Banking bureaucracy

I'm exercising my prerogative as an elderly blogger. This posting is a rant about recent Canadian banking experiences.

I move (back) to Canada in 2022 after 21 years in New Zealand and 8 years in Scotland. During that time I had retained my Bank of Nova Scotia account and observed its technological progression comparing it with my New Zealand and UK banking experiences. It all seemed much the same until, as a Canadian resident, I had to engage more closely with Scotiabank.

The first indication that things were rather wonky back in Canada was learning that many financial transactions were conducted by cheque - something that, 21 years in New Zealand, had made me believe that this financial tool belonged only to the twentieth century.

The next little niggle occurred when I discovered that not all machines that ostensibly offered payment by card did not accept a debit card - only credit cards were accepted. I duly went to my bank and applied for a credit card. No luck. I was told that, while I held a long term visa to live in Canada, only citizens and "permanent residents" could hold a credit card with a Canadian bank. The teller rather ruefully told me that, while they taxed people in my category, they did not issue credit cards.

A year later the credit card prohibition was relaxed and I acquired a credit card. But not all was now plain sailing. My online banking system refused to list the transactions on my credit card. I telephoned many times, supplied multiple evidentiary screenshots, and kept being assured that this issue was being "progressed to another level". After over a year the matter was successfully solved.

Most recently I caused myself inadvertent grief in paying a credit card bill by mistyping a comma instead of a period. I accidentally transferred $3,000 instead of $3.00. Surely, I thought, this can easily be corrected by reversing the transaction. But no. Instead I received a message asking me to contact customer support.

When I made the call and supplied all the verification details required I was told there was no record of my credit card account. "Was it a Mastercard" I was asked. Then "What is the number on the card?". Then I was told that there was another number I needed to call.

Making the call and supplying the verification information again I was pleased that they had heard of me and knew my account. But my problem was not yet resolved. Naively I had expected that they would fix the problem on the spot. Not so. Here is what I had to do. Write an email to an address they specified with a case number they also specified. The email should contain the details of my overpayment and a screenshot from my online banking system verifying the payment. Then I could expect to receive within 30 days a cheque for the required amount.

I was almost speechless but managed to ask whether the matter could be resolved electronically. I was told this was the only way because Scotiabank had acquired their credit card business from the Sears Company 10 years ago.

I was left to conclude that, while Canada is led competently by a former banker, Scotiabank seems to be led by donkeys.

Careless People

I'll be upfront about my reasons for this post. I have virtually nothing new to say. Instead I have only outrage. My negative opinions about the ruthless and morally banktupt leadership of Facebook have been accumulating for many years. They have been crystallised by reading the recent memoir Careless People by Sarah Wynn-Williams in which she tells of her experience as a Facebook employee.

Wynn-Williams was an ambitious and idealistic New Zealander. As she tells it she wanted to change the world and early in her career she worked at the UN where she was involved in environmental work - very much influenced by her upbringing in NZ. Later she moved to the NZ Embassy in Washington but she soon found that New Zealand's small footprint in the corridors of world power frustrated her idealism.

In 2009 she visualised an opportunity to move to an organisation which was destined to be a much more powerful player in world affairs. At that time Facebook was still a relatively new company but Wynn-Williams saw clearly its huge potential to change the world. She formed the ambition to work for the company and she also (remarkably) had a clear idea about her role in the company - to be a big picture diplomat helping Facebook contribute to social issues around the world.

Amazingly, after a two year campaign where she had to persuade the company that they needed such an employee, she was offered the newly created job of Manager of Global Social Policy.

Most of the book is about the next 6 years she spent working for Facebook until she was fired. This part of the book is completely damning of the company executive, particularly Mark Zuckerberg. The company denies all her allegations dismissing them as either out of date or untrue. Who should we believe, or does the truth lie somewhere in between?

My firm opinion is that Wynn-Williams should be believed. There are several reasons. To begin with her narrative is both internally consistent and it agrees with what I have observed over the years. Next she has the support of many others (such as Brooke Oberwetter and the very many corroborative comments in this post). Then there are the several occasion that Zuckerberg has appeared before the US Congress where his bluster has always been unconvincing; his modus operandi is to admit to some minor offence for which he apologises profusely, and sidestep admissions of more serious actions. Well before I read Wynn-Williams memoir I had formed the opinion that he was a scion of privilege who felt entitled to act without conscience; and this book reinforces that opinion by citing numerous examples of this conduct.

Zuckerberg and Facebook tried their utmost to suppress publication of Careless People. They failed but the courts prevented Wynn-Williams from publicising her book (what sort of crazy judgement is that?). However their efforts only drew attention to the book once it was published and presumably helped to drive it to the top of the New York Times best-sellers list.

Read this book. It is an appalling example of the way big tech companies exploit their customers.