August 2022 by Shannon N.
This is a tough update for me to do since I have had such a long-term relationship with Citadel from one coast to the other. I've had offers to change financial institutions out here, but I always thought, 'why would I?' When Citadel sent out a message a couple years ago about updating their look, etc. I admit I was a little nervous because I feel places do this kind of thing before merging or bringing something completely different to the company, and that is not always a good thing. Color scheme became shades of blue, different font, etc. seemed harmless. Over the years, they got rid of their AR24 phone system which I have to admit I had used every so often to keep track of my banking (I do not have/want the app but I do use my lap/desktop at home for transactions) but otherwise, things were okay. I could still call to speak to a human; most of them have come and gone over time but I liked that I could still talk to someone instead of trying to get through an automated system. I'd say most of the reps were very helpful which I greatly appreciated. However, I had one rep for a brief time who was great but I would leave messages for her, never hearing back. When I finally got through to another rep, I asked if the aforementioned rep still worked there and she did, so she straight up just never bothered returning my calls.Well, enter 2021. This God-awful automated phone service named 'Adel' is F'G AWFUL. When I try to go to the dial by extension or the directory option, it will ask you FOR THE EXTENSION THAT YOU DO NOT YET HAVE, and then disconnects, saying they are experiencing difficulty at this time. There is zero option to speak to a human anymore even if you have an extension since no one ever answers or returns voice mails. I was having problem with the USPS and Citadel on a new address which resulted in a 'BAD ADDRESS FEE' being withdrawn from my savings account. I complained since I never had the option of speaking to anyone about this (I had a PO BOX and this particular setting did not accept those as an address) so I was SOL. I did hear from a couple different reps who walked me though the process (this was over their messaging service) and the fee was reversed which I was pleased about. But now I am not able to deposit two checks I need to into my savings or checking accounts; unsure if this is CFCU at fault or the shared branching locations I have tried using (three of them which I have had success at as of this year) so I don't want to blame this for this entirely. I also see random pending '$1.00' withdraws with codes I do not understand. Christine S. has valid points when it comes to this kind of thing. Where did the customer service go? There is still slivers of it as I have experienced this through messaging, yet no one will call (and I would prefer to speak to someone since it concerns my money) and the time difference between CFCU and myself is as different as can be to reach one another. I do not want to go to another bank after so many years here, but due to the lack of service, it's certainly pushing me into that direction. EDIT: When I have called more recently, I don't here from 'Adel' anymore thank God. I still sometimes have issues reaching a human, but at least it's not a complete crapshow as it was over the past year. There is still plenty of room for improvement-