I've always known AIB were great
April 18, 2005
But wow, have they surpassed themselves now!
AIB is the leader in this land as far as branding, advertising, online services and customer service is concerned. Those are the aspects of the bank that I consume and I think they're great, so it would be safe to assume that their prowess stretches far beyond - into other areas too.
And I'm wondering if I unwittingly engaged in them only last week...
Brightspark has been sporting a bright and shiny new (Southside) telephone number for the past number of weeks - don't worry Northside readers, this is only a temporary thing - the new number contains a series of 4 digits that are very like the PIN on my ATM card.
Poor over-wraught little brain of Brightspark's overloaded and couldn't handle the 2 sets of numbers, so chose to forget the very important PIN number - completely. Typical isn't it? Not to forget the number that is written down everywhere, on email signatures, letterhead, etc...but such is the way of the strong female mind.
I kept thinking the number would come back to me; kept risking my reputation trying at the ATM different permutations and combinations of likely numbers. I tell you - it's can a bit embarrassing when they don't work. Certainly made me feel like a student again, skulking away from the ATM with no cash in hand! Anyway, it had gotten to a point last week where I couldn't exist with no real mula much longer, so I telephoned the lovely people at AIB 24 hour banking and asked for help.
When I told them what happened and thought that I'd need a new PIN to be issued, a lovely person suggested that they just reissue my existing PIN. (eircom take note - thinking AND helpful suggestions). That sounded grand and I ended the call feeling very pleased that I had gone to the trouble of moving all my accounts to AIB.
Now, this is where the interesting bit kicks in - I haven't received a piece of paper with my PIN on it from AIB...but I have remembered it. Or maybe I have received memories of it. Hhm? Yeah? Have you seen "Minority Report"? All that high tech stuff is a lot closer than we know...
What I'm wondering is this: maybe I've been included in secret trials for a new way of communicating with customers - TBTP - To Brain Transfer Protocol. Imagine what an easy sell that would be to bankers all over:
- Seamless transfer of information direct to your client's heads
- Saves on postage and telephone bills
- In tests, 2 out of 3 people say they preferred it
Benefits
And yes - I'm one of those 2!
I bet you wish it were you - that you'd forgotten your PIN and ended up as an early adopter of a new global life enhancing technology...?
Or maybe you're glancing at the time down there below and thinkking, isn't it time she had a rest?