It sounds like there are two issues here - the element of your Terms & Conditions that you would rather not be in existence, and the way that you were treated by a staff member.
With regards to the fee you were charged, the Terms & Conditions have recently been changed to reflect that a fee will be charged for transactions performed by merchants located outside Australia, regardless of the currency the transaction is in. This is a condition of your credit card account, and if you wish to avoid this fee you would have to use another bank's credit card.
It is not realistic for banks to reverse every fee or change the operation of people's accounts when they don't like how they work - ie they are not going to give you travel insurance on a card without travel insurance just because you would like it to have insurance. Nor would they pay an insurance claim where you paid for an amenity kit onboard as the only purchase towards your holiday... when the T&Cs state you need to have purchased your return flight (or a min spend on travel such as a hotel).
Further to the above, whilst you may not be happy with that aspect of your account, it is reasonable for ANZ to deny your request to reverse those fees as they were charged appropriately.
However, the way that they treated you is appalling, and I would suggest that despite that person being the team leader, you should ring and request to speak to their manager.
This is the type of complaint (ie the complaint about the staff member's treatment of you) that ANZ would like to know about - there are QA processes in place that will not always pick up all instances of this. This is an example of something that should be raised so they can make sure it doesn't happen to others.
Regardless of whether ANZ for one reason or another does not see you as a customer worth chasing, there is no excuse for that kind of treatment.
I would suggest you pursue a complaint against the staff member's treatment of you (however I dont think you will get far with the merchant fee complaint).
All the best
I don't know if I sounded like I was now persuing a refund in the fees (currency conversion) but I know I won't get it back and I have let the hope of ever getting it back go..
The team leader told me that there would be no point complaining as the complaint would be dealt by him, and "ANZ stand by its decision not to ever comp you on this card". I asked if the call was recorded, he said yes, and I asked for his staff ID, complaint process, but kept insisting I would be wasting my time.
I dont know how the person on phone was nor how you were to the person
It sounds to me that
The annual fee had been reduced - was this in relation to a threat to close the account due to fees?
previously a complaint had been made about the charges and in that instance the 42c was refunded. I posit that they would have explained what they were ; they may have stated that this was a one off
A subsequent complaint was made and they ( unsurprisingly imo ) refused to reverse the correctly applied charged and you then said that you were closing the account
You telling them that you were closing your account led to the account being closed
Then went to use it and found that it didnt work due to closure and then went to bank to ask for the card to be reinstated
The person who called stated that you
had asked for the card to be closed - which seems in line with what you reported that you said
had previously had the fee reversed - which seems to be correct
had played threatening games - had a game been played to try and get the annual fee reversed? If so , it seems that the statements of the agent are hardly incorrect
The person also (re)stated that the currency fees are valid and that they will not keep refunding them. This doesn't seem surprising - standard charges on a card are hardly going to be reversed on a regular basis
I don't see much to complain about on the facts but don't know how the parties on the conversation conducted themselves; possibly there is a recording that they can refer to if complained about
If not wanting to close a card, perhaps not telling them that you are closing the account might be a wise approach
Dave
The annual fee discount is not related to this event, it was done many months ago when I wanted to close it due to the fees going up and introduction of AMEX.
ANZ argued that they notified me in "Secure Mail" that my account would be closed and I would get a letter in 7 days with statement.
Now, you don't get a notification unless you login to Internet banking.
In the last week I have just started a new job, have worked 12 hour days and internet banking is the last thing on my mind.
The only way I found this out was when I was left in a queue, embarassed because I could not pay! Then I was on hold for 20 minutes to find out what was happening.
After my account was reinstated, I logged into Internet banking, reviewed my wording and saw the reply that they have processed my request to close the account.
Without bringing discrimination in, the person who responded has a name that seems like they are located offshore. Was this perhaps a misunderstanding of english, or a chance to get rid of a customer who doesn't pay full fees?
My annual fee is not even due for a few months, so I haven't even had a discount on that.
Once again I think this is a big jump to the conclusion. Saying that "I'm going to close my account then" is not the same as "close my account now". What we don't know is if the CSR then said ok i can close your account now do you want me to do that? and the OP responded yes close it. Given that the OP then tried to use the card I guess that they didn't think that they had actually closed the account despite saying that were going to close it (at some point in the future)
"Going to" do anything is implied future tense and it is open ended.
But still it seems highly likely that there was a lack of clarity in the conversation. I have had a bit of experience with dealing with ANZ over their T&C in the past, to the point that after one of my successful dealings with them, the very next bill contained a change to the exact point that I used against them. Coincidence, I'm sure.
The CSR did not ask if I wanted my account closed, instead they just sent me a notification in SecureMail about it. ANZ branch manager told me that they should always call people to confirm that is what they wanted. He kept apologising so much....
I had no idea my card was closed until I went to use it. As AMEX is my primary card, I only use visa when surcharges are around and don't warrant the bonus points, or if VISA is the only credit card taken.
No having both sides of the story, you could indeed by right, but it is quite possible that the inferrence was reasonable
e.g. if the customer said something on the lines of "if you won't refund the charges I am going to close my account then"
Dave
I wish I could get a copy of the conversation. I made it obviously clear in my responses, as I am hopeful that senior management get to listen to how their supervisors treat customers!
If it is processed overseas then the bank will incur the fee. It is something to take up with paypal rather than the credit card company tho ... or of course, use a form of payment where no fee is charged for foreign transactiond in AUD. There are options; even my bank debit card doesn't charge
Dave
A lesson to be learnt, will no longer use AUD conversion by paypal and just suck it up with the bank conversion, or even use debit to pay.
~~~
I talked to some other friends of mine, and they too have noticed a degradation of service from ANZ's call centres. Maybe a sign of more things to come ......
The main reason I am annoyed is that ANZ closed my account without an explicit request or confirmation. The second reason is the way the team leader dealt with it. I am a team leader myself in a large corporation, and if I was caught speaking to a customer like that, I am sure I'd be eaten alive by senior leadership. What happened to the customer is always right.
A year ago I cancelled my Ignite/Virgin credit card as I never used it. It took about 6 "Yes I am sure I want to cancel it" .... even though the card was fee free forever !! They just would not have a bar of me wanting to cancel it, although they were very nice, and I think that CSR was pretty good for a retention specialist.
