I have some complaints about Chevy Chase Bank. Would you like to hear my problems with Chevy Chase Bank? Here is my review of Chevy Chase Bank: Chevy Chase Bank customer service is terrible. Chevy Chase Bank thinks it is ok to take my money and not give it to me. Chevy Chase Bank is run by a bunch of inept morons who have stupid policies. Chevy Chase Bank certainly does not care about its customers at all.
There, do you think I packed that 1st paragraph with enough phrases that will turn up in online search to ensure that the world will learn of my extreme dissatisfaction with Chevy Chase Bank? Now, let me tell you what they did.
I have had a bank account with Chevy Chase for about 10 years now. At some point after we got married, we added John's name to the account. Now (and this is key to the story), John's name is not actually John. That's what everyone calls him, but his legal name is long and multipart and reflects his ethnic heritage. We have, over the years, deposited many, many checks made out to John Ourlastname, and they have always cleared the bank with no trouble. Until last week. Last week, we deposited what for us was a very large sum of money. In person, at the teller, because we wanted to be sure that everything went ok. We asked questions, like how long would it take for the money to clear, and got answers. At no time did anyone suggest that there would be any problem with our deposit. They sent us something in the mail confirming what the teller told us. The money was in our account...until suddenly it wasn't there anymore. You see, they decided that since the name on the check didn't match the name on the account exactly, it had to go to their security department.
Now, I am all for them being careful about fraud. However, no one asked us about the discrepancy. No one asked the holder of the account who wrote the check if there was a problem. No one contacted the issuing bank to see if there were any concerns. No, they just pulled the money out of our account without telling us. So it was there, and then it wasn't. It is a miracle that I didn't send out any checks spending that money. If it weren't for the fact that I am so cautious about everything that I triple checked before mailing out the first check, I never would have known there was a problem. And then when I called customer service to find out why there was substantially less money in my bank account than there should be, the nice customer service lady didn't know anything.
The next day, instead of calling me at work or on my cell phone as I requested, they called the house. After 9 am. When I was unlikely to be there. Luckily, John was home. They were rude to him, they were rude to me, and they were rude to the person who wrote the check, who called to reassure them that there was no fraud occurring. When John called and asked to speak to the branch manager, she was "at lunch." And then, "oh, she left for a meeting." The person I spoke to had a serious attitude problem. I suppose she expected me to be mad at her, and well, I had reason to be, didn't I? Being preemptively nasty to someone your company is screwing over is an interesting way to approach the situation.
They are refusing to give us the money, by the way. Apparently there is not one person at that bank who has the intelligence to look at the minor difference between the name on the account and the name on the check and make the connection. Or who can see that we've already deposited checks from that account written to that name before. Or who can look at the fact that I've been banking with them for a fucking decade, and we are not shady con artists. Instead, they are cutting a registered check back to the account the original check was drawn on. Once they get around to doing that, we then have to wait for it to get back to the bank, be deposited, and then get a new check written to us. A new check which we will put in the new bank account we are opening. I expect we'll actually get the money about a month later than we were supposed to.
Ok, enough bitching about how evil Chevy Chase Bank is. Got a favorite bank you'd like to recommend? Or perhaps a bank that you'd avoid? So far I've heard PNC Bank is good, and M&T is decent. Apparently Commerce Bank is wonderful, but they don't have them here.
Apparently customer service just "aint what it used to be". In the last few months, I've had to ask a customer service rep for their supervisor at least 8 times. And, all 8 of those....were for AT & T. I am so not kidding. The latest debacle was yesterday when they disconnected my internet at work. The premise was I owed them $959.?? plus the bill that was due yesterday for $259.?? Whatever!
I had credits from over a month ago (when I had to ask for a supervisor) for over 300 bucks. That makes 959 look like 659. Get this, I signed a contract for internet at 24.99. That was a promotional rate and I was to get it for 12 months. But, the next month, the promotional rate was like 39, the next month, 59, and worked it's way up to 89. 90 bucks for freakin internet, I liked to have crapped.
So, I call them to tell them about it yesterday and they can "see" the credit but can't apply it until it is "posted". How long does it take to get posted? 2 months...b/c it had been 1 and a half.
Then, I explained that over 2 months ago I should have received a credit for advertising. You see, I was paying about 60 (when I was say that, the damn rep would say, ma'am, it is $57.39 or some shit). Get this, I don't have an ad in the yellow pages......so that credit was like some $300 bucks. They could "see" it but couldn't apply it til it posted. How long does that take? 3 months, because it had already been 2.
Finally someone with some sense explains it all and even realizes that I shouldn't be paying a base bill of $259 b/c better options were out there. Ok, so not my base bill is $145. That's great, but let me guess, you can't do it now. Oh yes she says, it will reflect on your next bill. Well, you just told me I had a bill due today...right? And phone bills are paid going forward, right? OH, she said, indeed you are right.
When I finished with those fools..oh wait. I did all that and then had to call collections where I was told to pay the $1100 and they would give me the credits on later bills. And when I said no, he said I could't have my internet back. So, I asked to talk to his supervisor and THE BASTARD TOLD ME NO.
I hung up and called back. Not only did I pay a bill that was supposedly $1100 with a mere $259 bucks.......I talked to his supervisor....bastard.
That's just my landline. My cell phone bill 3 months ago was $800..no really it wasn't suppose to be, but they said it was. I paid like $300 on it while they "corrected the errors". I get another bill for $600. Wait, where's the corrections? That's just what I paid practicallcyc. So, they worked on it. But, to keep it from being disconnected, I paid another $260. Yea, idiot I am.
When I finished a 3 hour phone call with these fools, they owed me $120. Odd, eh?
Man, you hit a chord with me tonight. Sorry!
They bought our mortgage several years ago. Once we had a bad month and I mailed the house payment late. I knew it would be late so I added the late charge. Wouldn't you know that would be the one month it got delayed in the mail? Or maybe in CC's own office more likely. They were on the phone within a week I could not believe how nasty and rude that caller was. I said, "I can send you another check, but if you find the first one, something will bounce". And sure enough, right after they cashed the 2nd check, they also cashed the first check. And CC charged us $100 for writing a bad check . ) Pain in the butt! . I hate 'em too!
I'd reccomend a credit union actually. They've always ranked higher on customer satisfaction.