Apparently, the branch will officially open its doors this coming Saturday, October 25th. TDBank is sending out invitations to local residents for the grand celebration with a promise of gifts for the first 100 customers.
Forget the gifts. Most of us are probably more interested in finding out if this branch has a free coin counting machine.
By the way, what is your experience with our neighborhood banks? Does one stand out for customer service?
And here is another question for you: Why don't most banks with branches in Carroll Gardens offer mortgages or home equity loans for three family homes in a neighborhood full of such buildings?
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7 comments:
When I lived in Manhattan I banked at Chase. When I opened that account thirty years ago they pretty much wanted to type my blood. What I remember is that when I would deposit holiday/ birthday cash they would hold it waiting for it to "clear". When I moved to Carroll Gardens the only option was Citi. They closed my account because they said I was overdrawn. I went to Chemical over on 7th Avenue (now THAT was a bank and they were polite and rolled out the red carpet). I was in the area during the day so it wasn't really an inconvenience. After I had been with Chemical for a few months a received letter from Citi saying something like my account had been dormant and my "overdrawn" account now had a couple of hundred dollars in it. I went into the Citi branch to find out what was going on. No one could explain how my account went from being overdrawn to having a couple of hundred or why it was closed and reopened but they wanted to keep my business. I closed the account on the spot.
By default I am now back with Chase and having a local branch is much more convenient. I have always found the staff to be friendly, polite, and helpful at both the Court Street and Smith Street branches. A vast improvement over my previous experience with Chase. Fingers crossed that it continues.
Katia. The coin counting machine is FREE only to TD bank users. If you are not a user, TD takes a fee when you hand in the chit to the teller. In any event, it will beat hauling all my coins up to the Brooklyn Heights location, where it was broken.
Well, I suppose that's fair. Thanks for the info. I guess I will continue to put a pocketful of coins in my pocket and force myself to use it all.
The CVS on Court @ 2nd used to have a coinstar machine where you could get 100% of the value of your coins in the form of an Amazon gift certificate. They no longer have it, so this is an incredibly useless tip.
But, both CVSes in the neighborhood have self checkout which is a good way to get rid of coins...just pay for regular purchases by feeding the coinslot.
Now what was it that Jane Jacobs wrote in "Life and Death of a City" about banks on each corner in a neighborhood?
And who designed that TD signage? That is truly deadly. It hard not to believe these corporate entities aren't deliberately antagonizing the inhabitants of a community with the way they treat the build environment.
Years ago, when I first moved to the neighborhood, I opened an account with Washington Mutual (or "WaMu" as the bank idiotically nicknamed itself). It was awful, probably the worst bank I have ever used and I closed my account pretty quickly after they botched a number of transactions.
I switched to Commerce, which was excellent, and they were swallowed up by TD shortly after. It's still worth the trek up to Montague or 5th ave, so I am a little torn at being glad I am closer to my bank and being disappointed that something so cold and ugly is opening on Court St in that giant ugly new building.
It s pretty ugly, isn't it?
Walked past by there late this afternoon and they seemed to be training for the opening.
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