Banco de Oro

In December 2007, Banco de Oro had a hostile takeover on Equitable-PCI Bank. Previously, the bank was just that - PCI Bank, one of the better and more reliable commercial banks in the Philippines at par with BPI and Metrobank. It was still reeling from the Equitable merger at that time, but PCI was as graceful as the lady who defied a president in the only big fish corruption case ever resolved in this country.

There are a lot of lapses in the service of BDO since then. Among them are the following:
- ATM branches are always offline from morning 'til the next banking day
- One cannot withdraw over-the-counter inter-branch. One BDO manager at Urdaneta City Manolito Novida tried in vain to fool me it was not true by calling his counterpart in Del Monte-West Avenue and discuss that such was such.
- Some of their ATM features such as "money transfer" was a joke, a posse, a fraud, as one of the West Ave-Del Monte branch clerk confirmed with me when I inquired some couple of months ago. I was transferring my account from Carmen to that branch and inquired about its money transfer feature as it would do me no good if I made a little mistake considering my almost idiotic disability with numbers...but the clerk said it was only placed there without really any function.
I told the clerk it was quite strange as BPI's money transfer has been working more than a decade back.
- And now, the most recent discovery I found is their online blah. Just yesterday, I had a credit card approved with them, but in order to use it online, I need to register online. The site is problematic. So, as much as I never want to talk to a customer service representative over the phone again as long as I live, I was left without a choice, as I told Angel the CSR I talked with at 631-8000. She told me to apply with the nearest branch. There, I found out one could apply for Internet Banking, Phonebanking, etc. But it seems it will end only with the form. The teller / clerk / staff at BDO West Ave-Del Monte branch told me their site is working. She even had the nerve to ask me where I access the net (at home or in the office?). I was tempted to say via internet cafe. But then again, sarcasm does not apply with ignorance. I told the truth that even my mobile phone won't left me alone offline with the features of yahoo chat. Poor me. Because even dial-up connection today is far more efficient than a million-dollar deal with ZTE. As long as it's not peak season, else, one is reminded of the old EDSA traffic prior to its massive rape and deconstruction.
In short, BDO people in case you'd ever come upon this blog, I hope I don't need to spell it out that your services suck. But I already did, so, thank me.