \u00a0I guess it’s just much simpler to say that we have a procedure that allows us not to give a crap about your problem.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
I just had the most retarded conversation with Hellenic Bank, which usually is quite understanding and cool, but in the last couple of month freaked me out a couple of times. \u00a0The situation is simple and complex at the same time. \u00a0I had a prepaid card (P-Card) on my name, connected to my account. \u00a0I … Continue reading But the procedure, Sir …<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1,22],"tags":[219,3095,1593,2906],"keyring_services":[],"class_list":["post-16678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-cyprus","tag-banking","tag-customer-service","tag-economy","tag-hellenic-bank"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9558,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/10\/10\/p-card-from-hellenic-bank-and-flickr-pro\/","url_meta":{"origin":16678,"position":0},"title":"P-card from Hellenic bank and Flickr Pro","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"October 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Vladimir told me about this new cool offering from Hellenic Bank - P-card, so I went to the bank today to see if I can get it. Basically, P-card is a regular debit card. It is not connected to any of your accounts though, which is a nice thing if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15516,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2011\/09\/15\/hellenic-bank-updates-interface-adds-mobile-banking\/","url_meta":{"origin":16678,"position":1},"title":"Hellenic Bank updates interface, adds mobile banking","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"September 15, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of weeks ago Hellenic Bank clients received a notification through their bank mail that the web interface is about to be updated. \u00a0The update was schedule for September 3rd, but I guess it didn't go as smooth as expected. \u00a0For the last two weeks the web banking was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Hellenic-Bank-Before.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":27469,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2017\/03\/28\/hellenic-bank-open-api\/","url_meta":{"origin":16678,"position":2},"title":"Hellenic Bank Open API","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"March 28, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Oh. My. God. \u00a0The future is here. \u00a0Hellenic Bank is (finally!) introducing an API. \u00a0Not sure yet what exactly one would be able to do with it, but even if it's just to check an account balance, it's progress already. I vaguely remember being part of the effort to convince\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/hellenic-API-500x254.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9719,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2005\/11\/30\/hellenic-bank-they-did-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":16678,"position":3},"title":"Hellenic Bank – they did it!","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"November 30, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Hellenic Bank has been one of the best banks on the island for some time now. The difference between all of them is very small, but in this case, that's what makes it more noticable. One of the reasons that I switched to Hellenic Bank was that their Internet Banking\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14753,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2011\/04\/13\/day-in-brief\/","url_meta":{"origin":16678,"position":4},"title":"Day in brief","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"April 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Holy Moly! Hellenic Bank upgraded their website - https:\/\/www.hellenicbank.com\/ First time I remember this ever happened. # New CMS or not, content-wise they still have a long way to go. New Hellenic Bank Website http:\/\/bit.ly\/dXNf8H # I'm at Draught Microbrewery (24, Vailissis Str, Lanitis 'Carob Mill' Complex, Limassol) http:\/\/4sq.com\/gxlsNG #\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14355,"url":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/2011\/01\/18\/day-in-brief\/","url_meta":{"origin":16678,"position":5},"title":"Day in brief","author":"Leonid Mamchenkov","date":"January 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm at Logos English School (Limassol) http:\/\/4sq.com\/etY49m # I'm at Hellenic Bank (branch 243) (Limassol) http:\/\/4sq.com\/fGmA8K # I'm at Kirzis Centet (Emmanoil Rouidi street, Limassol) http:\/\/4sq.com\/gvXupe # I just became the mayor of Kirzis Centet on @foursquare! http:\/\/4sq.com\/hnZc6t # I'm at Draught Microbrewery (24, Vailissis Str, Lanitis 'Carob Mill' Complex,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "All"","block_context":{"text":"All","link":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/category\/general\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16678\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16678"},{"taxonomy":"keyring_services","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mamchenkov.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyring_services?post=16678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}