I have been a customer since the early part of the 90"s, and as earlier as 1980 with a previous account. Last week, I walked into the Yonge and Bloor branch with my paycheck, stub still attached. I have been depositing this cheque at Yonge and Bloor for quite some time, and is always told by the teller that because it is a Payroll Cheque, and I have been a customer for so long, there is no need to place a hold. This last visit was not the case. The last teller needed to speak to the manager, cause she wanted to confirm is this is true. Manager then comes out, and states that the policy is to hold the cheque. I told her, this is not the policy I have been told over the past few months, as I presented her with previous deposit slips showing no hold. She claimed that the other tellers were all in the wrong in this situation. I snatched my cheque from her hand, and told her she was making policies up on the fly...because I was told by other managers that this wasnt so. I went to another branch...Yonge and Queen. Walked into the branch, and recieved no issues with the cheque. I asked about the ridiculous policy that I was told at Yonge and Bloor. She said the teller was wrong. I told her it wasnt the teller. She then goes on to say that as long as my pay stub is attached to the cheque, and that I have been an account holder for more than six months, CIBC does not hold payroll cheques. My point is, this Manager from the Yonge Bloor location was completely out of line, and presented pathetic customer service. Who gave her the power to make up policies, especially with nothing to back it up. I have always hated dealing with CIBC, as I constantly run into situations like this. If you need to look up my account, my name is above, please have a look at my account to see which manager is mentioned in this note.

Alex B

I have a very very low income. I wanted to set up a low fee account. He quickly showed me the pamphlet for accounts and told me that the $10 a month account would be right for me because it has unlimited transactions without additional fees. Another cheap account HE told me has a $3.00 fee for 10 transactions. another $3.00 for each transaction is charged after 10 transactions.

The information he told me was wrong I found out week later. The $3 does cover 10 transactions, but it's about .25 for each transaction after 10 transactions. I told him I don't use my account 10 times a month therefore I shouldn't need to pay $10 a month just use an account.

Another problem I had, I opened the account on Friday. On Monday I couldn't take any money out and there were no holds on any money. I was able to check the balance and do other things, but the money held from me. I called the telebank and went straight to my branch and had them take the security bar off. Even the workers at the bank were baffled as to why my money was barred from me.

Here�s my story. On a Saturday, I tried using my ATM card to pay for some groceries. The card was rejected. I thought that, somehow, the card had been duplicated and that the bank cut off access for my own protection. I went home and immediately accessed the online banking � my accounts were emptied. I was victimized. In the following minutes, I phoned the Customer Care Service and explained the situation to a bank employee. While asking if the bank had any reason to believe that my card had been duplicated and unlawfully used, he replied that no suspicious or unlawful activity was noted on any of the accounts.

I was told to go to my local branch, change my four digits PIN and double-check the activity in my accounts to see if anything was amiss. I replied that I was looking at my online statements and everything was gone. The bank�s security technology determined that those activities were not unusual and no further action was taken. Furthermore, several other transactions were allowed, bringing the account to a minus balance. No red flag there either nor a �courtesy call� advising that an unauthorized transaction had been made.

I was put on hold and had to wait until a supervisor was available. Finally I got in touch with the supervisor. I explained my situation once again and the supervisor assured me that a formal claim will be made and a CIBC Fraud division representative will be contacting me in 2 to 4 business days. She also made a note that all pre-authorized payments, cheques, etc will not bounce back and payment will be honored. Needless to say, no CIBC representative had contacted me. Furthermore all pre-authorized payments bounced back and, of course, payment penalties followed.

On the following week I went to a local branch and opened new accounts, advised payees about my new banking info, changed cards, etc. Opening new accounts took us almost 2 hours. Frustration could be probably read from my face as the customer service representative asked me if I could evaluate her service. Another note in the file was made � 5 days after my initial call, the investigation hadn�t even started. In other words, no action was taken. I�ll have to wait for the magic call from the Fraud investigation unit. The only good think about going into the branch was to have the branch following up on my complaint. It was then when I found out that the investigation unit wasn�t even notified about potential fraudulent activity on my account and it was then when the branch first put the claim into the system on my behalf.

Next day, the Customer Service Care Centre politely advised me that I�m looking at possibly another 5 business days until somebody from the now well known Fraud Unit will contact me. That will make the initial response time of 2 � 4 business days to be somewhere between 8 to 10 business days. Is this acceptable? According to CIBC�s protocols and procedures, yes, it is. And the saga continues. My intention is not to make a blog or keep a journal. I strive to present facts the way they were. But I know for a fact that, while waiting for the Fraud unit to knock on my door, payments need to be made out of my account and late or non-payment fees will follow.

In these troubled times, the mattress is probably the best place for someone�s money. And when it comes to customer service, believe me, you haven't got any.

Great thanks to all the competent folks at CIBC.