I recently received a gift certificate drawn on a financial agency from my employer. I was not familiar with its operations so I called its customer service department to inquire about how to proceed. I asked if I could cash the gift certificate and I was told no because the purpose of the gift certificate is for opening accounts.

I then went on to its website and saw that it had two branches open on a Saturday. One in Portmore and one in Kingston. I ventured to the Kingston branch to open my account on January 31. On my arrival, I was told that the firm does not have the capacity to open accounts on a Saturday; it is only open to facilitate cash deposits and withdrawals.

I was so upset because here I am trying to become a customer and they were turning me away. I am still in shock because employees were in the firm, yet they were saying they did not have the capacity to open the account. Why open the branch if you don't have the capacity to open one simple account?

It is time for companies to revisit their customer-service charters because in a time like this, they cannot be turning away any customer as we are the base of their businesses.

I am, etc.,

STACY-ANN MONTAQUE

stacyannmontaque@hotmail.com

Kingston 6