Why I LOATHE Chinese Banks

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There are many reasons why I LOATHE Chinese Banks and this weekend's events put me over the edge. So I had to share with all of you the many reasons why they make me cringe.




• All ICBC banks say English Services on the outside of each location but I haven't been in a SINGLE location that actually speaks English
• If you make one single mistake on a form you must start over
• Must do a check mark on the forms, X's not allowed (start over)
• Some forms have Chinese & English but others have Chinese Only...makes it difficult for those who can't read along with no English speaking employees to assist
• I couldn't take the money exchange form home to have a teacher translate for me so when I returned the form was complete....that would just make too much sense for China.
• Lastly, April 28th-May 2nd 2012 is the National Holiday for International Labor Day..but oddly the banks are still open for business. We attempted 3 different banks to exchange RMB for USD but NONE would exchange the money due to the "Holiday".



On Saturday, I even made the Lobby Manager at ICBC walk outside with me and pointed to the English Speaking sign and then told her in Chinese "Why does no one speak English" she wasn't too happy with me but I was more upset with her.



There are so many things that I will never understand about China and the banks are at the top of that list.

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Comments

[Mom]

Chinese Banks
I would agree with you on the unsatisfactory idea of banking...if you are open...you should be able to do all services!

[anonymous]

well,ICBC sucks, but it's a chinese bank, not an american bank. you can't expect a chinese come to a citibank in dallas and get a chinese service. many foreigners don't understand why chinese can't speak English like in some other countries. the chinese simply no need to speak English, because there are 1.4 billion chinese there but very few foreigners ( a million is nothing in china), English is basically no use in their routine life, most chinese don't have a chance to speak english once( except in English class) in their whole life. don't be fooled by all the English on the street and on the T-shirts, that's just a fashion thing, like some americans put on chinese charactor tattoo, just looks cool. by the way, you can go to Bank of China instead of ICBC.

[ElyseandPete]

ICBC Sucks
I have lived in China for 2.5 years so I understand my options. But having a Z visa one doesn't get to choose which bank they get paid by their employer, the employer tells you which bank they bank with and you MUST have an account there in order to get paid. I also have taught English for 2.5 years in China so I understand the "facade" the Chinese put up about "learning English".

[ShadyAdy]

So many similar memories..........
.............it's true what you say! I remember filling out a form as I was depositing money for entry to the Great Wall of China Marathon. To make sure they knew the difference between my 1s and 7s, I put a line through the sevens. I got a phone call a few hours later saying that the sevens I'd wrote down weren't numbers. So I had to go through the whole process again the following day! I'm glad this entry wasn't about Western Union...I could have wrote a whole chapter!