Citizens Bank

Bruce Van Saun
1 Citizens Plaza
Providence, RI 02903

Dear Mr. Van Saun,

I am writing regarding my recent experience with the Citizens Bank branch in Giant Eagle/Century III, in West Mifflin, PA. I typically go to Citizens to get quarters so that my fiancee and I can do laundry. On my most recent trip there, inside of one of my rolls of quarters, I found these ‘Rascals’ tokens (included.)

I do not know what Rascals is. Maybe it is awesome. But I do know I cannot do laundry with their tokens. My fiancee mentioned this to the bank teller, who laughed and offered no restitution.

Please mail $1 to ########################################. Please consider adding postage costs to this total. I am returning your Rascals tokens, so you are out no money from me.

I have been a longtime customer of Citizens Bank. I can live with the loss of $1, but I should not have to.

Sincerely,

Citizens Bank

Ms. Ellen Alemany
Chairman and CEO, Citizens Financial Group
One Citizens Plaza
Providence, Rhode Island 02903

August 19, 2012

Dear Ms. Alemany,


I am writing because today I tried to deposit two postal money orders into a Citizens Bank ATM on Fort Couch Road in Bethel Park. It would not take them. This is one of those new-style no envelope ATMs, which, until now, I found useful. This would have never happened with the old envelope ATMs. Now I am forced to walk around with $2,000 worth of money orders until I can find an open bank, which I seldom can during non-work hours. This is extremely unsafe. Once again, the bank has implemented cost saving measures that have reduced the usefulness of the bank to its members. On top of the decision to refuse to send out paper statements without charging an outrageous fee, this is absolutely infuriating. I hope the bank will seriously take a look at its new measures and their impact on customer service as it continues its sharp turn, in my opinion, down hill. I have a lot of money in this bank and all I am getting back from it is the shaft.


Sincerely,

Citizens Bank

Ms. Ellen Alemany
Chairman and CEO, Citizens Financial Group
One Citizens Plaza
Providence, Rhode Island 02903

Monday, January 16, 2012

Dear Ms. Alemany,

Several months ago, I wrote a letter highlighting my disgust with the bank’s decision to stop sending paper statements as a standard business practice, instead charging $36.00 a year to print and mail 12 sheets of paper. I believed that the bank was using “Go Green” as a facade to cheat bank patrons and cut financial corners.

Now, disgusted as I may have been, I at least assumed it was because the bank was experiencing some financial concerns and couldn’t afford the cost of printing and mailing if it intended to remain financially viable.

You can imagine my surprise when I learned that the bank had recently printed and mailed tons of "Cash Back, Automatically!" advertisements to its customers. It is a shame that the bank that supposedly can’t afford to send us paper statements, a normal function and service of a bank, can still, on the other hand, afford to solicit its patrons with unwanted junk mail.

Citizens has always been a reliable bank with good customer service. It is unfortunate that it has, of late, seemed to develop a priority problem, and its patrons have taken a clear back seat.

Please share my thoughts with your fellow decision-makers.

Sincerely,

Citizens Bank

Ms. Ellen Alemany
Chairman and CEO, Citizens Financial Group
One Citizens Plaza
Providence, Rhode Island 02903

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Dear Ms. Alemany,

I have been a Citizens Bank account holder for many years, and in general I have been very pleased with the friendly and professional service I receive every time I walk into one of your branch offices. However, in the past week, I have spotted an issue of concern that I’d like to share with you.

In regard to Citizens Bank’s new policy of charging penalty fees to bank account holders who receive paper statements, I would like to formally express my disapproval. This service has always been part and parcel of what the bank has given its account holders in return for entrusting it with their money. All of a sudden, it costs $36.00 to print and mail 12 paper statements per year. Why?

Many account holders would prefer to deal with important financial matters on the hard copy rather than relying on computers, and you can count me among them. Now it seems as if we are being strong-armed to change. Again, why?

The guise is that it is an effort to “Go Green.” Aside from the fact that not all account holders agree with the politics of this effort, it seems to be, in actuality, a pretense to cut more corners in order to save money. Where dollars and cents are concerned, you’ve made a smart move. However, I find this decision lacking in the customer service department.

I know you have elderly and disabled account holders who are not familiar with or able to use computers, and they will be forced to eat these fees if they wish to know anything at all about what’s going on with their bank accounts. Again, I find that truly unfortunate. With more and more small banks advertising fee-free accounts on television, I think this is something you ought to take into consideration.

Furthermore, upon viewing my transactions online, these penalties are marked only as “Fee,” leaving me to inquire further to figure out what exactly I had done wrong to incur them..

These fees were removed as a one-time courtesy, which I do appreciate, but I am disappointed by the fact that I will have to resort to e-statements in order to avoid them in the future.


Thank you for all the years of solid, reliable banking. Please share my remarks with the rest of your board members.

Sincerely,