So I came home...turns out DH was at the same branch that a.m. too. He went to the desk and the woman there just said, I'll be right with you, and continued to riffle her papers for another 5 minutes, forgetting that he was there at all and suddenly looked up and said, "Oh, can I help you?" He said, "Yes, is X around?" She said, "No." So he left. Can you believe it? He too is vowing never to go to that branch again.

Wow! Bad day at the banks for you. My branches are usually friendly and helpful, but they do tend to understaff at lunch time.

BTW, I agree with you about disliking the practice of a stranger using my first name. It doesn't feel friendly; it feels disrespectful.

You deserve better. Any other banks that could work for you? We are long time Citibank customers. Many years ago, they were also a bit arrogant. When competition arrived, we saw a bit change in attitude. We are also assigned a personal banker.

However, nice as they are, they are not keeping up with the times. We are doing more and more our professional business over at Chase and might move everything over.

If other banks can meet your needs, I would consider switching.

Side story: I used to do mystery shopping for TD bank. They go overboard in professionalism and friendliness. The branches were checked weekly for key components from protocol to maintenance issues.

You need to tell the bank branch managers of your experience. Copy to the highest bank officer that you can find an email address for.

ML

I use two different banks and they both fall all over themselves to provide good Customer service. It's my local grocery store that makes me nuts. There is no fast lane. However, many shoppers presume that the lane on the end is a fast lane because that's where they are located in normal stores. Can't tell you how many times I get the stink eye when I unload a cartful in that lane. I do wave customers with just a few items ahead of me. Meanwhile the checker (and the manager) ignore the situation. There are plenty of closed lanes, so why not designate a fast lane? Sometimes the lines are six shoppers long while a person trained as a checker (how hard is it to swipe a bar code over a reader, bag the stuff and give out the change the register indicates?) is packing bags? It's so annoying and what is most irritating is that the manager is just oblivious!

Sorry you had a bad day at the bank.

credit unions are the answer to your problems. I would NEVER give my money to a corporate bank, ever. My credit union has competitive rates and actually the best rate on checking 2% on the first $15k as long as you meet their debit requirements.

Annie, your experience makes me think of every visit I make to the USPS.

If that is how your bank acts, I would be looking for another bank. We use one bank and two different credit unions. We are lucky to have good service with all. However, for our bank, it is very rare we would go to a different branch - we use one certain branch.

I don't mind at all being called by my first name, in fact I usually prefer it. I'm not a formal person and it makes me feel more at ease. I know I am younger than Annie, not sure about you Fun, so maybe it is an age thing?

tina

Oly - we were typing at the same time. I agree with you about credit unions. We use two. I handle my grandmother's financial affairs and she is with a credit union - has been for over 50 years. They are great to work with - and better rates on some things, as you mentioned.

I absolutely hate when businesses have employees greet customers using their last name. Our name is not pronounced easily from the spelling, so that results in every visit I get: 1. A look of mild panic they are going to have to try to pronounce the name. 2. The fumbled pronunciation followed by a query if that was correct 3. My having to give the correct pronunciation, 1-3 times 4. Then they repeat the greeting. All while I am trying to concentrate at what I need to do. Multiply that by every errand stop, for every business, every single time I go there. UGH! I tried to lead the conversation by "Just use Smith." to avert the whole disaster, but that never seemed to work.

Just greet me with a "Hello" and a genuine smile. And say "Thank you." when our business is finished. PLEASE .

I could make a good guess at pronouncing Deighnaugh, but it might not be as good as I think it is. Even my own name, which is completely straightforward but not common, gets screwed up a lot. They add an S, or change the A to an E, or get even more creative with it. Like gyr_falcon, I"m perfectly fine with a smile and a cheerful, impersonal hello.

I like my bank a lot. I've been banking there for 40 years, and I don't think anyone in the bank has ever addressed me by name--except tellers I know personally, and they call me Susan.

It's Any Day Now.

Guess I need to hang out here more often. :-)

I've been hanging out here awhile and I never got it, either. Glad for the explanation. I always thought it was Annie's real name!

I was in a Whole Foods last week and was surprised by how not friendly the staff members were. No one looked up or said "I'll be right with you." I had to track someone down to get help in the prepared foods section, even though there were 3 employees working behind the counter. Any one of them should have at least acknowledged we were standing there.

I thought to myself it's certainly not a Wegman's, where the employees help you or find someone who can. I was just at my Wegman's and an employee went back to get me another cucumber when I noticed I flaw in the one I had at the check out. I made sure to tell a manager that I'm always so impressed with the employees.

I did notice a few very helpful employes in the Charlotte airport yesterday. I didn't need help but I watched different people offer assistance before even being asked.

My solution to the banking thing is having my husband do it. I haven't been in a bank in 20 years.

hhireno, hahaha! I usually have DH go to the bank, but sometimes, I have to handle it. :(

I think it's a branch thing. There's another branch on my side of town that I usually go to and they are very friendly and helpful.

I'm surprised by WF though...around here the people are so very helpful. We don't have Wegman's for comparison, though they came out very favorably in Consumer Reports.

Thanks, mtnrd...btw, have you seen my emails?

olychick, thanks for the recommendation, but the problem for me is accessibility...bank branches are like ants, they're everywhere, but CUs, not so much.

ellendi, how interesting about your past career! I've heard of such folks, but never met one! I have an aversion to TDbank only because a cousin was ripped off by some people...they fraudulently drained his account...and TD bank refused to help him, including not supporting him in his efforts to get the police to investigate the perps (he knew who did it.)

dedtired, we were in Walmart today and they moved their express lane from one side to the other...and it was empty. I guess people automatically go to where it was and wait in line....go figure.

Tomorrow will make my fourth trip to my credit union for my fourth attempt to wire a payment to Germany for an instrument case I'm having custom made. Despite my showing them multiple documents to the contrary, they insist the bank doesn't exist, because the SWIFT code isn't in whatever database they use. I'm considering getting the cash in Euros and putting it in a box and mailing it. At this point It's either that or fly to Germany.

That's where a credit union doesn't make the grade. You're trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Ain't gonna happen. CUs have their limitations, and this is one of them. Go to a real bank and a large one at that. Yes, you don't have an account there, and they won't help you, But you'll learn the limitations of your financial institution.

Sushi, my DH is back in our old state on business this week. It just struck me that we have a couple of accounts there at a large bank (that doesn't exist in our current state) and That I can. prevail on him to go into one of those branches tomorrow and do my transfer for me. This poor German company actually has my custom case READY TO SHIP and I can't manage to get them paid.

I love the whole idea of credit unions, but I think you're right. This just isn't in their DNA. Heck, the ATM/ transactional receipts print out on curly thermal paper. Who am I kidding? The only "big bank" in our city is Wells Fargo, and I wanted to try the credit union thing when we moved here last year. I should have known better.

I have nothing against CU's, mind you. But by design, they can't be all things to all people. Will the German company take your credit card as payment?

So true Deee! There is a quote something like "be kind to everyone you meet, for everyone is struggling with something". Try as we might, our struggles do sometimes get in the way of how we interact/treat others. I try to abide by this and to not sweat the little stuff.

Sushi, they want a wire transfer, which is fine with me. I didn't really pursue the credit card -- it probably costs them something to do the currency swap, etc. DH is getting the transaction done as I type -- at our big regional bank in Alabama.

deee and tina, while those are excellent points regarding a compassionate approach to strangers, IMHO that does not apply in a business environment. I'm not blaming the workers, mind you, but I've been in business long enough to know a failing business process when I see it and am more than willing to complain about it when I'm the victim of that failure, when in reality, I'm supposed to be the entire reason for their being in business at all.

Annie, I think it does apply to people we interact with in a business environment. Your bank business was completed accurately so I don't see you as a victim of failure.

Like I said in my post, I try to assume that people are doing their best even if their best is not that great. That doesn't mean I accept mistakes or lies. The other stuff? I try to let it slide.

deee, you may be misunderstanding me. A person can be doing the very best they can at the process the business uses, but if the process is broken, the customer experience is broken, and it should be fixed. If it isn't fixed, they will lose business because customers want to be treated well. Often broken processes are because mgmt isn't listening to the people actually performing the process. But that is entirely separate from whether or not a person is having a good day or a bad day or is doing the best they can or not.

Maybe CU's are different in the west. I belong to 2, one has a branch in most major cities in the state and 25,000 "shared locations" and all CU ATMs in the state (or most of them) allow you to use their cash machines without any fees, as long as you belong to a CU. Although I have not tried to get something shipped from Germany, I think my CU could figure it out. I helped some elderly relatives with their banking at one of the big corporate banks (that went down in the fall) and every transaction was a nightmare. I really detested doing business with them and every. single. thing. had a fee.

Oly, I think it's just this CU. Or maybe it's just New Mexico -- things are just a bit slower here all around. The CU clearly had an outdated or incomplete database it was using to confirm/process the payments -- the banker even sent me a screen shot to say "See?! That SWIFT code doesn't exist!" And, in her little world with the tools she had a available, it didn't exist.

Today DH walked into Regions Bank in a smaller town in Alabama and got the deed done, post-haste, no fuss, no muss. Fortunately, Regions must have better tools.

We haven't banked at a commercial bank since the 80's and doubt I ever will again. Granted they aren't perfect, but the people are nice, we bank entirely for free and when it came down to us really needing their help, they were there for us. Last October our bank account was wiped out by a hacker and they had the paperwork done and our funds returned to the account within 24 hours. I can guarantee a commercial bank would have been a nightmare for us.

Most people don't know this but you don't have to pass banking at a CU because of limited branches. CU's don't need a gazillion branches because most of them belong to the Credit Union CO-OP and share services. Granted there are some things you can't do when you go to a branch that isn't for your specific CU, but normal stuff like deposits and withdraws, transfers and so on are a non issue. And you don't get charged to use any of the co-op member ATM's either. You can tell if a CU is part of the CO-OP if it has this insignia:

http://co-opfs.org/solutions/locations/co-op-network/.

Sorry Oly, I didn't see you had said basically the same thing as me but I'm with you, Credit Unions are the best and they are getting better and better all the time. I'm surprised though at how many people miss the opportunity of using a credit union because they don't know about the co-op!

I would be wary about sending a wire transfer overseas, or anywhere for that matter. Once they have your money you have no recourse, as you would with a credit card.

Lukki, you said what i was trying to, only much more effectively. I don't know why anyone would support traditional banks, given their "too big to fail" history, when they could be a shareholder in a CU and have a say in what happens with/to their money. But I feel the same way about my food co-op, too. And my share in a CSA, etc.

terriks,

It's a legit company. A mom-and-pop that manufactures this one type of case and is well-known in the horn community. It's not a random website purchase.

Credit unions have also failed over the last few years. Don't kid yourselves.

Annie, we will have to agree to disagree. Sympathy and an occasional polite nudge often help when I have to rely on others to get something accomplished. YMMV

Ditto what Deee said.

Actually, deee and tina, I don't think we disagree...or at least I'm not disagreeing with you on a compassionate approach, but I am trying to make a different point. Clearly I'm doing a poor job of it.

Jmc, yes, there are a few that have failed, but not because they had the "we're too big to fail" mentality.

Oly, I used to work in the mortgage department for a large CU back in the day. I still have accounts there even though we have lived out of state now for several years. I think I'm going to try to find a food co-op that I can participate in our area, I don't know much about them, but the premise sounds very interesting.