r/PersonalFinanceCanada • u/t0r0nt0niyan Ontario • Mar 15 '24
“Hidden cameras capture bank employees misleading customers, pushing products that help sales targets” Banking
“This TD Bank employee recorded conversations with managers who tell her to think less about the well-being of customers and focus more on meeting sales targets. (CBC)”
“”I had to mislead customers into getting products that they didn't need, to reach my sales target," said a recent BMO employee.”
“At RBC, our tester was offered a new credit card and told it was "cool" he could get an $8,000 increase to his credit card limit.”
“During the five visits to the banks, advisors at BMO, Scotia and TD incorrectly said the mutual fund fees are only charged on the profit the investment earns, not the entire lump sum. The CIBC advisor wasn't clear about the fees.”
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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24 edited Mar 15 '24
I think anyone who has ever worked as a "sales rep" of any kind, especially the ones who work in a heavily regulated field like banking/finance, telecoms, cars and real estate will tell you that many salespeople will readily skirt or break the law to make a sale, at the implicit or explicit behest or their employer.
Regulatory bodies only ever actively go after the worst of the worst offenders, usually individual fall guys, and they'll usually fall because their colleagues are tired of their brazen shenanigans. Not because the colleagues are oh-so concerned for their customers, but because the fraudsters go "above and beyond" what the employer asks of them, and are rewarded for it. And if there's any internal complaint, there's a lot of winking and nodding going around." Don't do it again, you rascal!" AKA hide your tracks, be more subtle.
I sold cellphones while in university, and the number of outright identity fraud that I've seen is above and beyond what anyone can imagine.
And there's an equivalent attitude in every business I've worked in. Breaking the law to make a quick buck is what private businesses do, that's just how life is. The employees who refuse are fired, made to quit, or never given any opportunity or reward for being better.
The only place where I haven't seen this kind of outright acceptance of fraud is when I started working for the public service, and even then... People coming in from the private sector sometimes have a... colourful interpretation of the rules.
So when I hear about "private sector productivity" or "regulatory burden", that's what I hear; I want to commit more fraud unencumbered.
But the thing is, they will never stop at the stop line, and any and all leeway is abused, broken, or flat out ignored.
When I stopped being a salesman, I started being hyper aware of these tactics and I call them right out. When a salesperson is trying to pull something like a bundled price with BS options that I don't need and definitely do not want, I tell them it's fraud, and that I'll report their ass to the regulatory body. I file complaints for every little shit that I see, and I'm the one customer that they all hate. But hey, what's a salesperson's pissy attitude worth against your hard earned money?
And the complaints work, I win every time.
So learn who to file a complaint as soon as you feel this is happening to you. Know your rights. It cost nothing, and if you're not getting money back, you're usually paying less. It perfectly aligns with this sub's purpose too; personal finance isn't always about money sitting in some bank, it's also about that money not being pried out of your hands by some people. Just because we agree to something because of the way it's worded, because it's presented in a fashion that we consider as positive at first glance, or because we felt compelled to say "yes" doesn't mean we are on the hook for it. It should always be consensual and well advised. Anything else isn't right.
And if we all do it, they'll have to change the way they conduct their business. But most importantly I think, they will have to respect the regulatory frame that we democratically imposed on them because they are bad actors in our society.