Bank Audi & Services, Bad Services!

2 days ago, I was at Bank Audi for a very small banking operation, while waiting for my number to pop up on the screen, I noticed a special credit card issued by the bank for the Armenian community of Lebanon.

When you open the brochure, the first paragraph reads: “Express solidarity with your community: Apply now for the Hi-Card credit card and take advantage of this opportunity to hold a unique card with exceptional benefits that reflects the Armenian Heritage.”

Bank Audi is probably one of the Lebanese banks that issued the highest number of debit and credit cards for the last 10 years and me when it comes to this Hi-Card (Hi means Armenian in Armenian language), me being an “Armenian client” of the bank, I have never been approached by the bank regarding this special card which touches and reflects my heritage, as the brochure is saying, I just discovered it by myself while waiting at the bank.

Is it too complicated for the bank to run a search on their clients name and come out with a list showing all their Armenian clients and inform them by phone or text message about this card? For those who are not aware, Armenian family names, always end with “IAN”.

Another marketing strategy that could the bank use for its advantage, how much would it cost to issue Hi-Card to all their Armenian clients and offer it to them for FREE?

On a separate note about my banking experience that day, I arrived at the bank and picked my number at 12:41, then I got my transaction done at 12:58.

I had to wait 17 minutes to execute a banking operation that took less than 1 minute, while 2 of the customer service employees of the bank where chatting and playing with their smart phones (1 Blackberry and 1 iPhone).

I could easily take a photo of both of them and post it on my blog, but I did not. Maybe the bank management should roll back their security tape and discover it by themselves.