My Maybank Story

Aaaargh!! Approximately one week before my birthday, I lost my wallet at Times Square. It contained money, my mykad, ATM cards and perhaps my sister's touch n go card (she doesn't know it yet). Money can be replaced, but those cards are troublesome. Sighs.

So the first thing I had to do was made a police report. They had issues with me speaking English, so I had to re-explain myself in Malay, which is slower, and gave them the upperhand to talk more than they should. I made the initial report at KL Central Pondok Police (police hut?) , but they told me Times Square is under Dang Wangi's jurisdiction, and their little pondok had no computer to record my report. All they had was a report pad that came from the 80s. So I had to go to the right police station with a freaking computer. I enlisted the help of my friend who took his bro along, because the people over at the pondok police told me to bring along a male escort. Well, after I arrived, the 'male escorts' didn't seem quite necessary seeing as how 4/5 of the officers on duty that night were female, and the station worked much like a bank, with numbers and such.

Next I made my replacement IC. Seriously, did the makcik (aunty) behind the counter had to make such a fuss over us Sarawakians all being BLACK PEPPER FIELD MILLIONAIRES!?!?!? Seriously! It's only RM110! AND I WASN'T EVEN AWARE OF SOME FREAKING STUDENT DISCOUNTS SO JUST SHUT UP GIVE ME MY TEMPORARY CARD AND GO BACK TO YOUR MUNDANE LIFE ALREADY AAAARGGHHH!!!!

huff huff huff

Right. So next started my Maybank story. Sighs...remember this for all you Sarawakians who found themselves in the same predicament as me. As of today I made 4 trips to Maybank all over one measly old card! Well I didn't know I could make counter withdrawals, so if they denied me a card again today I would have only 15 ringgit to last for the next 24 hours!

The first time I went to Maybank KLCC I haven't made my temporary mykad yet. So all they could do was cancel my previous ATM. But I asked the guy what I would need to make a new card since I am not local and have no mykad. He said to just bring:

1. My temporary IC
2. Supporting document (INTERNATIONAL Passport only. Don't believe them if they state otherwise. Although your birth cert could work too, but INTERNATIONAL passport is best)
3. My account book
4. My police report

The reason being my home branch is in Sarawak, and such cases is usually handled by the home branch only, since that's where you signed stuff. But apart from these documents, he neglected to mention to me the working hours such cases are handled. Yes, my dear Sarawakians, there is apparently a time limit to such cases. This is the procedure of getting your ATM card without mykad, and WITH your temporary IC.

Monday-Thursday 9am-5pm, Friday 9am-4pm.

I got this info during my second visit, and was told to go home to Sarawak to do it instead because I came on a Friday at 4:01pm!!*seethes*

But that is not ALL!!

On the third time, I arrived at 4:05 on a Tuesday, which should be fine since I have about 55 minutes before the time is up. And they added another condition; because they have to get my information/documents from the Sarawak branch, such things must be handled BEFORE 4:30 PM!! So let me amend the above...

Monday-Thursday 9am-4:30pm, Friday 9am-3:30 pm.

There! The woman didn't mention anything other than there would be charges for the new card. No mention of the need for the above documents or whatnot. She simply said it needed to be done before 4:30pm, and since it was 4:10, she gave me a number anyway. I think she did that just to pacify me. Hmmph.

But as I sat down, there were 3 people ahead of me, and the one currently being served has his butt firmly glued to the chair. I was number 38, and 35 was currently being served. By 4:30, 36 had just been called!! AAAARRRGGHHHHH

Having only 35 ringgit (12 ringgit is saved for the new card charges, so I have about 22 ringgit to spend, really) to last for the next 24 hours, I resigned from the yellow ottoman and walked away to get myself fed with something less than 10 ringgit. I had spaghetti meatballs from the Signatures food court. It just frustrated me how I kept getting more and more new information the more times I went. The next time I resolved to keep my butt glued to the chair until I get my damn ATM card. I WANT MY MONEY DAMNIT!

So, the fourth time, frustrated to barfing point at the KLCC Maybank branch, I decided to go to the Bukit Bintang branch. I didn't know they had coutner services before because their counters are tucked deep inside the throng of self-service terminals. I went, and arrived at 2:50, told them the same story. The lady ensured that I brought along all the above documents, making certain it was an international passport before she gave me my number. So I sat, and waited.

When I was finally called, she talked to me for five minutes before saying I should come back tomorrow with the same stuff because they had to contact the Sarawak branch and ask them to send over documents that I had signed. The signature apparently is a big deal. I sat open-mouthed for like 5 seconds. She repeated the same thing to me, and I was like, "okay, so how would you know tomorrow if my documents are here or not when I come back?" She thought about it for a while, then told me to fill in a form (so the form is an afterthought!?). I filled it in as she took my stuff again and told me to wait and fill in the form. I sat there, filled in the form and when she came back five minutes later, there was a bright cherry red maybank card with her tucked in between my passport and account book, sat down, said "okay, we're done.", took the form that I had dilligently filled in, crumpled it and threw it away.

....I stood open-mouthed again for the second time.

"Pardon?"

"We're done." indicating the card on the table and typing stuff into the computer.

"What just happened!?"

"Well, just now I said we needed to verify your signature, and here it is, on your account book. My boss said it's fine, so it's done." she indicated the 'blank' signature box on my account book. I said there was nothing there, then she put it under the UV light and revealed my signature and two Maybank logo on the two pages. "But you have to sign exactly like on this book. Can you?"

It took me several tries, as my signature is different each time. Finally, satisfied, I signed the back of my new card. Then I had to sign a lot of stuff. Just placing down signatures 3 times on the same sheet of paper on different areas. After that she told to go have a seat and my name will be called from counter 19.

I was in a daze but relieved at the same time. I was called, signed some more stuff, then was released with a new ATM card. I FINALLY WAS ABLE TO GET MY MONEY!!! RAAAWRR!!

So, to fellow Sarawakians, the moral of the story; losing your IC outside of Sarawak can really make you feel like a foreigner. These service people tend to dismiss you quickly and tell you about how or why you can't do this or that (simply because you're Sarawakian), but they often neglect to mention how you can. So if you feel funny and unsatisfied, glue your butt to the damn chair until your doubts disappear and you know clearly what your hurdles were, and what your next steps are. Imagine if I hadn't been specific with the lady at the BB Maybank just now. I would just walked out of there frustrated again, expecting to have this shit resolved tomorrow pending they even remembered to ask for my doucments from the Sarawak branch! Sighs, you peninsular weirdos. I don't likes you!

I'm off to burn some calories. Ta'ra!