Monday, August 07, 2006

DBS Bank Singapore - We Can Take What We Want

I've been working flat out, and just realized that it has been over a month since my last post. Tonight is the start of my summer leave, so I was kicking back, thinking about travel to come, and dealing with the incoming snail mail.

A good mood is always at risk when dealing with correspondence from banks, and sure enough, DBS managed to provoke both my ire and a blog post.

Try this for a new low in contractual onesidedness:

Payments Charges Fees Costs and Taxes

  1. You will pay such charges and fees for the provision of Electronic Services as we may prescribe from time to time, whether or not you in fact make use of such Electronic Services. We are authorized to debit your Account(s) for all charges, fees, withdrawals and payments for the provision and/or use (authorised or unauthorised) of Electronic Services and any other liabilities to, and loss suffered by, us as a result of the provision and/or use of Electronic Services.
So let's parse this gem. "You will pay". Yeah, got that. The customer always pays. But wait, here is a new concept - "whether or not you in fact make use of such Electronic Services".

Wow.

What a business model. The customer pays even when he doesn't use the service. And there's more - even if the usage is unauthorized or if the Bank suffers a loss, the customer pays.

All I can say to customers of DBS bank is run. Run now.