The Employee Factor

Thursday, I became the proud new owner of a wonderful house. I now know why they rate home buying as on one life’s most stressful events! Don’t get me wrong. I love the house – can’t wait to move! But, the process and paperwork leading up to the purchase was crazy, and the timelines? My breaking point however came about when I needed to get a certified check to accompany my offer. You’d think something like that would be easy….

I went to a Royal Bank branch down the street from me. I was working against the clock and getting anxious so I figured I’d go with the closest branch. I walked in. The line was short. I breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately it was downhill from there. I walked up to the Customer Service Representative and smiled. I let her know that I needed a certified check, that I was putting in an offer on a house and needed to get it right away. Her response?

“No, I’ll give you bank draft though”. Umm…what? I asked her why not. “Because you don’t need one."

 

I explained that I had just signed an offer agreement that said I would be providing a certified check later that afternoon, so I stressed that I actually did need one.

“Listen” she said “I’ve been doing this a real long time. You don’t need a certified check. A bank draft will do. Trust me. Oh and it’s cheaper anyway."

 

I didn’t care at that point about cheaper, I cared about getting what I needed to have my offer accepted. I wanted that house! Then the kicker…

“Well, I can’t do a certified check anyway. You need to go to the downtown branch for that. But you don’t need one. You’ll find that out, and then you’ll be back!”

She was wagging her finger at me at this point. What did I do? I headed to the Downtown branch.

 

I arrived at the Downtown branch. Luckily once again the line was short. When I reached the Customer Service Representative, I told her I needed a certified check. She asked me what it was for. When I told her she gave me the response I was dreading

“I think what you might really need is a bank draft."

I nearly keeled over. The look on my face must been easy to read (I never play poker for this very reason). Right away she told me that she could certainly get me a certified check, but that a bank draft might be a better option. She proceeded to tell me the pros and cons of both. I was glad to finally be getting the information I needed. Then the best part. She told me that she understood that this must be a very stressful day for me and that the last thing I needed was more to worry about. She asked me for my Realtor’s number and said she would be happy to chat with him to ensure that I was provided with exactly what we needed. When she came back she had all the information we needed and we were off to the races. We had a bit of a chat about moving and house buying while she finalized the last details and then we were done. She smiled and wished me luck. I left relaxed and excited about “my” house.

 

After my first trip to a Royal Bank, I was convinced I would be moving banks. But, after my second encounter, I am content to remain a customer. Having said that, Royal Bank needs to focus on reducing the variability in its network – and focus on being FIRST for clients’ everywhere, every time.