October 2022 by Val A.
My ongoing struggle with PNC is by far the worst banking experience I've ever had in my life. Do yourself a favor, and NEVER put your money in this bank. I have been trying for thirteen months to close an account there that belonged to my late father, which lists my brother and I as beneficiaries. I've had multiple meetings at PNC, where I've provided all the paperwork requested, then been told afterwards that there's some new snag that is preventing the funds from being released. (They also required these meetings to happen at the branch my father used, even though I live halfway across the country.) After the first meeting, I was told that the paperwork I'd provided just needed to go through their legal dept, then the funds would be released. The next week, after I'd already traveled home, I got a call from the same teller saying their rules had changed, and I needed to come back with my brother to that branch and do the meeting over again, because that's what this week's rules require. When I said that would require my taking time off work and flying cross country again, the teller said that was my only option, if I wanted them to close the account and release the money. It took me a year to fly back there again, and I did everything they asked -- we both showed up, with the same proper documentation as before. The bank rep I'd made an appointment with called me three times beforehand to confirm what it was I needed to do, so I felt pretty confident it would go smoothly this time. When we got there this guy seemed completely confused about how to do the transaction, then alarmed us by saying that I was not a beneficiary on the account (turned out he was looking at the wrong account), then after letting us sit there in silence for 45 minutes while he tapped on his computer, he determined that someone had put a "hold" on my father's account, and therefore funds could not be released. Why did they do that? He said it was because my father was deceased. I pointed out the reason they know he's deceased is that I TOLD THEM HE WAS, when I first tried to close the account. He went into detail about how disorganized PNC is, and how many records have been lost, and customers are always irate, and how awful it is to work there, then told me I should call their customer service line for help. So I made at least eight calls to customer service last week, trying to get this solved before I left town again. Every person who answered my calls had no idea what to do. On Tuesday I asked a supervisor named Brooke if someone there could please explain to my estate attorney why it was legal to hold these funds indefinitely. She said of course, and took down the attorney's contact info. No one ever called the attorney. On Wednesday, I asked to speak directly to the department that put the account on hold, and-- shocker-- they were not available to talk to customers. Instead that department passed promises along to me through the customer service reps. Thursday I called again and was told by the person who answered that someone was on the case and would get the "hold" taken off the account and definitely call me THAT DAY. That customer service rep actually seemed to care about fixing the problem, but alas her promise also turned out to be a lie, and no one ever called me. On Friday I tried again and was told by the person who answered that someone in the department that froze my account said they would look into it and definitely, for sure get back to me within 24-48 hours. When I pointed out it was Friday, so that was very unlikely to be true, this woman just kept repeating "24-48 hours", like a mantra, until I hung up. This bank is creepy and corrupt and keeps their customers as far away from the people who know what's going as possible, assuming there are any people there who know what's going on. I didn't choose to be a PNC customer, but unfortunately I am stuck in this insane endless loop of being lied to and/or ignored by everyone