The epitome of Bank Customer Service Today

Stopped by a National City Bank yesterday.

3 Tellers behind the counter plus several personal bankers chatting amongst themselves.
I'm the only customer in the entire branch.

I asked the tellers if they had any halves.

One says, "I don't think so."

OK.....

I pull out a 1990 $50 for an example and ask if they have any older bills from before 1996.

Another teller says to me, "We'd have to look through our drawers for that."

I stood there for almost a full 60 seconds. Not a single teller moved or said anything else.

I finally just turned around and left. I've dealt with difficult tellers before and I've always had
consideration for customers in line behind me (I always make sure there's no one waiting for me).
I have even had tellers blow off my phone inquiries. But this was a first. To literally be left
hanging IN PERSON.

I know it's so difficult to ask someone to do their job, but there's a reason I don't regularly bank
at banks like that.

 

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wow sorry you had to deal with that! I can see how that would be very frustrating. That may not be a branch i would visit again .. or if this is the first visit, i might try one more time.

good luck!

 

A quick call to the branch manager would stop that kind of scenario from ever happening again.

I'm not one who likes to get people in trouble, but these people obviously weren't doing their job. It may not be specifically stated in their job description, but customer service is.

 

There are so many banks around me that I find it easier to just move on. These banks have such high turnover that when I stop in again in a few months, it's very likely that the same tellers won't be there.

Needless to say, I would probably never be opening any accounts at a bank like that. I personally like to vote with my wallet when it comes to poor customer service.

 

Hello Gatzdon...

I feel your pain. It has happened to me as well. I did talk to the Bank Manager and her reply was" we are not here to cater to your collection" we are here to conduct business for all our customers. We have not the time to search thorugh currency for what you like"...

I walked out! Must have been that wrong time of month!!!


RickieB

 

Geez Rickie, that's just not right! THAT'S when you make a call to the DISTRICT manager... lol.

 

I just came back from a local BofA after picking up my next batch of lincolns to search. Besides the confusion that I stir up when I ask for "customer rolled pennies", I've been getting a lot of "Why do you want these?" or "What are you doing with these?" in a third degree kinda tone. It been happening a lot more at larger banks.

I think that bank employment has become JUST a minimum wage job versus a service career. Pretty much you can say that about most of the jobs out there.

 

Silver Queen

I always like to quote a head teller's reply when I asked for rolls of halves quite some time ago.
She said "These are not for collectors or anything". The majority of tellers have no clue. They just want a fast cut and dried transaction, get all customers out of the bank, so they can continue doing nothing again.

 

As a roll collector myself, I can understand your disappointment in the system, unfortunately I have too agree with the person that said "we are not here for your collecting needs" technically they are right but ethically as a good person they are wrong, they just dont see the big picture, they need too see you as a potential customer not as a neucence too there job, they need too think maybe this guy is a milliionaire and by doing this for him he will invest in my bank instead of all the countless others. once again, i feel for ya.

 

It happens to me all the time. I pretty much gave up on the banks in my area. I have even been told they cant give me rolls that I ask for because people are selling them on Ebay. If you ask me its just plain stupid. I go to a bank to trade money for money. You would think is simple,,but its not.

 

I would have thought more of the teller if they claimed they didn't have time to look (even though no one else was in the branch), that they are not allowed to open the drawer for a non-transaction, asked if I was a customer, or any other number of excuses I've heard over the years. I've heard it all. I fully appreciate a bank is there to make money and I respect that. I work with it and do everything I can to minimize/eliminate any cost related to me.

But this was a complete first for me to be completely left hanging like that in person. No excuse given. I felt like I was in the twilight zone.

For those that say to complain, it's not worth the time wasted. It's unlikely you will change the bank's attitude (although it has happened). There are so many banks in my area, that I just move on. These banks have such huge turnover that by the time I get back around to that bank, it will be all new tellers and because I didn't raise a fuss, the manager will not even know that I've been in there before.

On a lighter note, I did find over 30 Franklins, 12 Liberty Walking, 9 1964, 70 40%, and several proof halves this past week. I'm not complaining. I just thought I would share a humorous bank experience with you guys to try to lighten up the day.

 

The trick for rolls is to "claim" that your getting them for your Business/Place of work. You'd be surprised how adding a few key words will work wonders.

As for Bills....you're on your own for that.

 

Try that trick at Chase and it could result in extra fees. Almost every Chase I've gone to charges business customers for straps/rolls, but hands them out to personal customers for no surcharge. Not sure why a business customer would bank there with all free alternatives around, but to each their own.

 

Hmm, a lot of teller bashing around here. You know, maybe you guys should be careful...some (at least 1) walk among you.

I think I should clarify a couple points here because my job is being ripped on. First off, you make considerably more than minimum wage working at a bank...even being a teller. Its not a great income, but its more than minimum I promise you.

Also, I saw someone mention going to BofA and asking for customer rolled coins and getting an odd response. Did you in fact get customer rolled coins from them? If so, I'm surprised. You wouldn't get them from me...why you ask? Because we don't have any of them on hand...ever. If a customer brings in a roll of coins to cash in, the first thing we do is break the roll open and run it through a coin machine. Thats the policy at US Bank. The only time we accept rolled coins is if they are US Bank rolled coins and haven't been tampered with. Generally this happens with a business customer who didn't need their whole change order.

It is odd that they wouldn't search their drawers for older style bills...I suppose they were just rude employees, but you find those everywhere. I personally find them making a big deal out of that request a little odd. I understand not wanting to part with rolled coins because the bank only has so much on hand and it is ordered mainly for business customers. However, if you are a customer of the bank...than I would think they would be more willing. If your not a bank customer (ie, don't have an account) don't go in their and expect any of the bank's "services." That doesn't mean you can't ask to trade bills for older bills if they have them or pick up some lose half dollars. But, rolled coins are a service banks provide to their customers. If they are willing to give them to non customers, than thats great...but if not you shouldn't get upset. Banks are businesses designed to make money and rolling coins cost money...if you aren't a "paying" customer you aren't necessary entitled to them.

Now, that doesn't excuse rude employees. They should never be rude. I try hard to not be rude to any customers and try and accommodate them as best as I can. If a non customer cashes a check drawn on our bank and wants a roll of quarters or 2, I give them to them...thats fine. But, I probably wouldn't give a non-customer $50 worth of rolled nickels for a $50 bill...especially if we were short on rolled coins. Thats just the way it is.

It irritates me to see people on this forum (and don't get me wrong, I LOVE this forum), who...for the most part, probably don't know what is involved in running a bank branch complain about not getting all their requests met at a bank they don't even have an account at.

Again, that never excuses a teller being rude to any person that is in their window...thats just not right. They should never have a problem checking their lose coin tray and doing a quick search through their drawer looking for older bills. Thats easy and quick. I can tell you that not one (well, maybe one...but he's an ass) of the teller's I work with would hesitate to do that. In fact, we ask each other all the time if we have half dollars or Presidential dollars for people who want them. So, don't judge my job because a couple of jerks out there were rude. Being a bank teller is actually a pretty good job that requires a lot of responsibility...and believe it or not, a lot of knowledge and training to do (there are a ton of laws and federal regulations you have to know inside and out).

 

i agree

 

Glad I don't have Chase banks here. :hail:

 

Don't get me wrong, I"m not complaining about the request being denied, it's about they way they handled the request. Like I said, I'm used to being told no and I have no problem with it. Banks are there to make money and there is no magical law that says they have to do business with everyone that walks through the door (it's sad how many people think there is one).

While I can still find many branches that have stellar customer service, it's becoming more common to find banks that treat us as numbers. I have yet to find a bank that provided consistent quality customer service across the board. It would appear that today, it's very dependent on the branch manager. But of course I've even come across branches with awesome branch managers and a head teller that cancels all that good will out. For some reason, banks have decided to do away with the career teller.

RichiB16, it sounds like you come from one of the good branches. You will find many people willing to take a lower interest rate to bank at a bank like that. Take pride in the fact that when someone asks you a question about your bank, you get them an honest answer instead of a wild guess. That goes a long way towards customer good will.

I'll tell you a story that has become a source of frustration for me lately.

I travel outside the country frequently. The cheapest (and easiest) way to exchange cash is to withdraw it from the foreign ATM. Every new bank I visit, I ask about how they handle ATM transactions in a foriegn country. I understand many tellers don't know the answer to that one by heart, but I'm amazed by how many tellers/personal bankers are unwilling to find out for me. Some even just give me a guess. Many, I have to explain I'm talking about ATM's outside the US and not just an ATM at another bank. Believe or not, many banks don't list the 1 to 3 % fee they charge on their schedule of fees (and that's on top of the fee that visa, cirrus, etc. markup). I've been told there's no fee many times only to find out after the fact that there is. Everytime I travel, I goto a single ATM and make an identical withdrawal from each ATM. I then compare the amount actually withdrawn from my account and work from there. But I should not have to employ trial and error to find out.


Anyway, end of my mumbling. Don't take it personal RichiB16. Just for you, I will make a point of posting a good story about some of the many tellers I deal with every week. I realize that people usually only write about the bad experiences. If it's any consolation, I actually fill out the customer surveys more often for the good tellers than I do for the "less good" tellers.

 

I had a similar experience at National City Bank.
About 3 years ago when the Mint was changing the designs on the reverse of the nickel, I went around to 30 different banks (not branches, but 30 different companies) in the Chicago area looking for uncirculated rolls of nickels. I went at off times so as not to be an annoyance. Of the 30 banks, the only one that was anything but courteous, whether they had rolls or not, was NCB. After asking if I had an account with them (which I don't) and being most rude in there reply, they said they would have to charge a $5 per roll fee for a non-account holder. I couldn't decide whether to laugh my butt off or what, so I left.

Pretty good racket if you can get a 250% profit on a face value coin sales.

 

I've been to National City Branches where the tellers were awesome and courteous. No two branches are the same.

 

I think Key bank was my favorite thus far, the manager came over and helped search for a few bills for me and also went out of her way too get me two boxes of pennies, 1 box of nickles and a half box of quarters. and i am not even a member of that bank