I write this message to denounce the bad service of the ING DIRECT Spain bank and its abusive behavior. This is my story:
I am a resident abroad and in one of my calls to ING they suggested that I fill out a form to avoid withholdings in Spain.. A great idea since I pay my taxes abroad.
When I had the opportunity to go to Spain I filled out a form and provided the necessary documentation. So far a correct service.
The problem appeared when one day my cards stopped working, on August 24, 2016 I called ING and they informed me that my account is blocked because I must present a document that proves that I reside abroad, among the accepted documents the payroll of the business.
This is a clear abusive behavior and denotes a non-professional company. You don’t have to be very smart to follow a procedure that doesn’t harm customers. For example:
- The company (ING) informs the client (Raúl) that he must present certain documentation.
- The client has a certain deadline to present the documentation, if the documentation is not submitted on time, the account is blocked.
Anyway, of course I followed the instructions that ING indicated to me: send an email to processing@ingdirect.es explaining my case and informing that the payroll is written in German. The man who attended to me told me that my account would be enabled quickly upon receiving the documentation.
On August 25 I sent the email, with the attached payroll explaining my case and remarking that the document is written in German. I did not receive any acknowledgment of receipt, again ING presents an unprofessional procedure.
For a few days I observe that my cards are still not working. On August 29 I fly to call, and they inform me that I must wait 72 hours for the procedure to execute correctly. On this occasion, the man who informed me on August 24 or lied or was poorly informed.
Dear reader, imagine what it is to reside abroad, and not have access to your money. How anyone should pay the rent of the apartment, buy food, etc. A critical and unfortunate situation.
Well, on August 31, after more than 72 calendar hours, I call ING again. On this occasion they tell me that I must send the email to infomracion@ingdirect.esand with the ID number in the subject of the email. This is already an embarrassing mess of the company. I immediately resend the email, tell me by phone that they have received it, however, because the payroll is in German, they must send it to the translation department. On this occasion the operator tells me that she cannot tell me how long it will take to perform this procedure.
Here we are, in Austria and without access to my account.
During this time, I made 2 formal complaints to ING DIRECT España (informacion@ingdirect.es). One of them I tried with the web form, but the submit button remains disabled despite filling in the necessary fields. Again, or a programming failure, therefore non-professional connotation of the company, or barriers to forms of communication, and therefore an ethical behavior of the questionable company.
On September 1, I fly to call and inform me that my account is no longer locked. Good news. he same day he tried to dispose of my money with one of my two cards, but they don’t work either at the cashier or in establishments.
On September 2 I try again, but he got the same result. They do not work in ATMs or establishments. I call ING DIRECT Spain the same day, and they say that my account is active and that they have no record of the operations. They suggest that there is a drop in the line, throughout the city, or that the two cards are defective in the chip and in the band.
My hypothesis is that RFID terminals block the card itself after several failed attempts. ou make sense, since you can perform operations without a PIN for amounts less than EUR 20, and therefore a brute force attack would be plausible. The ING operator says that is not possible.
I will try one more day, to eliminate the absurd theory of line drop. It is absurd because I have tried it in different establishments and ATMs at different times of the day.
The operator informs me that it will take 7 to 10 days to send me the new cards.
Today is September 20, I receive an email from ING DIRECT customer service asking for my ID and full name, in deference to my third written complaint made on September 2. It took 18 days to contact, awesome. By the way I have not yet received my new cards, they are already 17 days waiting.
