Posted by Please help me and make this rig
What do you think? I have been a customer of Citizens Bank for 15+ years. I have never had a problem and the people have been very nice over the years. In March of 2016 my son at 16 years old got his first job. He wanted to open a bank account. So I went with him to Citizens Bank to open an account. It was his account but linked to mine because he's under the age of 18. He set up direct deposit for his paycheck. We did all the necessary paperwork and the branch we went to was a different one than I normally use. I use one closer to my work. The person helping us told us after everything was complete that after three months of direct deposit that as an incentive to work the bank would deposit $150 in my son's account. He was very excited about this. He worked and saved his money and in June I watched for the $150 deposit. When July came and it wasn't there I made a note to call about it. When using the branch closer to my work one day in July I saw the same person who had helped open the account at my branch. I stopped and asked him about the money. He apologized and said he would look into it and verified my phone number. August and September came and no money was deposited. I was in my branch again in September and asked to a teller about it. She said she didn't know and that I would have to ask someone who was in the area behind me. She was very kind and when I looked in the direction she was speaking of I saw the desk of the man who had been telling me he would check on it. His desk was empty so I made a note to call him. I called the next day and he said he would look into it and again apologized and verified my number. October came and no money was deposited. On November 9th I went to my branch and went right over to talk with the same man. I got out of work early that day to attend a concert in Pittsburgh. We talked about that a minute and he said he would pull up my account. Surprise, there was no money deposited in my son's account. He told me he would send an email and get back to me later that day. I received a voicemail (that I still have on my phone) saying that he is working on it and hopes to have it resolved soon and that I should pay attention the upcoming week and the money should be in there. I told him even though I was getting very frustrated I had confidence in the bank and knew they would make it right. On December 1st I called again. He told me he would check and get back to me. I have a voicemail on Dec. 1st (still on my phone) saying he is still working on it and he will hopefully hear something tomorrow and have an answer. A few days later I went back in to my branch. I asked the teller to speak to someone higher up than the individual I had been talking with. She said there wasn't anyone there higher up and directed me to a woman behind me. She knew my story right away without me telling her the whole thing. First she said my son didn't qualify for the money. I asked her why we were told that he did. She said she didn't know but thought it was because he didn't have his license yet. I told her no, try again because my son had his license for months at the time the account was open and even presented it that day. I made sure he took it with him that day. Then she said it was because he was under 18. Again I said this was never mentioned before that it was a requirement. It turns out she was at the same level as the gentleman I had been dealing with but gave me a name of someone at the branch where the account was open who I could talk to. I called her the next morning. She was the most helpful in all of this. When I gave my name and started to tell the story she interrupted and said she knew the story. She said she was working the day my son and I opened the account and heard the gentleman tell us that my son qualified for this money. She listened and was very sympathetic but told me that customers can only talk to her level, managers don't deal with customer service. I asked for a name of her supervisor. She said she was instructed to not give out a manager's name for customer service. She then told me that there was an email sent from her supervisor to the gentleman I had been talking with back in JULY stating that my son did not qualify for this money because I was an existing customer that his account was linked to therefore it could not be considered a new account. For this reason he did not qualify and their employee was told that. On my end this gentleman was still telling me in December that it was being worked on even though his superior said it was not happening So this employee told me she would tell her supervisor all of this again and ask her to understand from my point of view but she did not have much hope that the decision would be swayed. I told her what kind of mother would I be as an example to my son if I stayed a customer of Citizens if they didn't make this right? If they have an employee who told a loyal customer something and it was wrong and that person was told it was wrong and still told the customer it was going to be resolved, why does the loyal customer have to lose out over $150? So I told her to tell her superior that I will have a story either way and that her boss just has to write the ending. The following day that employee called and left me a voicemail (that I still have on my phone) saying her boss stands by the decision to not give my son the $150. So this my friends is the ending Citizens Bank has written and I am sharing with you. They refuse to this day to allow me to speak directly with a bank manager when I ask for a name and number. -Ann Kaspick Erie, PA
