Saturday, January 21, 2012

Remember Me?

We recently opened up a checking account at a local, home-town bank.  I'm slowly moving our business over which has required a couple of trips into the new bank to open the account, make deposits and last week we picked up our new checks and debit cards.  When we walked through the front door, the new accounts lady (Carla) said, "Oh, hello Susan. I'll get your checks".  She remembered my name.  I am impressed by that.

My soon-to-be old bank has no clue who I am nor could I tell you the name of one person in the only branch this huge corporation has in this area, although I do have a favorite teller but I don't know his name. It's not that I'm all that important but it is a huge comfort to me to know that when I need something from my bank, they'll know who it is when I call for help. I have a card with Carla's name on it and she is the one who answers the phone most of the time.

My new bank serves cookies & coffee on Fridays. Gene has offered to come do banking with me every time I go. I love that!  Those folks now how to treat their customers right! 

Customer service is not completely dead. What a relief.

4 comments:

  1. You actually......(gasp)GO TO A BANK??? With direct deposit, online banking and ATMs I didn't know there was actually people who went inside anymore!! The only time I do is when I bring all my change and they spurt it through their machines.....I am thankful everyday at the improvements in banking since I started! Remember in Haines it was only open 10-3 and there was always a line of people waiting......

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    1. Yep, I actually go to the bank. Somebody's gotta keep those tellers working, right? I do remember the bank in Haines. Seems like people were a lot more social back then. You could get caught up with everyone while standing in line. I miss those days, really. This local bank is like a throw-back from those times.

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  2. I REALLY like this new bank... it even has Community in it's name, and I hadn't been in there for about 4 months until the other day, and they still remembered me and my penchant for coffee and cookies. I only had one the other day, but the gal came over to make sure that the bowl was full.. She still remembered my name too.. which is reminiscent of a very small branch of First Interstate, which was later swallowed up by Wells Fargo {another sad story}, but this was in a town of maybe 2000, and the one teller just shut her operation down and chatted for about a half hour, as the other teller nodded and said I have it..
    That was many years ago when I was in bachelor mode.. I then later moved to the little local Cowlitz bank with maybe 3 branches total, and though pretty busy always when I walked in, I could get no closer than maybe 15 feet, and one of the teller's would call out, "Hey Mr. Arthur, I can help you over here!". There was NO WAY, I was going to EVER go to direct deposit back in those days.. !!!

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  3. Years ago when we lived in Franklin, Tennessee, we opened an account at a bank in the "square" .. it was a remodeled old-time hotel and the coolest looking bank we'd ever been in. But the best part was them remembering our names, and offering to help "even in non-banking matters." We took that literally and called them when we got lost, and they guided us to our destination. :)

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