You Can't Pay Here

Back in July, I was preparing to teach two courses for European Nazarene College the following month in Russia. As an American citizen, I need a visa to enter Russia.  That meant a trip to the Russian embassy’s visa handling office in Bucharest.

I had checked the embassy's website and had come to the visa office with all the required documents, including the very detailed visa application form which I had completed online and printed. After I turned in all of my documents, I was handed a visa application form (identical to the one I had just turned in) and told to complete it by hand. After completing about half of it from memory, I asked if I could copy the information off of the form I had just turned in. (Although I could remember my parents' full names, names and dates of educational institutions I’ve attended and degrees I’ve earned, I couldn't remember the dates of travel for EVERY country I had ever traveled to without looking.)

As the representative looked through the documents I had turned in, she told me that there was a problem with the document proving I have insurance. In addition to a generic form from my insurance company, I had also presented a more detailed letter from the Global Mission department explaining my insurance coverage. However, this did not sufficiently prove my insurance. First, I was told that the letter had to come from the insurance company, not from my employer (Global Mission). Second, even though the document stated that the worldwide insurance covered me in every country to which I travel, it did not specifically state that I would be covered in Russia. Third, it did not specifically state that I would be covered up to 30,000 euros. Fortunately, I could leave all of my other documents there and send a scanned proof of insurance in a few days (saving me another trip from Sighișoara to Bucharest).

Now it was time to pay. The website for the Russian embassy had quoted prices in US Dollars, so I had dollars with me, as well as my bank card. But I was informed that they don’t actually accept payment there. I needed to go to a specific bank – ING Bank – and pay there. I asked where it was. The representative was helpful enough to show me on my map of Bucharest where it was – a few kilometers away in an area of the city with which I wasn’t familiar. I asked if there wasn’t one closer. I was told that there was a closer one – at Piața Charles de Gaulle (Charles de Gaulle Square), less than a kilometer north of the visa office – but at that particular location, I was told that I had to pay with a bank card. (That seemed strange to me, but since I had my bank card, I went there.)

Once I arrived at Piața Charles de Gaulle, I walked all around this square, looking for the orange ING Bank sign, but could not find the bank. I even walked down some of the streets leading into the square, thinking that perhaps it wasn’t right on the square. I finally stopped and asked someone if they knew where the ING Bank was. He checked his smart phone and told me that there isn’t one at Piața Charles de Gaulle; I’d have to go to Piața Victoriei (a kilometer south of the visa office; almost 2 kilometers south of my present location). So I took the subway there.

Piața Victoriei is a huge square. I walked all the way around the square and checked the side streets, but I couldn’t find the ING Bank. This time, I called an American friend living in Bucharest who I was planning to meet with later in the day. She checked her computer and told me where it should be. I was standing at that exact location, but there was no ING Bank. So, she then told me where she knows there’s one – another kilometer southeast at Piața Romană. So, I took the subway there.

At Piața Romană, I finally spotted the ING Bank. I entered the bank and presented the cashier with my paperwork. Then I was told that I can’t pay because this particular branch is only for ING customers. (What?! What kind of bank doesn’t accept money into the accounts of their customers?!) So, after sharing my frustration with the teller, she directed me to another ING branch…nearly a kilometer north of Piața Romană.

I walked there and entered the ING Bank, only to be told that that branch is also just for customers. I’d have to go just a little further down the street to their bank headquarters.

When I finally arrive at the third ING Bank of the day and presented my paperwork to the teller, I asked if I pay in dollars or with my bank card. I was told neither. They don’t accept payment with bank cards. (What…a bank that doesn’t accept bank cards??) Even though I have the money in dollars as quoted on the website, I need to pay with the equivalent in Romanian lei, which I didn’t have in cash. So, then I walk down the street, trying to find an ATM. I thought it would be fairly simple to find an ATM from my bank so I don’t have to pay any transaction fees, but the closest ATM for my bank was over a half a kilometer away…back at Piața Victoriei! Then, of course, I had to return to the ING bank to pay.

When I returned, the teller explained that I needed to complete a transaction form. (She wouldn't do it for me.) She also informed me that the bank adds a surcharge for the transaction and asked if I want to continue? (Well, I didn’t really have another option!)

After I paid and the cashier gave me the receipt I needed to take to the Russian visa handling office, I politely told the teller that my experience with ING Bank that day was the worst bank experience I'd ever had in my life. Not only did they send me all over Bucharest searching for a branch that will accept my money, when I find one, they charged me a transaction fee. 

I then walked the 2 kilometers back to the visa office. Thankfully, I arrived just a few moments before they closed for lunch and presented the receipt from the bank.

(Only after checking a map later did I realize that the bank headquarters where I ended up paying is actually where I was originally directed....2 kilometers from the visa handling office. Instead, I had meandered for hours, covering 10 kilometers on one of the hottest days of the summer.)