aving experienced banks in the US (I was a customer of Wachovia, Wells Fargo and Bank of America), I thought that those were the lower bound on the competence level of financial institutions. I was wrong.

In Australia I first opened an account in the Bank of Queensland in the shopping centre Toowong Village. That evening I tried to access their online banking and, experiencing difficulties, called their customer service. After some conversation they told me that the bank employee opening my account had neglected to enter some ID details into their computer system. Next day I opened an account at the Commonwealth Bank office in the University of Queensland.

A few days later I received a debit card with the wrong name on it, despite the employee opening my account having looked at my passport while typing in the details. I tried to complain through their online banking system and received a reply that I should call. When I called, they told me I should go to the bank branch. At the branch they agreed to send me a new debit card with the correct name. A few days later I received a debit card with the same wrong name. Then I tried to open an account at the credit union called bankmecu at their office in the university. They asked for my employment contract, which no other bank had asked for. When I said I did not have it with me, they didn’t ask me to come back later with the contract, but suggested I open an account at the ANZ bank next door. Obviously, bankmecu is a nonprofit and does not want customers. So I went to ANZ and opened an account there.

After about three weeks of waiting, I received a letter with the PIN for the ANZ debit card. The letter had been sent to the wrong city district and post code, but the right street address, so it somehow found its way to me. After a month, the debit card still had not reached me. When it finally arrived, my name was spelled wrong.

I did not receive the dividends of one stock I bought through ANZ Etrade. I contacted ANZ through their online banking. The customer service told me to contact Etrade, who told me to contact Computershare. A week later Computershare told me to contact their New Zealand office. A week after that the New Zealand office replied that they had sent a dividend cheque to my address. I replied that no cheque had reached me and asked them to deposit the dividends to my bank account. Some days later they agreed. A week later the money has not reached me.