National Bank

Had a really weird experience with this branch of the National Bank (NB) . This is the last nail in the coffin - as soon as this shenanigan is taken care of, I will close all of my accounts with this company. My interaction with this branch have been limited to only one interaction in June 2019. The branch I have opened my account at and done most of my business with is in Québec City, and I have also used a branch in Montreal a few times and only have positive things to say about these two. But I now live in Toronto and this is the branch the closest to where I live so I went there to talk to an employee today and the treatment I received was really awkward and not up to the standards of the treatment I have usually received with the NB. A few months ago (February 2019), I was in Montreal for a trip and stopped by a branch there (500 Places d'Armes, Montréal, Québec) to ask a question to the employees working at that branch. I had a payment I needed to make to the city of Montreal, and they would only accept payment via check or a bank draft. I had no check left and literally hadn't used any since 2012 or 2013. I asked the employee there if it was possible to order only a few checks, since I NEVER use them, and only needed one for this one-time payment. The employee there explained to me it wasn't possible to get only or two, and that the smallest quantity I could get was 50, for about $50. I explained to her that I never use checks and didn't felt like paying $50 for 50 checks when I knew I would only use one and would likely not use any of the others. The teller then referred me to a banking advisor (who seemed to be a manager or junior manager or something like that) who told me that she understood that I didn't felt like ordering a bulk number of checks when all I needed was one, and that she could open a second checking account for me in my bank account, and that she would be able to give me two free checks with this. We proceeded to do that. Flash forward to a few months later, back home in Toronto. I never use that second checking account (since I do all of my transactions out of my primary checking account), so I figured I'd drop by the closest National Bank branch to ask a teller to close it for me. I stopped by this branch on College, went to see the teller and told her I wished to close this specific checking account. She asked me why. I briefly explained to her why the account was opened, and that I wished to close it because I do not use it anymore. From this moment on, I was treated like some sort of criminal or nuisance, not like a long-standing customer of the NB. She told me the checking account had been opened other "illegitimate pretences" and that as such, she "refused to close it" because she didn't want to "take responsibility" for what has been done. She went to see her manager, they whispered for a few minutes and looked at me as if I was a criminal, she came back to see me and repeated that it was "impossible" for her to close the bank account, and that I would need to call the branch of the Montréal branch at 500 Places d'Armes to get it closed. The entire thing was just so bizarre and unprofessional. First of all, if it's against company policies to open a second checking account, the blame is on the Montreal branch employee - not on me. Second, even assuming that this second checking account was not opened properly according to company policies, why would the Toronto employee be "taking responsibility" by closing down the account? If a mistake was made and someone needed to be punished, it would be the Montréal employee who opened such account, not the Toronto employee who would then close it. Third, the Toronto employee told me I would "need to call the Montreal branch to get them to close the account" - but that is impossible because that specific branch doesn't have their own phone number (see screenshot) - the number listed on Google Maps is a general call centre number, so I'm confused as to how I'm supposed to reach the people working there.

My experience has been top notch for the last 20 plus years. Angie and the employees are awesome! If you disagree,who cares.!

terrible service unless you are Portuguese Angela Lam the teller blatantly lied about being rude to me and telling me that if I don't like their service to go to another bank.On top of that the branch manager stared waving her figure in my face as if I were a child. I will be going straight to the NBC ombudsman on this one and then right to social media

Excellent customer service in this branch!

Pioneer in banking solutions but zero costumer service