Inefficiency at its Finest

March 23, Tuesday: Christine from the bank asked us (via email) when Earl and I will be able to pass by their Makati office to sign the loan documents and pay the bank charges. She also mentioned that she will email the amount.

I then call her up to tell her that we already paid the bank fees last year and asked if we could have the documents sent via office messenger instead. She replied that we would need to sign it in front of bank officials. She also advised for us to send her the OR number so that they can check.

Later that night, I sent her an email with the OR number, date and amount paid.

March 24, Wednesday: Christine replies with this email: "Will check the OR to identify the breakdown. Hope you can sign the loan docs soon."

I reply back advising that we will confirm the meeting date the next day (Thursday) but we will most likely be available on Friday, March 26. I also asked for a follow up regarding the bank fees.

March 25, Thursday: Earl confirms in writing that we will be available on Friday, March 26 at 2 PM. She replies back but this time she copies in Denise. She instructs us to look for Denise on the 8th floor when we arrive at their office.

I ask her again regarding the bank fees but she did not answer.

March 26, Friday: We arrive at 2:25 PM and ask for Denise. When she arrives, she asks us to wait a bit as they are still computing the fire insurance. I asked, "We have to pay fees?". She said yes. I informed her we already paid the fees and that we gave Christine the OR number a few days ago so that they can cross reference.

Around ten minutes later, she comes back with the documents and the bill for the fees. We take a look and the amount due is higher than what we paid for last year. I asked why the fees increased and Denise explains that it was due to their service provider changing the processing rates.

I informed her again that we already paid for the charges last year. We also tell her that we're actually expecting a small refund as the fee we paid was based on an incorrect loan amount initially given to them by Avida. The actual amount is lower so Ming, who has since resigned, advised that we will get a refund (albeit a small one).

Denise said that she will check if we can get a waiver. My reaction? Uh, what's to waive considering this loan was already approved last year and the fees have already been paid for? In all my conversations with Ming and her successor Rona (who also recently resigned), they never mentioned that we would have more fees to pay or that if the fees increase, we would need to pay for the difference.

At that point, I asked her why didn't they check or settle the issue (i.e. OR, waiver, etc) prior to our arrival considering that they already had all the information days before? I was expecting that we'll just sign the documents and leave.

She said that she just gotten our account from Christine and Rona recently and has not been able to check our file yet. I told her that was NOT an excuse and if she had been working in my office, she be dead by now (figuratively speaking, of course). I also told her that the meeting was a complete waste of our time considering that Earl and I both had to go on leave just to meet up with her. We told Denise that we are not signing anything and that we are expecting not only the waiver but also the refund. Was she going to pay us for the leave we wasted? Does this mean we have to come back and go on leave again?

Denise said that they will go to our respective offices in Alabang and Makati to get our signatures. Earl then asked why they insisted we visit their office if they could have gone to us to begin with. She didn't answer.