Holy Buck, Fatman!

Scene: Citibank, 1400 K Street, Washington DC.

Me: Hello, I’d like to purchase two American Express Travelers Check Cards for 500$, please.

Teller: Sure, No problem. Can you wait a moment, I’ll need to get those from the back room.

Me: No Problem.

15 minutes pass.

Teller: Are you a Citibank Customer?

Me: No.

Teller: Okay, It will be a $3.95 service charge per card.

Me: Not a problem.

30 minutes pass. I’m standing there, playing a game on my phone by now.

Teller: Ohhh, You’re not a Citibank Customer, right?

Me: No.

Teller: Okay, This will cost you $7.90 total. How much do you want? I’ll need two forms of ID, please.
Me: (getting my ID out) Two cards, $500 each.

Teller: Oh No, We can’t do that. You can’t exceed $1000.

Me: But I’m NOT. I’m BUYING TWO CARDS for $500 each. Wouldn’t they be considered separate transactions?

Teller: No, they are together. It’s policy for non account holders.

Me: Okay, But I have just spent 45 minutes of my lunch hour standing here. You could have told me your policy when I told you my denominations in the beginning and I could have been on my way, BUT you are just NOW are telling me?Is it policy to treat a person who could POTENTIALLY be a customer like crap?

Teller: Yes, it is.

Me: (stunned) Oh I want to see your Manager RIGHT NOW.

Teller sitting next to my Teller: Oh No, you Just didn’t SAY THAT!

Manager: Hello, I’m Debbie, the manager here

Me: Your employee just said it’s policy to treat non customers—who could potentially BE customers like CRAP. Now, I could have taken my extensive investments to your establishment and also utilized your financial advisor’s that recently solicited my place of employment. I won’t be doing that now, so by your silly policy of treating people like Crap, you simply lost some good customers. I’ll be taking my complaints to the internet, the financial advisor who came in looking for business, your central offices and everyone else I can think of.

Manager: Well, It is our Policy….

Me: If your teller would have told me when I first asked, I would have politely said, “Oh, Thank you, I’ll go elsewhere.” and left. But, no…I was led to believe he was actually going to perform the service for me, but instead decided to tell me that it was policy to treat non customers like crap. Good Bye.

People, Citibank Sucks. Never patronize them. Ever.

I suppose this is what happens when Banks simply get too big. They don’t care about potential customers or even delivering customer service. It’s a damn shame that someone with a small transaction, who was actually considering taking advantage of their business investment services, was treated like that.