My new bank is so nice - but just a tad over the top

A fledgling relationship with a new bank has started off to a rocky start.

Gary Clement for The National

My fledgling relationship with my new bank has got off to a rocky start. In October I wrote of my sadness at saying goodbye to Lloyds TSB, a financial institution I had banked with since the age of eight, after it decided to shut up shop in the UAE.

I scouted around for a bank that could match Lloyds in terms of product offerings and overall service and decided to take a gamble with Emirates Islamic Bank, the Islamic finance arm of Emirates NBD.

Why? Because I already had a credit card with them that had racked up vast amounts of air miles and because they had gone out of their way to court my business.

However, if I am really honest, the main reason was because they were nice to me.

Whenever I pop into my nearest branch, they always greet me like a long lost friend and cannot do enough to help.

The problem is that there has been rather a lot to help with since I joined in October.

Niggling problems such as a wrong PO box number and a home branch being located in Abu Dhabi rather than Dubai were the start of my woes. But those issues are minor and joining a new bank is never smooth sailing.

Then after paying off a loan and patting myself on the back for doing so, I received notification that a cheque to pay off the loan from my now defunct Lloyds account had bounced and that I would be charged Dh200 (US$54.44) by EIB. But I had already paid the loan off hadn't I?

Four heated phone calls followed, with me getting increasingly angry until I told one poor soul on the end of the phone not to bother calling again until the matter was resolved.

Eventually, after lots of apologies the problem went away. Or did it?

Despite all the assurances, the Dh200 was still not credited back to my account.

A couple of other mishaps here and there and I phoned the bank's PR office to find out what they were doing to address customer service issues. "We're working on our customer service all the time" the spokesman explained, adding that they would resolve my problems immediately.

Within minutes, one of the lovely people who had apologised before, called me again.

And this is my biggest problem, because the staff at Emirates Islamic Bank are possibly the politest I have ever encountered. In fact if there was an award for the nicest bank, they would get my vote hands down.

No matter how angry or frustrated I get, they are the epitome of good manners. They listen when I rant; they sympathise, they promise to resolve it and they always apologise - several times.

And the nicer they are, the worse I feel for complaining in the first place.

But then I have to remind myself that apologies, no matter how nicely they are delivered, are only effective if something gets done.

And, after a while there's something slightly irritating about nice people who say they will deliver, but don't.

To EIB's credit, in the end they do deliver - it just takes a lot of pushing to get there.

In my eyes a bank should be like a silent best friend. They protect your financial interests and bother you as little as possible. It's just nice to know they are there, doing their job.

And EIB are doing their job - there's just a little too much bothering.

So, with the last of my teething troubles being worked on, I admit that against my better judgement I still have faith.

Rather than jump ship, I'm sticking with them for now - partly because I can't bear to fill in anymore paperwork and partly because I haven't met anyone in the UAE who spouts on about how wonderful their bank is.

I'm almost willing EIB to succeed because if they do, it couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of people.

* Alice Haine

Felicity Glover is on leave and will return on January 12