If you are new to the Coos Bay area, as I once was, you might consider opening an account at Oregon Pacific Bank. Well, just keep drivin', my friend. As the branch manager states (above), this is basically a "locals only" institution - which doesn't include you, newbie. A place where ordinarily simple processes like transferring funds from your outside bank to your account here are made unnecessarily difficult by Byzantine internet stumbling blocks, in a system designed by amateurs. Then when you call in for technical assistance with these crippled processes, you encounter obtuse employees who are virtually clueless. People like "Anna," one of their customer service gurus who will simply hang up on you when she gets frustrated.
And then there is "Michelle." She is the sad sack at the drive thru window, who expresses hatred for her job by spraying Seattle-style passive-aggressive venom at those who displease her. For example, I requested my i.d. back at the conclusion of a necessary drive-thru transaction the other day, and this one says to me: "Do you want your [Oregon Pacific] debit card back, too?"
I had not been joking with her, so it takes a special kind of personality cypher to speak that way to a customer; when this attitude comes from an employee of the place where you keep money, however, it is also cause for concern. Of course it is unprofessional and undermines trust, but I think there is something else at work here. There is a not-so-thinly veiled contempt for its customers at Oregon Pacific, something that I have also experienced at their main office in Florence, and it's despicable; on top of the few pennies of interest they pay on savings deposits, and of course zero on checking.
So then after telling this woman that I've dealt with a dozen different banks and hers was hands down the worst, and furthermore that I would be closing my account as soon as possible, she replies, simply: "Okay."
But is it really? Your best bet is to try Umpqua Bank, or maybe Northwest Community Credit Union. Otherwise, expect the worst at Oregon Pacific. read more
