Citibank

When they’re not destroying the economy with bad loans, Citibank seems to be busy lying to its customers. Here’s the story:
I was suddenly cash flush when a friend felt guilty and paid a long-​ago debt. Yahooo! I can pay down some credit cards. I went to Chase, gave ‘em my credit card and $ 200 in cash. They rang it through and gave me the receipt. I went to Capital One, gave ‘em my credit card and $ 200 in cash. They rang it through and gave me a receipt. Then I went to this branch of Citibank.
«Sorry,» the teller says, «Federal regulations say that if I take cash from you and you don’t have another account here I need two forms of ID and your social security number.»
«That’s not true,» I tell the teller, «I just paid other credit cards without ID.»
Whoops, story change: «It’s bank policy,» he says, forgetting all that «Federal Regulations» stuff. «But you can pay in an ATM machine.»
«You need ID for bank policy,» I repeat back, «But the ATM doesn’t require ID… all it needs is my credit card?»
He nods.
Several years ago, I quit Citibank because of their fees and other charges. I kept a credit card. That, as it turns out, was a mistake.

It’s rare to feel motivated to jump on Unilocal after visiting what’s mostly a commoditized place of business but the people at Citi on w 3 and LaGuardia were so dang pleasant this morning I thought they deserved some extra love back. Thanks for making the mundane an awesome experience. I’ll be upping my own game today for sure.

I do agree that Citibanks are frustratingly sparse in this ‘hood, and am consequently pleasantly shocked at how there is never an ATM line here, which I see as no reason to bash this particular branch.

There are plenty of other branches that I’ve been to and have had mediocre-​to-​frustrating experiences at, but this one, while in a prime location, isn’t too overwhelming and is pretty straight forward. I received really quick, straight forward help from Santa at the customer service desk. I felt calm and complete. And was in and out in a jiffy.

The worst branch in banking history. They couldn’t care less, they couldn’t be ruder. I’ve had tellers chatting on the phone and FILING THEIR NAILS while cashing checks and drawing cashier’s checks for me. I walk a mile out of my way to avoid them.