In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Bank phone numbers on websites these days tend to be call centres, even the site for individual branches.

Most banks don't do the decision making in branch any more, that went years ago. The branch is literally a "human contact centre" which is why phoning the branch is hard. You phone "the bank" and get through to the contact centre.

In reply to a post by jchamier:

In reply to a post by RobertoS:

Bank phone numbers on websites these days tend to be call centres, even the site for individual branches.

Most banks don't do the decision making in branch any more, that went years ago. The branch is literally a "human contact centre" which is why phoning the branch is hard. You phone "the bank" and get through to the contact centre.

A lot of bank staff in overseas contact/call centres don't have DDI numbers which makes it even harder.

My history of typos and wrong words and mangled sentences is well known, and well used to good natured corrections from people.

Only time I really get mad with myself is when I get numbers wrong.

I had an unexpected call from a bank, I did not say much but did call them back. It turned out the call was genuine. It appears they didn't like the credit card balance being in credit. A situation which had arisen because of refunds for cancelled holiday accommodation.

I hope you didn't later get the rage-inducing situation I was in once where my credit card company penalised me for not making a payment one month when I didn't owe them anything (i.e. the balance was zero because of a refund) - apparently they didn't count refunds as payments, so if you'd spent money and had refunds, your payment obligation was calculated on the basis of your spends at the statement date, not the balance of your account at the due date.