Probleem met uw Rabobank Wereldpas? Ik heb het vier keer gehad en ik vond het echt vervelend!
The first 3 sentence are not meant to practice my Dutch. These are for the sake of Dutch search engine and let other complainants know that they are not alone with their problems with the new Rabobank Wereldpas.
Opening a bank account in Rabobank is also not the easiest in the world. I once tried to open an account with them while holding a temporary visa and they denied me for reasons that I do not have a regular income, which of course is not true but they didn’t listen to me.
But since Rabobank seemed to be the strongest among the Dutch banks during the economic crisis and for convenience’s sake *because everyone in my circle are all Rabobank customers, I still decided to open my first Dutch bank account with them.
Opening an account with Rabobank after getting my resident permit was a breeze. A call to make an appointment, presenting your passport and resident permit and they give you your account in a snap, and your bankpas in three days. I found it a bit weird that they are issuing me with a new type of bankcard which felt plastic-ky and brittle *see brown card above. It is very different from the usual Rabobank Europas which is sturdier and have a sort of hologram on it. Of course I did not complain, not yet at least.
One month after enjoying my bankpas, I went into panic when it was suddenly rejected by the machines, both pinautomaat and geldautomaat. This first happened few days before I went to Budapest and I wasnt able to get the card until my return. I had to personally go to Rabobank office to apply for a new card which took not 5 but 7 days to arrive, thereby halting all my bank automated activities like shopping, doing the groceries, cashing money and paying for train tickets. I do not normally carry cash as a money-saving measure I imposed myself few years ago. I was literally moneyless during that one week.
I was relieved when the card finally arrived but three weeks after, the same things, subjecting me to the same annoying processes above. But that was not the end of it because the same things was due to be repeated two more times and I already lost patience. Rabobank already changed my bankpas suspecting that the problem must have been carried because of the magnetic strip that contains the same but it did not work. I asked for the old Europas card but they said they are not manufacturing it anymore, insisting that the new one is better. I strongly disagreed because the people I know never had the same problem with *except of course for the equally annoying non-acceptance of Rabobank card in NS machines.
Two weeks ago, I learned that you can apply for a new card through the telephone. Imagine all those wasted time going back and forth to the bank. I was very offended when I learned that. But what made me decide to change to another bank is the fact that after I requested for a new card and they promised to send it to me in 5 days, I learned that they actually did not do anything it. And so now I am going abroad, once again, without a bank card.
To top it all, my company applied for a credit card for me and they screw it out again big time. They lost the papers which we submitted, took them one whole month to send me my card and when they finally did, sent me a card with a wrong expiry date. More waiting and more disappointments with Rabobank’s customer service.
I am one lost customer of Rabobank and if they pay attention to their customer service, sooner or later, they will loose some more.
