Does your bank’s service drive you crazy?

Dubai: You’re probably frustrated at how slow your bank responds to your complaints or how much you’ve struggled trying to speak to a person on the phone.

You’re not alone. It’s not just ordinary banking customers in the UAE who are increasingly dissatisfied with customer service in financial institutions. Poor customer service, apparently, has become widespread.

Small and big business owners in the country, those who make Dh30 million to D500 million a year, have recently been asked in a survey on how they feel about customer service at UAE banks.

The survey found that banks are not meeting customer expectations, with the majority of the respondents (70 per cent) saying they would not even bother to offer a recommendation. Survey findings suggest that banks have a lot of catching up to do in terms of their ability to respond to customer requests or queries, as well as on building long-term relations with clients.

“The study looked closely at the services offered by corporate banks with the outcome suggesting that banks are just not delighting their corporate customers, which is impacting customer-bank relationship, as well as provoking a resistance to offering customer referrals,” TNS Middle East, who conducted the study, said in a statement.

“It seems that customers of corporate banking services believe their bank could up-the-ante on service and this sentiment negatively affects the willingness to recommend banks to others,” said Stephen Hillebrand, CEO, TNS Middle East.

Several surveys have noted the growing frustration of retail and corporate banking customers in the country. Among the 2,000 UAE residents polled by Souqalmal.com in an earlier study, 60 per cent said they would not consider recommending their bank to a friend or relative.

TNS said the study highlights the need for banks to offer better “customer experience and long-term relationship management, faster responsiveness and turnaround time”. Banks also have some “catching up to do” when compared to their global peers.

“Another interesting observation is that the performance of financing products and treasury services specifically is considered below average,” said Hillebrand.

TNS survey included SMEs with annual turnover of Dh30 million to Dh100 million, medium-sized enterprises with annual turnover of Dh100 million to Dh500 million and large corporations with minimum annual turnover of Dh500 million.

The feedback of the respondents, who are mainly senior finance directors across more than 425 organisations in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai and Sharijah, were gathered during face-to-face conversations.