My first and only time inside a Midfirst bank branch was a horrible experience and I will tell everyone I know not to bank with them. I went in to close an account that I had opened over a year ago and forgot about, and to collect my measly $50 deposit only to be told that I had $10 left in my account due to a monthly recurring "dormant account fee". The first teller didn't understand why I hadn't received any notices about this so she went to get help. She took a second teller with her so as not to speak in front of me. Ten minutes later after listening to teller #1 take a phone call, the second person, Nelson, came out to tell me that there was nothing they could do to help me recoup any of the fees. I began to tell him that I worked in banking for years and before I could finish my point he told me, as he smiled and laughed "well then you should know that this is how banks do things" anytime I began to speak he would just say "you should know, you should know" speaking to me in the tone you would talk to a 2 year old in. Yes, I suppose I "should know" that banks make money on bs fees. He is right- not the best explanation Sir. It was condescending and rude.
I have truly never experienced anything like it, and would have never spoken to a client in such a way. I then asked for a manager and he laughed at me and said "ok". Laughing at a customer who is frustrated and clearly just wants an explanation other than "this is what banks do". Believe me, $50 does not make or break my life, and I think part of the issue made here is that to the employees of midfirst bank, my business meant nothing to them because my one and only account was so small. I learned long ago not to judge a book by it's cover or a customer by the one account they have with you. I was amazed that even with one small account, not a single attempt was made to ask why I was closing it out, or to retain my business. This was always the golden rule in banking when I was a personal banker- I guess things have changed.
The manager came out, Vanessa, offered to remove three fees totaling $15. So now we have gone from nothing can be done, to we can remove a few fees. Fine. She could not tell me why nothing more could be done and also did not care about providing any explanation for why MidFirst is able to send me marketing emails month after month but could not utilize this form of communication to warn me I was about to throw away money. She suggested that because my account was opened online and not assigned to their branch that another branch had dropped the ball? She really didn't make much sense and I'm not really sure if she was making it up as she went along or if this was really an explanation. She also ignored my first attempt to tell her how I was just treated by the teller, and then when I told her a second time she said "oh he laughed at you, ok I will talk to Nelson about that". No eye contact. No apology. She then Id'ed me a second time after the first person I was dealing with had already done so and all of my info was pulled up there, they had already revealed all of my private account information to and with me and when I asked why she was taking my ID again she said they had to since they didn't get it the first time. In fact the teller (a third teller now) felt the need to chime in and say something as well about having to get my ID. At this point I wanted to laugh. At least the employees all certainly seem to stick together.
So, as a customer it was my responsibility to read whatever fine print was there that none of us read upon opening my account a year and a half ago. If Midfirst is that hard up for a few bucks that they have an extremely staunch stance against removal of maintenance fees, then the banking employees could have just explained that to me. "We do not remove fees at all". But I know this isn't the case. They just had no interest in retaining my business because I had one small account, and a baby on my hip. I wonder how differently I would have been treated had I walked in in my professional business attire wearing a Rolex. Honestly. What snobs.
As a bank, and employees of that bank, these individuals were so unprofessional, not knowledgeable about their own banks practices, and just so rude, I left feeling shocked and frustrated.
In my past life as a banker the goal is to at least have the person walk out the door feeling satisfied with their experience and not likely to post a novel on yelp about how unprofessional it was. A $50 client was looked at as just as important as a $50,000 client. You never know who you are dealing with. I promise you I will never bank with Midfirst in any way after this and will be telling friends and family to beware. read more
