Saturday, August 16, 2008

Swan's bank-switching package is a useless joke

In January I suggested it would be useless.

Now the Sydney Morning Herald's Jessica Irvine has actually tried to use it.

Her colleague Annabel Crabb details the joke:

The "special hotline" number just turns out to be the ASIC general phone number.

Try dialling it; at first you'll get a list of options asking you whether you are an ASIC agent or a company director, or are ringing to report a scam, in which case you should press "3". Even at this early stage, bank switchers, the urge to press "3" will be quite strong.

Resist it; stay on the line. When an operator arrives, and you mention that you're calling about bank switching, you will elicit first a brief silence, then a pleasant musical interlude, and finally an extremely nice young woman who explains that you might be better off consulting a website called "Fido".

There's more discussion here.