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I went into your Deerfield Beach branch today (Hillsboro Blvd), to open an account and I must say I was surprised at what was happening in your branch.
You had a customer who came in to close an account and recoup fees charged on same account. And this is the series of events that can accurately describe what happened:
Customers approached the counter to close account and get their $15.00 fees back. Counter clerk sent them to customer service.
They waited, sat, then finally got a customer service rep. The female customer told the rep, I would like to close this account and I want my fees back. The rep took the paperwork and ID looked up some information then left. The female customer was then joined by the male customer and she made the comment, this was free account when we signed up.
Your rep spoke to the manager in the store. I do not know what was said, I was on the other side, but she came back and told the customers (who, might I add saw where she went) and said, ’There is no manager here today, I cannot reverse this fee’. A blatant lie and I think this is where things got escalate because they knew, I knew, the rep Kahn knew this was a lie. I was appalled that anyone in your establishment would treat a customer this way. A bare face lie.
The female customer said. I am not leaving, I need my fees and I need to close the account so you need to get the fees reversed. She added that it was ‘STUPID to pay the bank to use my money’. (You have to admit she does have a point).
At that point, the manager came over and said letters were sent out, we reversed plenty of fees in the last two months we are not reversing any more. AGAIN another lie as fees were not activated until November of 2009. And this INSULT further aggravated the customer who then said I did not get any notice of fees or I would have closed my account. I signed up for this specific account because it had no fees.
By this, everyone is aggravated because of the lies and the customers felt they were being taken and lied to. Another customer got involved. What the manager should have done is told the other customer to cool it. Instead, it became a shouting match between two different sets of customer and the manager. The manager realizing that the situation was getting out of control over $15.00 said ‘Give then the fees back and close the account get them out of here’.
That was teh wrong way to phrase it and he was responsible for the escalation by lying to the customers. At this point they are okay and starting to calm. However, Jason, one of your customer service rep came over and added ‘So every customer that comes in here and make some noise we are just going to give them their fees back. They shouldn’t get anything.’ This is in front of the already irate customers. Jose, the manager said (much to my SHOCK), ‘I agree, do not give their fees back, just close the account and give them what is there.’ Now you have problems and the customers demanded their money or a different manager both Jose and Jason decline to help. Jason’s solution was to call the police. To which the customer rightfully respond, ‘This is not a corporate police state, I have rights and I am not leaving without my money.’
So while Jason called the police, the female customer called your corporate office to get ‘justice’. The cops showed and Jason said, ‘Okay you guys need to leave we will mail you your money’.
The customer said, ’I am not leaving without my money, I didn’t mail it in I am walking out with it.’
In the end, here is the kicker, the customer address on file was incorrect by 1 digit. In other words, there was a VERY STRONG possibility they did not get a notice of fees, something that could have been established and resolved in 5 seconds, but TD Bank took the approach that they were not giving fees back. What does it profit you to take $15.00 for customers who have monthly balances under $100.00. Obviously in this economy you can’t just dupe people out of their hard earned money. The police rightfully did nothing. They wanted their account closed and their money.
Perhaps if TD Bank had not started with a lie this whole thing would not have happened. Perhaps I would be a customer there today, BUT NOT after that treatment.
The complaint has been investigated and resolved to the customer’s satisfaction.
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I used to have Banknorth which I LOVED (best bank ever!) and now I have the awful TD Bank with the worst customer services ever. First of all, their 24/7 phone service rarely works. Even to get to the point where they can put you on hold for half an hour is a struggle. When you call their [protected] line you get the message: "We're sorry your call cannot be completed at this time, please try again later." So then you have to call their telephone banking line and then press zero to speak to a CSR.
After being on hold for half an hour, I managed to get a CSR who I asked my question about getting a new card in a couple of months before my current card expires. She answered my question briskly (not a touch of friendliness compared to the Banknorth people, but I didn't really mind), and then she rushed and said: "if there's nothing more, have a nice day bye" and hung up on me. So I thought about giving up because I didn't want to be on hold again for so long but I really need the new card because I'll be out of the country for months and I leave in a couple of weeks and I need my card before I leave. So I buckled down and called back through the same roundabout route (and its not my phone. I tried my house phone, my mobile phone, skype, the hall phone in my apartment, my phone at work, all with the same result).
I'm on hold again now. After about 35minutes on hold, I finally spoke to a nice, but not very knowledgeable-seeming CSR who's put me on hold for the past 25 minutes so that she can "process my request for a new card." I've gotten new cards both from Banknorth and my other bank Chase in the past and never has the entire process taken 25 minutes let alone, putting me on hold for that long, just to "put in the request." Like I mean, was she running to the visa office with it or something? No wonder the wait times are so long, although I was on hold so long, I'm fairly certain she must have been attending to other calls.
She was nice though. But still I'm not at all impressed with this bank. Chase has stand-off-ish customer services but at least they're brisk and the wait times are very short and everything moves along briskly.
My wallet was stolen along with my debit card. I have successfully managed to cancel my other credit cards. I called the customer service to report my stolen card and I have been on hold for over an hour. After 45 min on hold, I called on my cell phone and the operator was about to place me on hold when I told her I have already been on hold for 45 minutes. She told me that is the current wait and someone will be with me soon. As soon as this is resolved, I will be switching to a different bank.
TD's slogan, "America's Most Convenient Bank" is truly a joke. I should have known when I opened my account that I was in for a long-term hassle. After three weeks, my checks had not arrived. The branch manager said he would check it out. He did and could not come up with an explanation -- or the checks. After another week, someone discovered that the checks had never been ordered. In the interim, I lost a $525.00 direct deposit because the issuer needed a voided check to switch the deposit to my new account.
Then I received a rejection notice for the TD Visa. With an excellent credit rating and two other credit cards with a combined limit of $50, 000, I was baffled. The branch could not give me an explanation. I called customer service and a rather brusk representative told me that they would make a decision on the card and notify me within ten days of their decision. I was outraged and continued to push them. Then they found the problem. The first few digits of the social security number they entered were actually the month, day and year of my date of birth.
For some reason, I went back for more confusion and abuse. I opened a small money market account for my daughter to cover part of her college tuition. I desposited $5, 000. When I received the first statement, there was a $12.00 monthly "cycling charge" and a total interest payment of 99 cents. I spoke to the same manager who said he would crediy account for $12.00 and make sure it would not happen again. It did -- very month for three more months. The manager said he didn't understand why this was happening. At last, I found a competent representative when I called customer service. He explained that they had put the funds in an account that required a $10, 000 balance. Imagine that. If I had deposited $10, 000, I would be receiving $1.98 monthly interest. I called the manager and asked him to open an account without this minimum balance requirement. He said he would do so. He never did. I closed the account.
And, today, for the third time, I tried to deposit a check from my stock broker in my checking account to pay my daughter's tuition. The guy at the counter said he would have to check with a supervisor as to whether he could deposit the money in my account because it came from a trust account with my daughter's name on it, even though I am clearly listed as the custodian on the account. I told him that I would close all of my accounts at TD if he did not simply make the deposit.
This is after driving four miles to the nearest branch, which, like all other TD branches in the Washington, DC area is virtually inacessible. No parking lot. No drivethrough. Spent fifteen minutes driving around the block until someone moved from a space with a parking meter. Glad I brought my change! I did get a very nice Christmas gift bag with a TD holiday hat, a windshield scraper for my car and a bunch of candy canes.
TD needs to train their people, establish more locations and plan their expansion with the knowledge that we are a society of drivers.
On the plus side, their technology is slick and easy to use. I was surprised to read the comments hear about problems with their online services.
The person probably was not the branch manager, so it PROBABLY was NOT A LIE! There are often other supervisors in the office. $15.00 in fees is not unreasonable, when in turn there was a reason! Once more, if they had fees refunded before why should they get more? If there has been a lot of fee reversals in the past for this customer then it is beyond the manager or supervisors approval to refund more. Telling the customer they would be mailed there money was also a bright idea, remove the customer from the situation and avoid more confrontation.