Consumer complaint received 2024-06-24
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Managing an account — Problem accessing account
Company: U.S. BANCORP (OR)

Very early this morning my husband stopped at the ATM at our local branch of US Bank in XXXX Oregon to get some cash as he does every Monday morning. He was not able to get cash, he said the machine didn't even offer that as an option. 

About XXXX am he found the time to call me from work to let me know he could not access our account so that I could find out if there was a problem with our account or if there was a problem with the ATM. 

I spent the next few hours calling the branch to find out and no one answered the phone there. Eventually, someone answered the phone. When I inquired as to why they didn't answer the phone, I was told they were busy with customers in the branch. To which I replied that I am also a customer! I have been in that branch several times and there are ALWAYS more employees in there than customers. 

In fact, more times than not, there are no customers in the branch at all. More and more people are banking online or through ATMs. So, it should be no problem for the branch to answer their XXXX phones. 

This first person I spoke to hung up on me before I could find out if or when the ATM would have funds available. So, I called the 1-800 national number. The person I spoke to also tried calling the branch and no one answered. She kindly offered to send an email to someone at the branch asking them to call me. 

I did receive a phone call from someone who I believe was in management, but can't confirm that as I don't recall his name. He also hung up on me. 

I kept calling because I knew my husband would not be able to make it to the bank before they closed as he works long hours this time of year. So, if there was still no money in the ATM he would have to find another way to get some cash. 

I believe I probably dialed the phone number to the local branch close to 100 times today and only 3 times did someone answer. The third time XXXX answered and he informed me that he was in fact the Branch Manager. XXXX told me that there is a third party that takes care of managing the ATM machines. I asked when there would be funds available in the machines and he couldn't answer that. 

I asked XXXX for the phone number for this third party so I could find out when they would be servicing the machines and he wouldn't give me that information. So, I asked him to call them to find out. I also asked him to call me when he could answer that and not surprisingly, he knew my name and phone number. 

I bring up that XXXX could identify me because I suspect that either they had blocked my number or the other employees recognized my name and number and were choosing not to answer my calls later in the day after I had been hung up on twice. 

I talked to XXXX at about XXXX pm and expected to get a call back from him within XXXX minutes as I didn't believe it should take long for him to get answers from this third party. 

At XXXX pm I began calling the branch again. Knowing that I would need to let my husband know if he needed to stop someplace else to get his cash. No surprise, they never answered the phone. This is when I began to suspect my phone number had been blocked or was being ignored. 

So, I called the 1-800 number again. This person also tried to call the branch and got no answer. I would think that would be one call the branch should be require to answer. I asked her to send an email to XXXX and she replied she couldn't do that. Since I knew that someone else had done so, I asked to speak to her supervisor. While I was on hold waiting for the supervisor, my other line was ringing and I could see it was my local branch, so I hung up and took the call. 

It was now XXXX pm and this call was indeed XXXX the XXXX XXXX XXXX. XXXX informed me that there was now money in the ATMs and that one of them was having mechanical issues and not working. I asked XXXX if they had blocked my phone number and he said no. So, they continued to ignore customers on the phone pretty much all day long. 

Look, I get that because fewer people are banking in person these days, staffing in financial institutions is inadequate, but this was ridiculous. In what business is it okay to simply ignore their customers trying to get answers or doing business on the phone? 

The few times I have been in the branch there have been at least 4-6 employees and anywhere from 0-3 customers. So, I really don't understand why no one answers the phones. I am XXXX and rarely go out of the house. I only go into the bank or any other brick-and-mortar business if necessary. I do curbside pick-up for groceries, online purchases to be shipped to me, and online banking as well. 

If they are not going to answer the phones, they need to provide a way for their customers to get answers. And that does not mean their 1-800 number for customer service. I think we all know that most " customer service '' doesn't actually provide real customer service. Yes, they also have websites where you can get some questions answered. Whether or not there is money in the ATM is not one of them. 

It took me XXXX hours of persistent phone calls to find that out today. That is RIDICULOUS! Please just answer your XXXX phones!!