OK, slight rant.
I arrange an appointment with a branch mortgage adviser last Wednesday and the earliest appointment they can give is today Monday at 3pm. I arrange childcare for the appointment and S takes a half day in order to attend the appointment. Then, just after noon, a lady from the branch phones to say the appointment has been cancelled because the adviser is off ill. Completely understand there, because if you're sick you're sick but with an organisation as big as this bank, I was appalled when there was no backup plan for customers. No, 'but we can offer you another appointment at __________ or if you'd like to speak to ____________ we can arrange that.' Just - sorry. Cancelled.
So, after waiting in phone queues and getting thoroughly fed up with their cheesy hold-the-phone music, I finally get through to someone who says they can help me with my mortgage.
SO I stay on the phone for over an hour with a 'mortgage and banking specialist' who interrogates me for an hour about a loan that we are trying to buy to do our loft conversion. My understanding was that we could do the application over the phone, but after almost 90 minutes (calling on *my* nickle) he tells me that I need to go in and speak to someone in branch anyway! And couldn't even give me an idea of the deals that would actually be available to us!
And aside from the what I feel is a dishonest waste of my time and a dishonest acquisition of my information (because I understood that I was giving details for a loan application), I found his attitude to be thoroughly patronising. It was all about 'well, we have to make sure you'd be eligible to apply for this loan' 'we need to see that you'd be able to afford this loan'. And these almost scare-tactics talking down to me on the phone, never mind that I am an extremely valuable customer of this bank because I do almost all my banking business with them.
And don't get me started with the attitude that they are doing a favor or a service for me - ha! I shouldn't have to beg for the privilege of giving them business. With interest rates that they charge, I know who is really benefiting from my valuable patronage!
It's almost as if I'd wanted to buy, I don't know, sheets! at John Lewis. And instead of being able to walk into the store and buy them, I had to make an appointment to go in store and buy them. Then, I find that my appointment has been cancelled at short notice. Then, I find I have to be on the phone for 1/2 an hour to figure out *who* I need to talk to. Then I'm asked for an hour if I can afford to buy my sheets and made to prove it. Then, I find out that, oh, I guess it'll be better for you to just go into the store and buy your sheets - we'll try to squeeze you in on Friday.
And I wouldn't be so irritated by it, except we are ready to start building and need the money as soon as possible to start the building before the weather turns sour. We would have liked to apply for the money sooner, but we literally only starting getting realistic quotes on Tuesday last week, which is when I first started trying to see the mortgage adviser!
So, I've made an appointment for Friday morning (which is the absolute earliest anyone in Edinburgh could see me - I'm driving about 40 minutes away for that appointment too!) and as long as that one is not cancelled on me, we'll see how that goes.
After I go back to teaching next week, time for this kind of palaver will be hard to come by!
I guess it means there is something important to wait for. I wonder what it is.
*******
F is sitting next to me wearing a pink tutu her Mimi gave her, black stripey tights and a yellow t-shirt munching hot popcorn. She just gave me a piece saying 'ood oo AIke sum?'
Yes. Yes, thank you, I ood.
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