Bank of the West Petaluma Blvd, Petaluma

Just went into the bank and they told me they couldn’t exchange my $50’s for 100 dollar bills. The politely asked if I needed something else.. and I told them that I needed more 100 dollar bills. Asked the teller if she thought it was strange.. she replied “no it’s like going to the grocery store and not having what you want”? I left speechless..

This bank is not customer service oriented. They appear to have repositioned themselves as a a bank for businesses, not for individuals. After my bad experience with them (described below), I asked some folks at my workplace about it and was told that Bank of the West used to have good, friendly customer service, but then they merged a couple of branches, laid off a bunch of tellers, and the customer service went downhill, while the lines got longer and longer. The incident was that my employer down the street had given me a $112 check drawn on Bank of the West. When I walked the two blocks to the bank to cash it, the teller informed me that they charge a $9.50 "service fee" to cash it because I didn't have an account there myself. I objected to this predatory, greedy policy and eventually talked to a manager, who sternly insisted that ALL banks do this. (For comparison, I later learned that Exchange Bank would charge $5; Redwood Credit Union could charge NOTHING.) She repeated what I already knew -- it would be free if I had an account with them (which will never happen now), or that I should drive across town to my own bank. I asked what the "service fee" covered, and the manager sanctimoniously told me it was for "the service we provide to you." Apparently they cash smaller checks without the fee, even though the (unfriendly) service would be the same. I work in retail customer service myself, and I was appalled by the unfriendly, authoritarian manner at this branch. There was no attempt at sympathetic communication. They couldn't even grasp why a reasonable person would object to relinquishing nearly 10% of the face value of a check back to the bank, as if this was a sketchy check-cashing business, rather than the issuer of the check. Needless to say, I won't be accepting Bank of the West reimbursement checks from my employer again, which will save us all a lot of frustration.

Yes, Bank of the West has served us flawlessly over the past 20+ years,, personably and professionably. I can't think of a single instance where there was either a problem or unpleasantness. What more can I ask of a bank?

Do NOT do business banking at Bank of the West. There are better options in 2020. I have have a business account for an LLC over 10 years, since spring 2010. Through a fluke automated transaction timing my account was ($37) for less than a day. They charged a $35 fee for 5 x $8 debits resulting in $175 in fee. They refused the reverse the fees except for $35. $140 in fee for being ($37) for less than a day. Bank of the West is NOT recommended for small business. They do not understand technology businesses at the local retail banking level.