I spent one hour today to make a transfer (I would have used the ATM but the amount was too high). First I tried on my own, they even accepted I fill out the forms in english. I had to write every single number by myself and they even asked me to write the whole amount in letters. As my writing is not so clear they asked me to do it again. They said they couldn’t write it cause of the law… Well, after half an hour of trying I gave up, threw the paper towards them and left the bank angry. I came back with my girlfriend but even with her it took more than 20 minutes. In the end they didn’t like my signature but didn’t insist too much…
Whats weird is that they asked me to “withdraw the money” before transfering it. And this was not a international transfer! So I had to do two forms.
I did the same thing yesterday at Taipei Fubon and they were very helpful, filling out the form for me (I was in a hurry and the tellers can write anti-forgery complex characters faster than I can). What bank was that, and where?
That’s normal, and seems stupid, but if you put the cash on the counter yourself you can avoid this step; just withdraw it via ATM on your way into the bank next time and you’ll save yourself one form.
I send money home every month. The last time my money was MIA for 3 weeks and they were completely useless in solving the problem. I had to spend soooo much time on the phone and with e-mails. In the end I solved the mystery. Hey I was willing to accept the fat guy with the disgusting and loud belching habit, but this is disgraceful business etiquette. I hope I don’t ever get that burping fool at the bank
I did the same thing yesterday at Taipei Fubon and they were very helpful, filling out the form for me (I was in a hurry and the tellers can write anti-forgery complex characters faster than I can). What bank was that, and where?
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It was at ICBC, Mega ICBC now in Hsinchu.
[quote=“Dragonbones”]
That’s normal, and seems stupid, but if you put the cash on the counter yourself you can avoid this step; just withdraw it via ATM on your way into the bank next time and you’ll save yourself one form.[/quote]
It doesn’t just seem stupid. It is stupid. And I couldn’t withdraw so much from ATM …
Initially, they wanted me to do all the filling out in my local bank - I do a lots of domestic transfers, so that pissed me off a fair bit.
However after begging etc. OI got things set up so they do it all for me at the information counter - queues are for idiots, so I get them to do it and double check the amounts in the passbook before leaving. Works like a charm.
[quote=“Mr He”]How often do you do transfers at that bank?
Initially, they wanted me to do all the filling out in my local bank - I do a lots of domestic transfers, so that pissed me off a fair bit.
However after begging etc. OI got things set up so they do it all for me at the information counter - queues are for idiots, so I get them to do it and double check the amounts in the passbook before leaving. Works like a charm.
It’s still a bit time consuming, though.[/quote]
I do a lot of international transfers here and from ATM if local, but this time the amount was too high.
To my great bizarrenes international transfers are much much faster in proceeding than local ones.
I payed 30 NT (had to be payed in cash) as fee for that transfer. I think thats also quite high.
I did my first ATM transfer yesterday (Fubon Bank to Bank of Overseas Chinese) and it went wrong. First I forgot that the limit for transfers is 30k but the ATM gave me an error message and a slip with some error code but all the descriptions were in Chinese. So I went into the bank and asked if I can do a transfer at the counter. The clerk didn’t speak English but called someone that did. I explained that the ATM transfer failed, gave them the slip from the ATM and they told me about the 30k limit. I then asked if I can transfer the full amount right there, so the lady translated to the clerk and left.
He asked me to fill out some form, including my own account details and the Overseas Bank account number and bank code. Sign here, done.
He then typed it into the computer, handed me a printout and said “Ok, ok”, so I left. Only took a few minutes, though I did wonder why the amount wasn’t specified on the printout.
This morning I got an email and the other party informed me that they hadn’t received the money so I had my boss looking at the “transfer” printout. It turned out that this was not a transfer, instead they disabled the limit for this particular account. So I went to the ATM again and selected transfer, where I was greeted with a choice of that particular account or another account. I choose the Overseas Bank account, entered the amount (exceeding 30k) and the transfer went through.
From what I understand I can continue to transfer amounts above 30k to this particular account, until I ask them to impose the limit again. Actually this might be useful for some people, say in case where you make regular (e.g. monthly rent) payments that exceed 30k. Saves you typing in the numbers, too.
If it’s illegal for the tellers to fill out the forms for you then my bank has been breaking the law left and right. Before I got used to writing the special number characters I would ask them to fill in that part for me. Now I can write those myself but sometimes I forget how to write it when there’s a zero in the middle of the number so they will rewrite it for me if I screw it up.
If you do regular bank transfers you might also want to check if they have an Internet service. With my bank I was able to sign up for an Internet account and list out all the accounts I regularly transfer to. Now I can just pop in to their web site and transfer away without filling out a bunch of forms. Their web site is all Chinese but I was able to figure out the basics of how to use it fairly easily.
The bank ladies almost always fill out the forms for me. I think sometimes either I was too gruff with the lady, or she was in a bad mood. Put me through the same BS that the OP had to go through. In the USA, seems like more than half the tellers have a really bad attitude and ALWAYS follow regulations. If they are not allowed to fill out forms, they won’t help. OK, sometimes there are some sympathetic ppl back home, but not all of them and many are much worse and the banks have stupid rules and procedures, similar to Taiwan. Bureaucracy os the same everywhere.
Well, I for one get good service! 