Bank of America

I Can’t stand this branch. Every time I go to the teller window, the teller wastes my time trying to push unwanted financial products on me, sometimes calling the manager over as well. I feel assaulted. If you order a bank check they will ask you too many probing questions. They are leeches. I would rather go to the Davis Sq branch.

I like that there aren’t many lines here, so when I want to go in and get quarters it’s pretty quick. What wasn’t quick was when I wanted to open an account. That took over an hour, and I ended up getting a parking ticket because I never imagined it’d take so long! The ATM area is always pretty well cleaned, and not too crowded. I like that it’s well-​lit and right on Mass Ave where lots of people are walking by, so it doesn’t feel too sketchy to go in alone at night.

I only give this bank one star because my actual representative, Elvis, was great. But his manager, not so great. I had to open new accounts, transfer all my funds from my old account, and get quarters.
The whole time that Elvis was helping me, his manager constantly asked if we were going to need the vault, because they wanted to close it (3 hours prior to closing time). We said yes, because I was going to need quarters. Every two minutes she reminded us that she wanted to close it. I felt extremely rushed and not very welcome. The manager also was constantly correcting my rep and telling him that he needed to do things differently, right in front of me. Not very professional. Then she asked if I was going to need a teller, because apparently that was also not going to be available for much longer. I said yes, to transfer my funds from my old bank, and she said «why can’t you just use the ATM for that». I was transferring thousands of dollars, I wanted a real human to do that, not a machine. And when I finally gave her the money to get the quarters, she made some remark like «Wow we only needed to keep the vault open for $ 20?»
Basically, she was trying to do everything she could to get me out of there, with three hours left to closing time. Making comments like «You have the whooole bank to yourself»… In the end, I think to save her reputation, she said «You know, I’m sorry to rush you, but we have certain times when we need to do things.» Yeah, whatever.
I didn’t want to switch banks in the first place, but I had to. Now I’m even more upset that my old bank isn’t in this location. Two thumbs, way down for BOA.

My main bank is USAA, but I keep my Bank of America checking account in case I need a physical bank location for some reason. Today was one such day. I needed to get a money order to send away for my passport. I’ve just moved and i don’t have any checks. So I went across the street to the BofA. While I was in line, Brett Juliano took the time to ask me what I needed that day and then after I responded, he explained my options to me. After describing what I would do when I got to the teller, he proceeded to ask me about what brought me to Cambridge, etc. It was the nice, personal touch that I look for in a bank, and frankly, I’ve never gotten it from BofA before. Everything with the teller went smoothly and i was really pleased with the experience.