Treated Rudely At Wells Fargo

I went to a branch today that I have been going to for quite a while. It was formerly a Wachovia. I go around to banks near me and buy up loose halves. I generally start at a branch of my bank and withdrawl some cash to use as "buy money". I like to have atleast $200 on me because a few times banks have had alot of rolls. I walk in and ask if they have any half dollars. The teller sneers and asks if I have an account. I said no but I do have cash. I reach into my jacket pocket and pull out my wad. She says she doesn't have any so I ask if any other tellers do. She barks out and asks if they do. Manager pops out and asks what's up. I tell her I'm after some halves. She said they had a few. The had $8 worth and six of them were 40%. Not a bad score. They also sold me an old beat up Ike which I'll spend. Guess sometimes you have to put up with some crap to get what you want.

I have found that most banks love to get rid of halves. They sit in their vaults until someone buys them or they get enough to turn into the Fed.

 

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I had a similar experience when I first moved to my present location. I was told in a curt manner that money changing was for their customers only. No exceptions. My response was that being new in town I didn't know and I also told them that they were no longer on my list for switching banks. That didn't seem to matter to them so I left, never to return. They lost a potential customer as a result!

 

Man, I use US Bank. B of A, Nevada State Bank, Wells Fargo and a local credit union and never had any problems. Wells Fargo told me they weren't ordering boxes of halves and Bank of America told me they didn't have any boxes of cents but would be happy to order them for me. US Bank gives me huge quantities of Customer wrapped rolls of whatever they have on hand. I have never been treated as less than a number one customer.

Maybe the way you were dressed or something ? I mean that's a possibility, because I have never been treated badly at any of the banks, even when making small exchanges. I wonder if something else might have been the reason ?

Please do not mis-understand me here. What I am saying, is it possible there is a reason that you were treated badly other than the nature of the transaction ?

But for 40%ers, they could treat me any way they liked, and I would still be happy !

gary

 

I think I was dressed okay. I was wearing jeans(clean with no holes), a sweater, tennis shoes, and a leather jacket. I shaved this morning.

I think it was this teller. She looked like your typical fat lazy _ _ _ _ _ _ .

Whatever, I don't order coins anymore looking for silver. The payoff ratio is too low. Once silver got over $20 I found fewer and fewer halves.

 

The reason a lot of banks require you to be a customer is they aren't a free money exchanging agency. The bank pays those employees an hourly wage and people coming in to exchange money who aren't customers paying for the service of their business through numerous fees, aren't paying the bills for them. They're a business out to make money, not a public service venture.
Guy

 

I have multiple business accounts as well as personal accounts & a safety deposit box at Wells Fargo. Asked for a box of cents the other day and refused, said they needed them for other customers and would not sell me any. I'm not too happy about that.

 

The banks have been given enough. As a taxpayer I feel my only vindication is to take silver off of them at face value. I know it's a drop in the bucket but I have taken over $10k in silver from them this year.

 

Because this thread is attracting people experienced with half-searching, I have a question to ask. Where do you dump these things? Do you have a single bank you dump at, and just buy from everywhere else? Also, do you guys use the counting machines? Or do they generally gyp you out of a couple bucks? I'm not talking about coinstar obviously, just the complimentary counting machines some banks have. I'm REALLY interested in getting into halves because I doubt my area has been scoured; can anyone impart on me some expert advice?

Thanks

edit: by 'these things' i mean the residual, non-silver/non-collectible halves

 

I tried roll searching with the halves and ended up being more of a pain in the rear. The TD penny arcade fills up very quickly for halves I think maybe only $100 worth and the bag has to be changed, kinda annoying when you have $500 worth.

 

I heard a rumor from my Wachovia manager in August that Wachovia, due to being bought by Wells-Fargo, after all the transitions will begin charging non-business account holders for any boxes of change they order or something like that...this was in August before I left for school...

 

Market it as a FREE service that you offer to select local banks.

 

Customer service at the large banks (Bank of America, Citi, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, Capital One, Chase) are all seriously lacking; regardless of how much one keeps on deposit with them. They have gotten too big. Many are outsourcing their customer service to overseas. No longer is the individual customer valued.

Anymore, I only do business with credit unions and a few small town local banks.

p.s. As a friendly FYI - 85% of all banking online bill pay, web based checking services, EFTs and ACHs, and even paper check services via online banking are controlled by ONE company in the US now; FISERV aka CheckFree. They have a near-monopoly on those services (most banks now outsource these aspects of their online banking to this company), they know they have a near-monopoly, and IMO their customer service is even more abhorrent. Scary.

 

Can I buy a vowel?

 

Any and every Chase bank in my area is rude an intolerable. The other day I was trying to deposit $500 in dimes at a Chase and the teller started helping the next customer in line WHILE THE TRANSACTION WASN'T COMPLETED. I dump there often because of how rude the tellers are but as of recent it's gotten worse.

The tellers at WF on the other hand are great. Never had a problem with one and always met with a smile.

 

I am sorry to hear that you feel you were treated rudely , there is no justification for any business's representative to treat customers or potential customers in that manner. With respect to your dissatisfaction about being able to purchase or change coin , when you are not a paying account holder, I think you need to reconsider the appropriateness of you feelings. Banks are a business. They exist because of paying customer account holders. All Services are reserved for them. It's pretty simple and straight forward.

 

I find that wells fargo around me are rude ... tho I found one branch that the manager welcomed me to use them as a dump bank but asked that I send out halves out to be counted utilizing their deposit bag which has a 4-5 day turn around or so for the funds to be deposited in my acct... which for the time being is working out just fine

 

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Good discussion. I got the "account holder only" treatment at a 1stBank a year ago and after I got over my hurt feelings and thought about it I have gone back to my usual rounds. Instead of asking for something particular at a place where I have no account, I ask for a mix of rolls adding up to $20 less than the cash I have and then as an aside I ask if there might be any halves or dollars available. So far I have only found more than a few once. I save specific requests for the places where I have accounts and frequent regularly.
Over the last few years I have found one branch where I have an account that never has more than one or two customers when I've been there, so that is where I dump my searched coins, but always making a full deposit with no cash back.
Couple weeks ago I was in a WF and the teller suggested that I use their coin counter in the lobby when I brought the coins back, as if they expect it and have no problem. Its good to be courteous up front and flexible. By the time I retire and settle down to sorting boxes at a time I'll be oh so smooth and sweet!

 

same here LOL!

 

"The reason a lot of banks require you to be a customer is they aren't a free money exchanging agency. The bank pays those employees an hourly wage and people coming in to exchange money who aren't customers paying for the service of their business through numerous fees, aren't paying the bills for them. They're a business out to make money, not a public service venture."
Guy

This is how I see it. What are you roll searchers offering in exchange for their time and effort? ...Your potential business....? Please. Don't get me wrong, I think searching is great, but people need to understand that doing so through banks, is a privilege. Maybe if you gave the tellers some fine chocolate once in awhile they'd be more willing to serve you with a smile.

 

Funny story. I recently went to a local bank to see if they had any rolls of Kennedy halves I could buy. Not only did they give me the "you have to be an account holder" routine, but then Sally "$12.00/hour assistant manager" gets off her high horse and ambles over, then proceeds to lecture me on how they are no longer able to exchange money for non-members, due to the fact that the Homeland Security Act precludes them from doing so.

My retort: "I sleep a lot more soundly at night knowing that bank tellers are on the front lines in our war on terror, thanks for all that you do."

I'm fairly certain the tounge in cheek nature of my comment was completely lost on those troglodytes though.