| Joe Versaggi 2006-08-02, 3:33 pm |
| Jack Zwick wrote:
> When I went to a B of A office in Milford, CT (a former Fleet), they
> were more customer friendly and helpful than ANY B of A in Texas ever
> was, happily giving me cash back from a 3rd party personal check.
>
> B of A charges to cash one of their own checks if you don't have an
> account with them; hardly customer friendly.
If you don't have an account, you're not a customer ! Like an ATM
SURcharge - they don't care.
Fleet personnel were STUPID and getting worse, particularly so in the
former Norstar and NatWest branches. FLeet also closed high-visibility,
downtown branches left and right. Smaller banks moved into their former
quarters, took their customers, likely their local businesss payrolls as
well, and otherwise ate their lunch. Small-time customers were
"unprofitable" according to their accounting. 13,000 Fleet employees in
Boston and elsewhere paid the consequences.
HSBC on the other hand, a huge global bank, functions much like a small
town bank, being in every nook and cranny in not so wealthy upstate NY,
per 150 years of Marine Midland tradition.
Similarly, Cingular thinks customers who pay $30 for 200 TDMA
minutes/month and never give them a problem can walk too. Fleet is gone,
HSBC is growing.
Stinkular won't be around in 5 - 10 years.
|