Provident Credit Union: Los Gatos Community Branch

Reviews

• ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
  This credit union is a partner with First Tech Federal Credit Union, and is the closest one to me. It's my go to for withdrawals, deposits, and cashier's checks; the clerks are always friendly and efficient.
  By Heather Young, June 25, 2017
• ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
  WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE IN MY LIFE. IGNORED & DISRESPECTED. I wanted to relay the terrible customer experience my wife and I received today with the loan officer Fred from the Los Gatos branch. First, I left him a voicemail weeks ago to set up an appointment and my call was never returned. We decided to try again by making an appointment online. We arrived only to sit in the waiting area and listen to him chat with his co-worker in the office next door. When he walked into the waiting area, he greeted me and shook my hand and then turned around and completely ignored my wife. She was literally getting up to introduce herself and extend her hand and I got iced. Little did he know, the whole point of this appointment was to transfer HER company's assets to Provident and I was there to support HER (She's the CEO of the business we were trying to open an account for). What is this, Mad Men in the 1950's?!! Once he began reviewing our documents, it was clear he did not understand ANY procedures required to open a simple business account. Each paper was a mystery to him and he would reply with weird questions like "where does this company name come from?" LIKE WHY WOULD THAT EVEN MATTER?? He referred to the Provident checklist of required documentation, from which I had already prepared extra copies of all the necessary documents. His lack of familiarity with opening an account was glaringly obvious. I corrected him on several occasions regarding basic California business requirements (PS I am not in banking or finance). He seemed unsure on how to proceed, just staring at the documents and slowly typing on his computer ignoring us. The entire interaction was a mixture of awkward silence, inane questions, and pure bewilderment on his part. He then decided to get on the phone with a co-worker to ask some questions. He literally laughed and joked around about how strange our business was, insulting the very company my wife and I have built. It was a serious thing for us to be trusting all of our company assets into a new institution in a different state and this man is joking about its legitimacy under his breath IN FRONT OF US!?! How humiliating and effing unprofessional!!!!! How is this situation funny!? I was an eager, well prepared small business just seeking your professional help! In the end, he refused to open the account due to his unfamiliarity of one of the papers needed on the checklist. We asked him for next steps because he was sitting in silence, giving us zero direction. He reluctantly responded that he would "call Austin, TX" (??????) to try and research the documentation requirements. At this point it became clear he had no idea what he was doing. We felt unwelcomed, confused, and unworthy of his time. His attitude was like "yeahhh I'll handle it I guess" just to get us out of there. He said he would call me later that day after doing research and OF COURSE there has been NO communication. No phone call, no email, no follow up. A professional would at least call me with a status update or a "Hey I need more time to work on this". We told him many times we will get him what he needs ASAP, but HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT HE NEEDED!! I have no idea where my account stands or whether he will ever contact us. We came in fully prepared with all of the necessary documentation based off Provident's own checklist. We even made extra copies for Fred to keep. How can we get turned away for missing documentation that Fred could not even describe or articulate himself? I was able to get an appointment with Wells Fargo three hours later. In contrast, a welcoming, competent gentlemen set up our business checking, credit line, payroll services, and online banking in under AN HOUR AND A HALF. I was hoping Provident would be our financial institution for all of our business banking needs due to the high reviews, but we walked out this morning furious, confused and disappointed. It's a sad day when a national bank gives me higher quality one-on-one white glove service than my local credit union.
  By Jeremy Lomax, May 21, 2017

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