BII = Bank Idiot Indonesia? Yes
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Update: This just in: Just now, September 1, 2009, BII just called me again to ask for a data confirmation on what they claim to be an application of a platinum credit card with my name. Is there anything else worse than an imbecile? Yes, it is called BII.
Update: I called BII today. Initially I was going to notoriously call them until my credit card is cancelled, but hey! They cancelled it already! It turned out that this is over sooner than I predicted. But no matter, I shall call them again tomorrow, just in case they lied. Lied? Yes, they always do.
I’m going to tell this story in a chronological order, on why BII has probably involuntarily landed itself at the top of my Crappiest Indonesian Banks chart. The chart, previously held by CIMB Niaga for its idiotic credit card features (it does not allow you to pay anything below $2 online, thus eliminating the chance for you to use the card with PayPal, which is probably, unknown to them, a necessity nowadays), and for its persistently annoying telemarketing team that despite of numerous declines, they still keep calling me for unimportant programs. But we’re not here to talk about CIMB Niaga, so let’s get the story going with BII.
Some time ago, a BII telemarketer called me and offered me a gold VISA card with a limit of between IDR 15-25 million. Since this might be useful for the office to buy hardwares in the future, I took the application, signed it and have it processed. This is perhaps the beginning of an endless stupidity.
After numerous of data confirmations, I can already conclude that they probably have the worst credit card approval workflow ever. They confirmed the data for at least 3 times, not that it was a big deal, but one of those confirmation sessions come with a call from BII Bandung. Now if you have a customer in Jakarta, what on earth would you call me from friggin’ Bandung?
Finally, my card arrives. And just as I suspected with their seemingly idiotic mindset, the card I received was a classic card, with a limit of IDR 7.5 million, which is of course, worthless to me for even having it. I then called them and they got back with a reason: I asked them the downgrade my card from gold to classic. I was instantly furious and told them that I have never even said that. And if my gold card was initially approved, then why not revert the approval and give me that got damn gold card? And so they did it.
After several days, I got an SMS stating that my upgrade request to a gold card was declined. I can see where this scam is going, and I called them back. This time, they connected me to an officer named Aulia, the same officer that took my last call on why they thought I asked for the downgrade. And she said that gold cards can never have a limit of at least IDR 15 million. That’s for platinums, and she, being a dumbfuck, told me that the reason my upgrade request was declined is because I requested for a platinum upgrade.
Okay, that’s it. BII is beyond idiotic and I decided to tell her to just forget it, and close my card’s account. And I also told her that just like the bank she’s working in, the card is useless for me. So there we go, she confirmed that as per THAT day, my card no longer exists in their records.
Guess what? It still does! Today, I got another call for data confirmation for my credit card application. What the hell?! How can I have an application on an already cancelled credit card?! I asked them to patch me through the same Aulia that took my call the other day, and apparently she called in sick (as if they wish I would believe this). That’s okay, except that it’s bad luck for her colleague and that my nightmare-to-customer-support mode just hit the on button. Added to that, her colleague, named Kurnia, told me that there were never a request for my credit card cancellation, and so, I would have to do the cancellation thing all over again. I don’t really think that this is the end of it.
Friends, if you’re looking for a new credit card, my advice is to stay away from BII. Because if they could find a way to scam the crap out of you, they probably would do that right from your first application. So does BII stand for Bank Idiot Indonesia? Yes, it does, and it would probably be that way until we see judgment day.
