As I blogged about before, my wallet was stolen a couple weeks ago. Discovering my wallet gone started a whole series of events that mostly involved me not having access to my money. First, I called my bank at home. They told me that I would have the replacement card the following Tuesday (2 business days from when I reported it stolen). Well, a week later and I still didn’t have my card. So, I called the bank again and it hadn’t been ordered! I complained a bit and the person I talked to put it in super fast UPS delivery and I got it the following Wednesday (Monday had been a bank holiday and I had been at work when they tried to deliver it on the Tuesday).
During this time, I still had not gotten my Irish laser card replaced. When I called initially, I was told that it would be 5 business days to get the new card and pin. On the third business day, I received my pin. After 6 business days, I hadn’t gotten my card yet. So I rang Permanent TSB and asked about it. They said that it could take up to 7 business days! I told them that I had gotten my pin already and they then informed me that it takes 2-3 days just to make the Laser card! So, when I still hadn’t gotten my card as of Thursday (12 calendar days after I reported it stolen), I rang again. The person that I talked to also said that it can take 2-3 days to make the card and then didn’t know how long the postal service would take and that it may be slowed down due to a small postal strike. I explained that I had actually been getting my other mail. I then asked them why it took so long and how come my bank at home could get me a card in 4 days including a bank holiday. The person reminded me that I wasn’t at home! The person then decided that maybe my card had gotten sent to branch. He then checked and yes, it had been sent to the branch but he had no way of knowing if it was actually there! I then rang the bank and they had had my card at least 2 days before mailing out that they had my card. Well, at least that is what the person estimated because there was no date stamping or marking in anyway of when my card arrived at the bank!
This whole experience was so frustrating. I didn’t have full access to my money and when saying this to the bank reps, their response was that I could go to the bank. But I work. I had to take time off of work to go to the bank. Why does it take so long here in Ireland to print and mail a card. Why can’t things be delivered faster, especially after someone has just had their wallet stolen? If I wasn’t already leaving the country, I would certainly be changing banks, not that any other Irish bank would be better…
