Around the Christmas season of 2013, Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) Singapore put up tantalizing advertisements promoting a 1.88% per annum Bonus Saver Account deposit scheme that offers 4 SEA Aquarium Tickets at Sentosa.
We pop in to their roadshow at Plaza Singapura atrium.
Naturally, we expect some attached terms and conditions e.g. fresh funds, minimum terms, and minimum amount.
What we didn't expect was a complicated explanation whereby Pru Save kept coming into the picture, followed by deductions from a compulsory dedit card that must be issued together with this deposit account (don't you just hate it when one things leads to another.. and another..). What has Pru Save (Prudential insurance?) got to do with a 1.88% deposit scheme? When someone goes for a bank deposit, they don't want any insurance scheme in it, hello?
And the explanation of how a $500 minimum monthly spending deduction must be deducted from a specifically designated debit card baffles as much. We already hold 3 other SCB credit cards, and really didn't want one more to complicate life, so why can't the minimum deduction come from our preferred SCB card? After all, it all belongs to the same bank.
At first, the heavily mascara-ed pretty lady was pleasant. But as we pestered for a more straightforward breakdown of steps in order to comprehend how the simple bank deposit links itself so intricately to Prudential and SCB debit deductions, her patience got stretched.
Our tolerance got shorter as well when we simply couldn't grasp the concept even after she had sketched the figures and systematic deductions onto paper (which she wouldn't let us keep). No matter which way she try to present it, it was simply too convoluted.
All we wanted was to deposit cash, and earn interest.
Instead we wasted one hour being goreng-ed left and right.
We have the interest in the product but either by poor design or poor explanation, we gave up.
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