This report is to alert readers that there are major customer service problems at the Fifth Third Bank branch located at 309 West Market Street in Louisville, Kentucky. I am the 32nd Fifth Third customer this past 18 months that I am aware of that has either terminated the services of Fifth Third entirely or quit doing business at this specific branch as a result of the poor customer service at this specific location.
The problem in a nutshell is that the employees at this branch are either too lazy or too incompetent or just plain too dishinest to perform simple banking transactions, such as accepting check deposits or verifying funds availability on a check. The root of the problem is that they have an incompetent, lying and dishonest customer service manager named Mary Penta at this location, widely regarded by local business owners here in Louisville as the worst customer service manager in the history of Fifth Third Bank.
A typical example follows:
Around May of 2007 Bank of America started making us preapproved business loan offers, which we declined (B of A had issued our business VISA cards). But B of A then issued me some specially marked convenience checks tied to my B of A business VISA and told me I could take up to a $5,000 cash advance off my VISA completely free of charge so long as I paid it back in full in 1 year (no interest and no fees of any kind).
I contacted the Fifth Third branch manager at 309 West Market (her name was Donna) and told her of the B of A offer and that I intended to take advantage of it by depositing a $5,000 check into our Fifth Third petty cash account at that branch. But I was concerned Fifth Third might place a hold on the deposit so I wanted her to verify and clear the check before I deposited it to avoid any holds. Donna told me when I got ready to deposit the $5,000 check to just bring it in and Mary Penta (Customer Service Manager at that branch) would handle it.
The next week I took the check in for deposit and was told by Mary Penta, who did not even look at the check, that there was nothing she could do and it would take 10 days for the check to clear. Knowing that Mary Penta was either incompetent or lying to me, I did not deposit the check. I instead brought it back to my law office and called Fifth Third's customer service hotline, complaining about why it was that Mary Penta could not perform a simple banking transaction routinely performed by my other banks (we also use American Express bank, ING bank, Chase bank, Citi bank).
After 20 minutes it was decided that the best thing for me to do was to walk the $5,000 check over to the Fifth Third branch at 401 South Fourth Street in Louisville and get the customer service manager over there (her name was Christie Morgan, but she has since been replaced by Justin Preece) to handle it. Christie Morgan took the check, got B of A on the phone and had the check verified and confirmed in 5 minutes. I deposited the check and funds were fully available in less than 48 hours.
Bottom line? A customer service manager at a different branch did in 5 minutes what Mary Penta at the 309 West Market Street branch told me could not be done. When I went back to the branch at 309 West Market Street and mentioned to the branch manager what had happened, she told me the reason the customer service manager at the 4th Street branch could do it, but not Mary Penta, was that the manager (Christie Morgan) at the 4th Street Branch had the B of A customer service number on the back of my B of A business VISA. This was pure hogwash of course since Mary Penta had the same number.
Additional examples will be given in future reports, but in the meantime Fifth Third customer service has advised me not to do business at the branch at 309 West Market given the problems they are having at that branch with dishonesty and incompetence. So I pass the warnings from Fifth Third along to the rest of you. As for us, we have safely moved most of our business away from Fifth Third and over to Chase and ING Bank. All we have left at Fifth Third is a petty cash checking account and that will likely be terminated soon. Additional reports will follow.
Pending resolution of all the incompetence and dishonesty problems with Mary Penta and the branch at 309 West Market in Louisville, Fifth Third recommends that you transact all business other than simple cash deposits with Justin Preece at the 4th Street branch, whose number is 502-5625215. If you need additional info concerning the problems at the Market Street branch in Louisville, you are welcome to call us at 502-413-7951.
Davidh
Louisville, Kentucky
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