I'd fight the system if only I had the energy...

Two weeks ago I bought a newer/fancier webcam on eBay (the Oz Trailer flavour of eBay as the NZ site is virtually non-existant, and stuff on Trade-Me tends to get supid prices these days).
After buying said webcam I noticed that the seller didn't accept PayPal or Visa (something I really should have checked but I was buying from an eBay store so I had assumed they would).
The only option was to send the money via Telegraphic Transfer (this is the point where the banks would chuckle all the way... to the bank... if they weren't already there).
The $19 camera had $8 postage, so a total of $27 Ozzie. I checked with two banks and the TT was $25 :-S
Bit of a bummer paying that much just to send $27, but even at $54(NZD) it was cheaper than the cameras in NZ.
I went in, paid the money, filled in the forms and off it all went.
The next week the eBay store emailed me to say I'd only sent them $10, and that I'd need to send the other $17. I argued with them, sent scans of the TT form and the part of my bank statement that showed the money leaving my account but they were still adamant that only $10 had arrived, so I went back to the Bank...
Their response was: "Of course the receiving bank takes out a fee too, and we can't tell you how much it'll be in advance. Sending a TT for $27 was stupid" .... Gee, nice of them to tell me this AFTERWARDS!!!!

How is it that banks (every bank around the world by the looks) manage to get away with such appalling customer service?

What other service industry closes it's doors at 4:30, doesn't open over the weekends, charges it's clients each month for holding their money, and charges $45 for an electronic transaction?

But the reality is who can exist these days without credit? And so we are all stuffed...

As Dad said (many years ago), the world is run by banks and ad. agencies... (the politicians are just going along for the ride).

Ok, so that's my rant. I feel much better now :-)