Dumbing Down

I've been a reasonably happy Barclays Bank customer these past 4.5 years, but today's press statement about their planned "re-vamp" really does my head in.

"Barclays bans jargon in makeover"
"In an attempt to make the banking system more "consumer-friendly", Barclays has decided to make do with simple words in-lieu of the standard banking jargon which often seems to confuse people."

So, here's me thinking: Fab!

Anyone who's attempted to find themselves a mortgage deal, a good investment plan or even some plain info on a simple ISA account will agree with me on the fact that the banking world has become a highly confusing minefield of hidden catches, ridiculously complicated agreements and a variety of options too big to get a decent grasp on. So any level of simplification would be much welcomed. But then I made the grave mistake of actually reading on. It turns out these clever consumer-friendly changes consist of the following:

(1) Renaming ATM machines: "Hole in the Wall":
A three-letter-acronym is clearly too hard for us simple folk to remember, according to Barclays. Now, I actually like the concept "Hole in the Wall", but spare us the patronising official explanations, and just admit it's clever "hip" marketing strategies rather than our best interest which preceded this line of thinking.


(2) Changing the signs above the service desks:
From now on "Bureau de Change" will be relabelled: "Travel Money". And "Customer Service" will be renamed: "Can I Help?". Once again... just how dumb does Barclays think we are?

(3) No more pens on a chain:
This was about the 1 idea I've always considered clever: chain pens to desks so no one takes them home. Barclays considers this tying up business a sign of distrust in the customer, so from now on: no more chained pens. Brilliant idea guys, really. The only problem now's that there will NEVER be any pens around to sign those receipts. So hurray to doubling the amount of faffing & lengthening the queues. Definitely on to a winner there!

I find this painful. Ridiculously so. Not only are we being labelled morons, they actually seem to think that we can be fooled into believing that renaming the service desks & trusting us with their precious pens makes the banking system more transparent.

How about assigning the money that will be spend on this "re-vamp" idea, on an new concept ISA account with a savings interest that covers more than merely the inflation??