I've been a customer of PNC Bank for over 30 years with a premium service account. Today I had yet another horrible customer service experience. I need to find another bank for a long time now and have been putting it off. Today was bad, but let me explain the worst I ever had, the details I should have posted about a long time ago.
So I went into my local branch with my photo ID to have a certified bank check written from my account to my attorney, which also happened to be the county solicitor for the county in which this happened. The check was for a real estate closing that was scheduled for the same day. Bank had no problem with me being me...ID checked out fine and they knew me well anyway. However, they would not write a check from my own account to my attorney because the amount was high, and they claimed they did not know who he was. I explained everything and that I had a closing meeting for a property purchase, but that didn't matter to them. I explained that I was the customer, and they verified I was me and I know who my attorney was and so it shouldn't matter. After much arguing, I finally had to leave in disgust and called my attorney from parking lot to tell him we had to cancel. He asked why, and when I explained I was at PNC and they don't know who he is and so they won't release the funds, he was shocked. He told me to stay in my car and wait for him to call back. After some time, he called me back and said go back in, they will issue the check. I did and there were no more questions and they did it fast. I got to my attorney's office and asked how he did that. He said his wife (whom I don't know and to this day never met in my life) was friends with someone at the bank and he had her call them and told them its OK to serve me. So in the end, someone that I don't know, or never met, or never authorized any authority on my behalf, was able to have more control over my own money with a simple phone call than I myself was able to have in person and with a photo ID. This is border-line criminal in my opinion. When I called after the fact to protest to customer service, they said this is how their policy works. read more