Niels van Baarlen, star sidekick on Radio 538, has left furiously as a customer of the ING bank. He thinks it’s one big gang of crooks there. “I really switched out of anger.”
A great loss for ING: they have lost a prominent celebrity as a customer. Niels van Baarlen, the assistant of Radio 538 star Tim Klijn, has left angrily. He explains on the radio this week how outrageous he was helped by the customer service of the large bank.
Defective magnetic stripe
What exactly happened? Niels vents: “I switched out of anger. I had the ING from home. I remember. I was given a card and it didn’t work. That must have something to do with that magnetic stripe. There was no chip on it at the time, so you paid with the magnetic strip.”
He continues: “So I had to get a new card and then those ING crooks said, I still think in the golden age: ‘That will cost you 7.50 guilders!’ I said, ‘Yeah, wait a minute! You send me a pass that doesn’t work and then I have to pay!’ They stood their ground and then I said, ‘I’m canceling all my bills. I’m taking everything away from you.’”
Switched quickly
Niels put action to word. He left ING and never returned. “Then I switched, yes. I have been with the same other bank for many years now.”
Isn’t it difficult to switch? “No not at all. It’s like with your internet provider. Of course, there are a few direct debits, but those banks also have an obligation to service you in this nowadays. You just can’t take your account number with you.”
Pure theft
Nowadays, Niels is a bit angry with all major banks, because they keep savings interest rates way too low. “Those banks are now raking in so god-awful amounts of money. It’s really pure theft what those banks are doing. They have those hugely expensive office buildings on the Zuidas. Just go and sit in the countryside somewhere in Groningen!”
Again: Niels thinks it’s a gang of crooks. “They pocket the profit and the consumer only gets a very small piece of it.”