August 2016 by Brian C.
I actually vacillated between 1 & 2 stars because not all Valley Nationals have been a problem, but my experience has shown that the company, as a whole does NOT value customer service. I became a Valley National customer when they bought the small local savings and loan where my accounts were (in Livingston). They weren't bad. After years of having the same staff members, the turnover surprised me, but overall the service was decent. When I moved to Montclair, the closest branch was Lyndhurst, which was okay. Then I changed jobs and moved to Morristown. The branch there was a NIGHTMARE. Now, I need to point out that the company I was working for used Valley National, so all my paychecks were on Valley National Bank (and if I got to the Mahwah branch on my lunch hour, that worked). But when I couldn't... Once my wife went to deposit my paycheck for me; they wouldn't let her. If someone wants to put money in my account, LET THEM! Then there was the time I tried to cash my paycheck and the manager wouldn't let me. When I asked her why, she said, "Well, I'm not familiar with this account." WHAT? You only cash checks from accounts that you know personally? That pretty much defeats the purpose of a check, doesn't it? When I called the home office to complain, they said they'd look into the matter and have the Regional Manager get back to me in a few days. Two weeks later, I'd heard nothing. I decided to close my account, but wanted to make sure they knew about the problem, so I went to the main branch to do so. They didn't even bother to ask why a customer who'd been with them for 20 years was closing the account. They just don't care.
