Indian Banking - why I might prefer a money lender instead

Over the past 6 months, I have had to interact with several private & public sector banks as a customer. Normally, I avoid going/dealing with these institutions (i let my wife and my mother take charge) but this time I had no choice. SOme of the "interesting experiences" I had were as follows:

1) A large Government Bank that has several subsidiaries: I wanted a simple certificate stating that my PPF account balance is Rs.XX - I went into the bank at 10:30 AM in the morning. I was told that the concerned officer will come at 12 PM. I came back again at 12:15 PM and was introduced to the officer. The fat, burly, moustachioed guy was not interested even in looking at who was in front of the counter. On knowing my request, he told me that it can't be done today but will have to wait for 2-3 days since the records will need to be checked. KNowing the "standard procedure" in this bank (having worked as a consultant to them), I insisted on speaking to the manager in charge, who was fortunately a kind guy and asked the officer to help me. Reluctantly, the officer opened my records & suddenly chuckled with glee,"Your PPF account was opened when u were a minor & it still shows that u are a minor. So first get an application for the account to be converted to a major. Then, we can issue the certificate." He calmly closed the records and went away to talk about the cricket match. Thankfully, I had a few contacts who were senior officers in the head Office & I got them to reprimand the branch manager who instructed the officer to issue the certificate to me immediately. I thought that my ordeal was over - but I was a fool to think so. The officer told me that the charges for this certificate are Rs.500 - I asked him to show me the service charges register (Thank God I know how banks operate!) - he said that the service charges register is located downstairs & i should go & see it myself. WHen I went down & brought the register for him to see with the charges as Rs.300 - he said that there was a new circular ammending the register. I asked him to show it to me & he said that he cant find it. By now, I was livid with rage - it had been over 2 hrs and still my simple work was not over. I raised my voice & accussed him of delaying the whole procedure & asked for the complaints register. The manager interevened and himself gave me the certificate but the staffer concerned did not bother to even move a muscle for doing real work.

Another instance with this same bank was that when my mother went to enquire about deposit rates, the concerned lady officer was reading the morning newspaper. She did not even greet my mother & ignored her existence completely. My mother asked the same question 3 times - the lady had no choice but to reply - reluctantly she said that the new scheme will start from Monday & that the rate was 10.25%. My mother then asked if she could still subscribe to the scheme & invest in the deposits is she did not have an account with that branch. Curtly, she was told, "If you do not have an account with our branch, please dont ask us for new products. Please open an account first"

2) A foreign Bank that prides itself on its Operations & Technology: I have normally found it easy to transact with this bank given their efficiency. But my last experience has shaken me up. In the first instance, the bank had charged me 2 times for the same transaction on my credit card. It was for a movie ticket. I contacted the call centre and pointed out the error. I was told that the request for checking had been put into the system & that I need not worry. To my chagrin, when I got my card statement, it had the same charges with no change at all. I called the call centre again & was told that I had been sent the relevant documents for me to prove my statement but since I had not replied, I was at fault. I asked to speak to the superior but was put on hold. I tried connecting 3 times but at no stage did I get through. Finally, I paid the correct amount and told the call centre about my action - I also got the proof documents faxed (at my cost) to the bank's operations unit & had my charge reversed.

3) A State-owned bank having its HQ in the city of the Peshwas: I had to transfer money to my wife in UK. I gave the bank all the required details (account number, sort code, branch identifier code etc.) - this was to the foreign exchange branch of the bank that was supposed to be "expert" in all this international tranfer business. The bank called me up 2 days later only to tell me that the transfer was not successful since I had not provided the correct information. On checking again & again with the bank as well as with my wife's bank in UK, I found, to my horror that the State-owned bank's foreign exchange branch had tried to transfer the money without putting the bank account number of my wife on the tranfer message! I was charged ~Rs.6000 for the transaction failure first time (~3300 by my wife's branch in UK as a penalty & remaining amount by the "efficient FX branch" as their commission) - on top of it, I was asked to come and repeat the same procedure again if I wanted the transfer. Thankfully again, I had some contacts in the bank who intervened and managed to resolve the situation

I just wonder:
a) If one does not have contacts, can one get his/her work done with a public sector bank?
b) Can public sector banks ever become customer friendly? Or will it be only the advertisements?
c) Will foreign banks ever be able to provide the human touch?
d) Should I shift to the barter system? Should I start going to the NBFCs and the sahukars for my banking needs?
e) (in case you have reached so far..) Why are you reading all this? If you feel strongly about banks' unresponsiveness, how can we all do something about it?