DEAR News Of The Area,

I naively went to a bank at the Park Beach Plaza to purchase some US dollars for tips for a planned cruise in December.

I was expecting to front up to the cashier, put in my order and be told when the currency would be available for collection in a few days’ time.

However, this wasn’t how the system works.

Instead I had to wait 45 minutes for a “consultant “to become available, who then told me that they only had what was handed in to this branch – I could only have denominations of US$20 or US$100.

Not ideal for tipping, but I purchased $280 in $20 notes.

So today (Monday) I went into the same bank to return the unused US Dollars, at 3:57pm.

The charming cashier went into the offices of the bank to see who could deal with this request, only to return, saying unfortunately the bank closed foreign currency transactions at 4:00pm, but today they were closing early – please come back at another time.

I would have thought that the substantial commissions charged and the less-than-generous exchange rates offered, would have funded a better service than this.

Is it any wonder that we, the mere customers, are appalled at the lack of service, the exorbitant corporate annual profits and the excessively high salaries and bonuses of bank executives.

Unfortunately, voting rights in bank shares are majority held by superannuation fund managers, who are on the same gravy train and unwilling to vote in the interests of us lowly customers and small shareholders.

Thank you, I feel much better for getting that off my chest!

Kindest regards,
Chris RYLAND,
Korora.