Bank of America - poor customer service

December 14, 2001:

From:

RE: Bank of America - poor customer service

I just spent a half an hour in essentially a 4-person line to process a two-minute transaction. This is completely unacceptable. Your branch #4379 apparently does not recognize what providing customer service entails or they are under corporate directive to consistently fail to meet the needs of their patrons.

I have for the past two plus years cashed my child support checks at Bank of America branches. Never have I received such a blatant disservice. If you want to have 4 available tellers and designate 3 to customers and 1 to non-customers that is within your right.

But when you require non-customers to stand in a separate line and have no teller devoted to assisting them that is beyond unprofessional. Are you ignorant enough to believe that by segregating your patron base and then failing to serve a section of that base you will retain customers? I have friends and I have family that are customers of your bank and with the tyrant I will subject them to I can guarantee that I will be persuasive enough to end their patronage with you.

I will even tell strangers on the street of your banking practices and of my negative experiences. I do not control which bank the government issue my checks out of but I will make sure that they are aware of how the bank they chose treats the individuals receiving check that they have issued. I witnessed over twenty 'members' complete their transaction as the 'non-member' line was not allowed to proceed.

Many of these 'members' were of course non-members disgusted with the lack of movement in the correct line that just switched lines to be served. I have been in numerous branches that have never treated me so unfairly. Whether these branches that serve the customer needs have disregarded your policy of 'do not help non-members at all costs' or if it is just the branch that I was unfortunate enough to visit today that created that policy for their own audacity, I don't know.

Nor do I much care because after this experience I will NEVER be a member nor will I ever advice anyone to be a member of such an institution. I hope you have accomplished your desire to infuriate non-members and make this wonderful experience for your 'members' into something less than savory since now they get the dubious honor of being served more quickly to the glaring stares of irate non-members, which I am sure just keeps them coming back for more.

Was their actually forethought involved in this arbitrary decision?

Comment On This

I also just had a very bad experience with BA in which they are holding a brokerage check for 8 days as compared to an identical check at Wachovia where the funds will be available the next business day.

Obviously BA is more interested in making a few bucks off interest than customer service!!

The BA account will be closed just as soon as the check clears!!!