The past couple of days have been frustrating and only in part because of the Polish election result. My main bugbear has been the inability of being able to talk to a human being who is willing and able to help and in dealing with the consequences of regulations dreamed up by idiots who clearly would not be able to hold down a normal job.
The first frustration concerns the Polish subsidiary of a leading Austrian bank which some two years ago acquired Polbank from the Greeks. Since then they have been trying to harmonize the computer systems. And of course having “legacy” bank accounts in both entities the possibilities for a b… up are astronomical. Anyway a client paid money into one of these legacy accounts (better 3 years late than never I guess). When I tried to transfer the money I was told that the account was blocked by a komornik (bailiff). Since this was the first I had heard of any seizing of assets I remonstrated and was told at my local branch that I needed to call the bank’s execution department whatever that might be. But of course no telephone number is listed on the less than helpfull website apart from a general call centre number. Well after being kept on the line for an hour or so I was finally put through to a person who might have been able to help and who informed me that she had no idea why my account had been blocked and would call me back in the next couple of days. I did ask whether she could unblock the account in the meantime but apparently this is not possible. Needless to say she never called back which started the next wild goose chase to find the address of the execution department so that I could write a formal complaint. You would think this was a category A state secret. Anyway finally I have managed to send a letter. I will report back how long it takes for me to be able to get at my money. Of course if I was an identity theft merchant I am sure the bank would have allowed me a loan using stolen identity!
This same bank has a so called customer relationship management system which, should you make payment on a credit card account more than 3 days before the due date, allocates the payment to the previous month and you then get pestered by an automated messaging service threatening amputation of legs and arms if immediate (i.e. further) payment is not made. And guess what, again no human being willing to listen.
Next on the list is registration of a second hand car I recently purchased. In the UK the seller sends a counterfoil from the log book and the purchaser sends the rest of the log book with new details entered by registered post to DVLC in Swansea and within a couple of days a bright new shining log book lands on the front door mat. NOT in Poland. Since the citizen is not to be trusted and because civil servants are 1. not civil and 2. the citizen is there to make their life easier and not the other way round you have to get a special form (woe betide if it is an old version), fill it in and take personally to the local authority office. You get a temporary vehicle registration document and a month later the real thing. To add to the complication if the previous owner lived in say Poznan and you live in Warsaw then new number plates have to be issued. Luckily (I thought) the vendor also lived in Warsaw and the lady at the desk said that I could keep the same number plate. Great I thought until she said that I had to remove the number plates and bring them to her for her to inspect. WHY?
The third instance concerns the Polish health service. Now this is in many ways actually rather good. As some of you may know I was diagnosed with MS some years ago and have had quarterly appointments at the excellent neurological institute in Warsaw since then. Today was a visit day and the poor receptionist looked sheepish as she said that for next year I would have to obtain a new referral from my doctor of first contact as the NFZ have decided to change the codes of ilnesses and if I did not get a new skierowanie I would not be able to see my specialist in the New Year. Now why is the system incapable of mapping the old codes to the new? MS is not curable so one would assume that a lifetimeskierowanie is just that – lifetime. So I have to go and find a doctor and waste my own and his time to obtain a document which does not add ANYTHING to the sum of human knowledge or happiness.
Which brings me on to the disabled parking bay permit saga. Again I had a lifetime decision o(rzeczenie) however the EU in its infinite wisdom has introduced a new style permit. Great I though except that Hanna Gronkiewicz-Walc’s people had decided that a new decision was required. So five, yes FIVE visits to the same office, once to collect the new application form (not available on line), then a second visit to lodge the application form only to be told that the form has been changed (luckily I was allowed to transcribe there and then), a third to attend a medical tribunal, a fourth to collect the decision and a fifth, after a month, to give me a chance to appeal against a positive decision!, to actually collect the permit. To add to the sureal the application form stipulated that I could not apply for a new decision earlier than 31 days before the expiry of the old. Now given that the old decision was lifetime…
But just to show that stupidity is not limited to Poland I read yesterday of an Australian whose parents were born in the UK being deported from the UK because his English born wife had lost her job! Now had he been an ISIS terrorist then he could have appealed on human rights.
by Andrew Kinast (AWK)
Midcorporate 