I know it sounds weird that I made coming to a Citadel a priority on this trip, but I had my reasons. Since they discontinued shared-branching with local credit unions where I am across the country, this makes it most difficult withdrawing cash in larger amounts (this usually goes right to my mechanic) in addition to other business matters I miss out on while in a branch.
So on my second day in town, the Pottstown location was the closest to where I was staying. I don't know if this location existed when I lived in PA since I frequented other ones in different parts of the county, but it will do for today. Upon walking in, there was a 'greeter' up front and I let her know what I wanted to do, and she walked me over to a guy at a desk. His name started with an A or E (EDIT: it was Arnulfo!) and once he warmed up, this was a pleasant transaction. I did my cash withdraw, and also handled something with my IRA, which was a hassle to do over the phone cross-country since things had to be signed, etc. so it made sense to do this while being here. Everything took less than 10 minutes.
I did return two days later to break down a larger bill, and Arnulfo helped me once again. What I also realized the second time around was that there were no windows here; everyone that assisted you was at a desk, when I remember as a kid they used to be only for 'serious grown-up transactions'. When I brought this up, he said they got rid of them maybe a year or two ago. I'm not sure if this is the case at all the branches, but it's certainly new to me. Bank of America's still have them, but out of the five windows they have, you're lucky if two are open.
Admittedly, I had a negative impression of Citadel since I've moved away; helpful phone associates will come and then go, and then the service otherwise has mostly been a 4-5/10, maybe a 6 on a good day. I still consider leaving them for another credit union out west here where I can actually go in person, but the two visits with the same pleasant associate helped restore my faith a little more in staying. read more