Consumer complaint received 2017-10-31
Product: Checking or savings account — Other banking product or service
Issue: Managing an account — Problem accessing account
Company: CAPITAL ONE FINANCIAL CORPORATION (NY)

On Thursday, XXXX XXXX, my mother and I went into Capital One with a check to cash and to enter her safe deposit box. The teller cashed her check and asked her to stand by the door next to the safe deposit boxes. That is common practice. What happened next I certainly hope is not common practice. That same teller took care of the woman who came in after my mother did without opening the door. In addition, the other teller needed direction helping the person she had at her window, so my mother and I were still waiting. Now 2 people are being help ahead of my mother. I said, How about opening the door? With that, XXXX tells me to go sit down. I told him I will not sit down. He said he was going to phone the police. I told him to go ahead and do that. You could tell he was looking for revenge because apparently his ego was challenged and he didnt like that. He flew out of his seat. I can only describe it as a lineman charging me because I had the football near the end zone. My mother flinched because she thought he was going to hit her. He was trying to speak to me and I wouldnt let him, because there was nothing that he could say that would explain his behavior so I didnt want to hear it. He walked over to my mother saying she looked like a more reasonable person to speak to. He told her customers come first. My mother said, But I am a customer. He said, Thats it, Im closing your accounts and you cant get into your safe deposit box. I firmly believe that if I were a man and XXXX XXXX wouldnt have said a thing to us. That is a racially motived crime as well. XXXX isnt man enough to challenge a man if he challenges XXXX yr olds and XXXX yr old women. When I told my mother it was because we were XXXX, XXXX smiled brightly and the tellers laughed. Imagine that. Why do you think the tellers laughed? What is so funny about racism, bullying, elder abuse and intimidation? 

My mother was ready to walk out but decided to turn around and stay inside. She was hoping that he would change his mind. He had NO intentions of changing his mind. He enjoyed the fact that she stayed because he was able to watch the entertainment of my mother getting confused and afraid of what he was able to put into her mind. Complete intimidation. My mother feared that if she left the bank he would be able to take her money, so she was afraid to leave. He smiled and grinned when hed seen what was happening. He loved it. So did the tellers. All at my mothers expense. 

I was trying to get someone on the phone, but the wait time was 20+ minutes so I couldnt get anyone to help me. So the only thing I could do at that point was to get my mother out of the bank. My goal was no longer her safe deposit box, but was to get her to a safe place and convince her that he cant take her money. That took a long time. She still didnt believe me, but she didnt have a choice. She had to trust me at that point. Its very hard to convince an elderly person once they convinced themselves of what they believe to be true, no matter how much they trust you. There are no magic words to get through to them. 

We left and went to a restaurant where I finally reached someone on the phone. The person called XXXX and told him we want to get inside the safe deposit box. He refused and told the guy that he was taking the box back and the only way she could get the contents was to return both keys and sign papers. That box is paid for till XXXX, XXXX. So not even with a call from someone else was enough to help my mother. There was no help for her. NONE!!! XXXX did not care about anyone from your office. He apparently felt it was his right to do what he did. His ego was over the top and challenged and revenge was all his at all cost. 

This story is much longer because of what I had to do to convince my mother that he could n't take her money. I asked my detective friend to come with us to that same branch to close out her safe deposit box because my mother was afraid to go there with just me. There are only 2 branches of Capital One that my mother can get to and one is close in XXXX so she will be forced to go to that same branch to close her checking account once her direct deposits go to her new bank. I live in Arizona and she in New York. She ca n't go by herself. She thinks she needs to go with a man because she and I believe he wo n't challenge a man. Is that what my mother should be thinking of just to go to a bank? There is so much more to this story about the lasting effects this has had on her. 

I did file a complaint with Capital One and I have to continuously contact them for updates and I get nothing but I will make sure someone calls you, then they never do. I get absolutely no information from them. I have written a letter to XXXX XXXX and he has also been contacted by the Better Business Bureau. Capital One has been contacted by the Comptroller of the Currency and still no reply. I believe they are doing nothing about this. This is very serious to me. Imagine if this was your mother or grandparents? I would like someone to have enough respect for our elderly to do something about this. 

The attached is a detailed explanation of what happened now that I 'm thinking with a clear head and not with an angry one.