Rhetorical question (rant)

[msmemory_archive]

Why is it so dam' difficult dealing with the bank (BoA) these days? I've had the runaround from the greeter at the Burlington Mall branch, the customer service hotline, then I had to get past the greeter in Woburn just so I could talk to an actual human and order new checks. I still have no confidence that what I get will be what I ordered. I've banked with this place through four changes of name (theirs) and 24+ years but am getting closer and closer to switching to some cute little savings bank, or Citizens.

I still feel like two of my questions remain unanswered, but I'll save them for another trip: I used up all my reservoirs of Polite today making it clear that I wanted service and I wanted to be called Mrs. Waks, not Jane, by their employees.

Comments

[anastasiav.livejournal.com]

I wanted service and I wanted to be called Mrs. Waks, not Jane, by their employees

Gah. This is a long rant of mine, but I'll save it for another day.

One tip: Try this phrase if it happens again. "I'm sorry. I don't recall giving you permission to call me by my first name. I don't think we know each other that well."

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Actually their critter gets points for detecting that I had addressed him as Mr. Foley (his nametag read Michael Foley, and he had said "Hi, I'm Mike; How can I help you today?"), and in the later part of our conversation used my title.

[tpau]

i stopped banking with Citizens when they told me, after i brought them a check written to alex that he endorsed to me on the back, that the ydid not support that feature - meaning they did nto deposit endorsed over checks. since i think that is one of hte key features of banking, i told them where to go...

[jducoeur]

How utterly weird. I've never encountered a bank that wouldn't take a third-party endorsement. I agree that it's an absolutely traditional feature...

[lucianus.livejournal.com]

And that is why J and I have discontinued all banking at BoA. We have closed our accounts and moved all our business to Sovereign. We had initially had our doubts about Sovereign but they have proven to be very good and we like them a lot.

And I agree with you about being addressed by my first name in a situation like that, so unprofessional!

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

I went with Sovereign when I moved here because they had a free checking account, and the others (Citizen's a Fleet) did not. I've been pretty happy with them- very courteious when I opened my account, even though it was 4:57 when I walked it, and I was hot, sweaty and dirty; good service, and even when I had a check endorsing issue several months ago, they handled it with little trauma on my part.

I wish they were as prolific with their ATMS as BoA or Citizens, but in the grand scheme of things, that's pretty small.

[dsrtao]

We'll be moving to Watertown Savings Bank in the near future.
(That's not so helpful for you in your new place, but I thought you might want the sympathy.)

[(Anonymous)]

I've been with a credit union for years. I see no reason to go with one of the big banks.

[umbran.livejournal.com]

BoA? For ordering checks? Just did that myself, and why you had difficulty is simple - they expect you to use their online services for that.

[msmemory.livejournal.com]

Their telephone customer service center told me because my old checks were from Fleet, they couldn't issue me new ones in the same design. Only if I wanted Standard Green could I order over the phone. And if I wanted to see designs, I couldn't do it online, I had to visit a branch in person. He could read me names of designs (which included Puppies and Care Bears) but not describe them to me. P.I.T.A.

[anastasiav.livejournal.com]

www.checksinthemail.com

Why order from the bank at all??

[umbran.livejournal.com]

And if I wanted to see designs, I couldn't do it online, I had to visit a branch in person.

Unless there was some issue with you having old Fleet checks, this last is patently untrue, as I could see the patterns quite clearly online. Not just PITA, but incompetent, ignorant PITA.

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

I've told them to bugger off, and went to DCU some time ago. Which hasn't stopped BoA from driving me nutty anyway... :-)

DCU rocks. If a member referral helps, I'll give you one. They have a branch right near the Burlington Mall. I'm also nuts about Leader Bank, but it is only in Arlington and Cambridge, and not well located for you. But if you decide to open an account, go to the Main Branch in Arlington Center, and tell them "Anna from the Hardy - her Dad sent me", and they will know who you mean.

(Their level of service is such that they remember the children who bank there with the Kids Bank program.)

But DCU member services, while not as personal, are all outstanding. I've never hung up the phone pissed, even if I started that way. (Example - foreign ATM ate my card January 2nd. I called them, they filed a complaint with that bank, and overnight-mailed me a new card at once, eating the extra fee for mailing. And told me that if I could make it to Burlington, I could of course do a cash withdrawal, and they reminded me that I might have leftover traveller's checks I could use.)

[shalmestere.livejournal.com]

I wanted to be called Mrs. Waks, not Jane, by their employees.

Exactly. It's a business transaction, not a social one!

I had a similar run-in with my former credit union; it was bad enough that they weren't calling me Ms.$LastName, but they were calling me $AnnoyingDiminutiveOfFirstName >:-/

Fortunately, the CU resolved the problem (aided in no small part by having spoken to a supervisor named Susan who hated being called Susie :-D)

[galaneia.livejournal.com]

When I left Citizen's some years ago I ended up going with Stonehambank. They're fairly small, only 3 branches, but they give me business reply envelopes to make deposits if I ask. They're on the SUM network, and unlike Watertown Savings they don't charge me when I use other SUM bank atms. The only real downsides are the branches are a bit out of way on my normal days (Stoneham and Billerica), and the interest on my saving account is really low (~0.5%).

[jducoeur]

Actually, the low interest is fairly typical these days -- I think BofA is also only giving .5%. They're trying to drive everyone into money-market funds and the like, far as I can tell...

[tashabear.livejournal.com]

When part of Fleet got eaten up by Sovereign, my personal Fleet account was switched over. I debated closing it and going back to Fleet, but now that they've been eaten by BoA, I'm glad I stayed with Sovereign. I have had a few issues with their phone reps late night (they outsource their overnight calls to India, and you can NEVER get them to go off-script), and even though there are Sovereign Banks in New Jersey, they aren't the same (Sovereign Bank Mid-Atlantic as opposed to Sovereign Bank New England), but any issues there were quickly and professionally ironed out. I've been very happy with the service at my local branch; they were able to do a standing order to do a semi-monthly transfer from my personal account to my joint account with very little fuss. We'll see how it goes when I want to change my name on my account after I get home (did my name change too close to leaving to have time to change my account), but I don't expect too much hassle.

Seconding Anastasia, though; I do order my checks online, usually.

Probably a more serious answer than you want.

[corwyn-ap.livejournal.com]

BOA wants to be the largest bank in the world. As such, they are not terribly (read: at all) interested in you unless you are a large customer. By leaving you are probably doing them and yourself a favor.