Fed up bank customers are having to wait up to two hours to have their phone calls answered with many forced to hang up in frustration, a new report has revealed.
A Central Bank survey found unacceptable delays in waiting times on some customer support lines across the five main retail banks.
In the worst cases it emerged that customers had to wait up to two hours to have their calls answered.
Call abandonment was also high as a result, with the review finding that on one phone line 50% of calls were ended by customers before they were even answered.
The Central Bank, which regulates the financial institutions, said that resourcing levels varied considerably across the retail banks and it is clear in some cases that resourcing for customer support phone lines was insufficient.
The regulator has now instructed the five lenders concerned to implement stronger action plans to tackle the problems that have been identified.
The Central Bank’s director of consumer protection Colm Kincaid said the banks need to radically improve their services to customers.
He added: “Given the importance of banking to our day to day lives, when we pick up the phone to a bank we need to get a prompt response and a good service.
“From our own review and the clear concerns expressed on social and other media it is clear that banks need to improve their performance in this area, so we have intervened to require this improvement to take place.
“This is even more important given the planned departure of two banks from the Irish market.
“With these planned departures it is expected that the demand for customer services will increase across the banking sector as customers look to move accounts, access new services and seek information.
“It is the responsibility of banks to ensure that they have sufficient resources in place to help consumers navigate this significant change in our banking market, including meeting demand from both existing and new customers.”
The assessment was carried out on AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank, Permanent TSB and KBC Bank Ireland.
It is feared the situation for customers could get even worse when Ulster Bank and KBC Bank Ireland exit the Irish market as this will mean that around a million customers will have to find new providers for their current and deposit accounts.
The Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, which represents the banks, said the pandemic had an impact on staff and services in the banking sector.
In a statement BPFI chief executive Brian Hayes said: “Banks experienced absences of up to 25% on certain days, reallocating staff to customer facing teams and branches to minimise disruption.
“Thousands of contact centre staff in the five retail banks worked on-site to provide essential service at every stage of the pandemic, managing over 10 million calls in 2021.”
On the exit of the two banks he added: “BPFI and its member banks are working intensively together as an industry, as well as with stakeholders, to assess and plan for this unprecedented task of transferring millions of accounts and direct debits of personal and business customers across the economy.
“This enormous task is an absolute priority for the banking sector, its customers and its stakeholders and will remain the number one issue at all levels of our operations this year.”
