used to get this the other way round working for Halifax/BoS. someone would call up asking to do something that can only be done in branch, i’d tell them to go to a branch and they’d say “but the branch staff told me i had to call you!”
if they were lucky enough to still be inside the branch i could tell them to put a branch staff member on the line for me to have a go at, at which point they’d agree to help the poor bastard.