BPI Express is not so express at all!

I apologize to my readers because this post is very much a Rant rather than a rave. Remember I wrote a post before about not being able to get money from my ATM card because of some unexplainable malfunction? Okay, so this post is the continuation to that "saga"..

Last June 24, I called up their customer service to report the problem. I explained the situation to them, that the machine was giving me a "wrong PIN" message even though I only use 1 PIN and it's highly unlikely that I'm going to forget it. I was told that the only way to fix it was to get a new card. At first, I thought it was a simple matter of inputting a new PIN, silly me. Anyway, I filed an application over the phone with the customer service agent. He told me it would take roughly 7 days to get a new card and 3 days to transfer the balance from the old card to the new one. So, I was resigned to the fact that it would take at the least 10 days, if you add in the weekends, to get a new card and then finally get my money.

Fast forward to after 10 days... I was even more than 10 days because I completely forget to follow up on it... So I made a call to the branch where I'm supposed to get the card from. Surprise, surprise, they still don't have it! Apparently, there was an error when the agent filed the application and it was only discovered now that I'm checking it. I have to wait for another 3 days to get the card. Frustrating!! This was between July 7-11

Between July 14-18, I called them again. Hooray ! The card was there, but can I get it tomorrow because the PIN Machine was broken? I didn't go. I was getting very, very frustrated!!

July 21, I went there to get it. Patrick took a leave from the office so that I can get it. Surprise!! I got the card!! But I couldn't encode a PIN because there was no officer on duty. Can you please go to another branch so you can PIN there? I didn't want to waste the day, so I did. Before I left, I was told to call their customer hotline as soon as I got home so that I can have the money from the old card transferred to the new one.

So, I got the PIN encoded and I can't wait to get home to get the money transferred.

I tried to call the hotline as soon as I arrived. I couldn't get through. That was 5pm. I figured they were probably receiving a lot of calls. I called at 9pm. Couldn't get through again.. grrr...

I called in the morning and got through, only to be told that they couldn't transfer the money!!!! I should have had it "re-Pinned". They only require you to get a new card for a different type of account!!! what the...????!!!!! If I wanted to transfer the money, I can have it re-pinned and then after 1 day, I can use the ATM to transfer to the new one, or I can use the old one. If I didn't want to do that, I can have the card blocked and then the funds will be transferred automatically to the new one, but it will take 3 days... oh great.. exactly a month to the day when I will receive my money!! great!!

I hope that this doesn't happen to someone else.. and I hope that they train their agents better. and I hope that you didn't get bored reading this! hahaha