I just called DBS a few minutes ago to cancel one of two credit cards I have with them. I was prepared for a long wait, followed by an insipid session persuading me not to cancel my card.

Surprisingly, I was speaking to a real person within thirty seconds. And when I declined to hold the card despite a fee waiver, the girl was insistent that I redeemed something for the number of points I had chalked up. That didn’t happen when I cancelled my cards with other banks. The points or privileges just vanished the minute I said I was pulling out.

I instantly regretted when I asked what was available. Surely she wouldn’t rattle off everything right? And why I was harassing someone like that at 1 A.M. in the morning? Well, she appeared to be very enthusiastic and was ready to list every single item till my phone went dead.

I saved her the agony by picking a voucher from a major shopping mall.

Excellent customer service, DBS!