I have had similar experiences with a big bank in Hangzhou in 2012 when transferring money from my former bank account in Kenya to China and vice versa. I can speak Chinese sufficiently well to tell them what I wanted and to argue with them.

I'm sorry to learn that you were forced to resort to having to argue at the counter in order to get justice. Here in Hohhot the BOC bosses are gods. Arguing with tellers or their bosses does not work at all.

Case in point: A few years ago a telegraphic transfer of GBP from the HSBC in the Isle of Man to China should have been accepted. But it was rejected in spite of my name being my full name amd matching the name in my bank book as well as my account number matching that of the telegraphic transfer. The problem was that my passport had a different number from my expired passport that I had used wnen I had opened that bank account several years before. The only way the transfer would be accepted was for me to produce two passports, or else open a new account and arrange for the HSBC bank to re-issue the transfer quoting my new bank account number. I think my BOC branch is too nitpicking. Though the tellers are pleasant enough, their bosses are unreasonable, rude and intransigent. The latter seem to lack common sense!