The past seven days have been really stressful for me. This whole case made me think of whether this system is going back to middle ages or maybe trying to make a small effort to work towards being in line with the expectations, using the latest technology available.
The whole thing started at the beginning of last week, when it became clear I need to send some money to Sweden, asap if possible. Being in finance basically all my adult life comes with benefits as I'm not jumping into the first option, I like to see all my options first, then choose the best, or sometimes the least bad one, if there's no good option available.
Sweden has some strict rules, when it comes to finance, you can't do what you want, you can't march into a shop with a suitcase full of money, so the only solution in this case was a bank transfer.
Being on the blockchain and in crypto since 2016, has taught me a lot and knew what was to come is not going to be easy, but now I have to admit, I was really naive.
On the 9th, I put a big glass of water on the table, took a deep breath and initiated a transfer using the bank's mobile app. Such an act is not a big deal, if you have all the details needed, should take a minute, but obviously nothing goes as smoothly as you want and this is how when I was close to signing the transaction, I got an error message. The app said the date of execution is different from the date of processing. This was shocking because none of the dates were selected by me and at the date of execution the app gave me as soon as possible by default. Having no other option, I started the process again, naively hoping that walking the same path would give me a different result. It didn't.
The next possible option was to call the helpline, which I did. After listening to all the pre-recorded crap they make you to, and waiting for about 5 minutes, I was transferred to a human call center agent and this is when the second shock came. I got a lady who had a speaking problem that I could barely understand what she was saying. I don't know the medical term for that, but trust me, I made huge efforts to try to understand what she's saying, and at the end I ended the call without getting any solution to my problem as we could not understand each other. After this call, I got an automated survey call, which I answered honestly bu telling I'd never recommend the customer service to anyone and that my satisfaction on a scale from 0 to 10, where 10 is very good, was ZERO!
This was not revenge at all and I actually felt sorry for the lady, she's not to blame for having that problem, but the person who assigned her the role is. She should not work in this position as I doubt anyone can understand what she's saying. After all this, I had no choice but to make an appointment to the bank, pay them a visit on the 10th and make the transaction the old fashioned way, with pen and paper.
The appointment the next day went ok I thought, but close to the closing hour of the bank, I got a call from the lady, telling me they need more details in order to process my request, so I got another appointment for the 11th. I was there at 9am, happy to get the whole thing over with. After a couple of hours I saw the transaction took place, which meant problem solved on my behalf. This was on Wednesday last week.
Then on Monday, on the 16th, I got a call from the Swedish party who I sent the money, asking me about details as the money was not in their account yet. This was the call I feared to get and there it was. I checked my balance immediately and as the transaction was not cancelled, the only thing I could do was call the bank, but this time I had the number of the lady who took my case.
So I called the lady and after some investigation, I was told the payment order has as execution date the 13th. Wtf would be the right word here and that's exactly what I thought as I signed the order on the 11th and this begs the question what they did with my money for 2 days, why wasn't the transfer made only on the 11th?
At that point, on Monday I knew my money left my account, but did not get to the beneficiary. I asked the lady in her experience, how much time is needed for such a transfer, but she could not give me a straight answer.
So Monday passed, Tuesday passed and I got no news about the money. Good part of Wednesday passed as well, when around 4pm my time, I got the call that the money has finally arrived.
One f_cking week, or SEVEN DAYS, if it's easier for you. That's how long it took to transfer some money from Romania to Sweden. One f_cking week, or SEVEN f_cking DAYS!!!! Honestly I have no words. I only want to know why? Why did I and the other party had to wait one week for the money to reach destination? Why are we paying people to do our banking?
The answer is to play with our money and make life a living hell, as I see no other reason.
At that point I said to my brother, imagine if you have a deadly illness and you need money for surgery or for an urgent treatment, that could save your life and it takes a week to get the money, a week that you don't have.
Knowing we have the technology to transfer any amount anywhere in one minute makes me unbelievably angry and can't accept this situation. It's 2025 and this is the fastest, legal way. One f_cking week.
Who's going to pay me interest for one week, as I could not use my money, someone else did.
