Century Bank

Never had bad customer service but they didnt send me my new debit cards that they were supposed to do 2 weeks before expiration. Of course, no answer as to why they forgot and now have to wait 3 – 7 days for my debit card I actively use.

Here is my recent experience with Century Bank. Tax time… This year I wrote a check to good olé’ IRS. I forgot to transfer the funds from my savings to my checking. I received a call from a rep at Century Bank (I missed his name, If I knew I would thank him personally). He advised me the check was coming through and he didn’t want to «bounce» it. He helped me transfer the funds from my savings acct. into my checking so I could avoid all the aggravation and fees! I’ve banked with them for years, and have referred family and friends to them as well. They have always done good by me. Thanks again.

I established an account at Century Bank 4 years ago after I had enough of the lousy service and high fees at Citizens and BoA. Century has been OK, not great but not as bad as the bigger banks and I pay no monthly fees.
Recently I stopped into a Century branch to inquire about a new car loan. The manager couldn’t have been nicer; providing excellent information and service. I completed an application with her and left happy.
Disappointingly I received 2 letters from the home office a few days later, and both had my last name misspelled. Not the same mistake, each was misspelled differently. I wrote clearly on the application and have an easy last name. The mistakes weren’t honest mistakes like confusing an «a» for an «o», but rather careless mistakes like rearranging letters. I now have a new «alias» on my credit report.
I would hope that someone who I give access to my personal information would have more attention to detail and professionalism. This type of carelessness is unacceptable in a financial institution.

Best rude tellers on the fellsway.
So I was coming from my side job driving through the Fellsway, when I made a quick stop in the shopping plaza. I realized that I needed some quarters, so I took my US legal tender ($ 10 American) to the Bank to see if I could exchange it for a roll of quarters. I entered the bank, at around 11am, and it was empty. With the exception of 3 tellers, whom were in a vivid conversation. I walked up to one of them and asked, politely if I could exchange the $ 10 bill for a roll of quarters. You would have thought I asked for significant effort on their part. I was asked, quite courtly, «Are you a Century Bank Customer?» to which I informed her, no. She then told me it was against bank policy to do business with non-​customers.
Okay, I get it. We don’t want Joe off the street to cash checks, or any other banking business such as getting cashiers cecks, etc. But the way she handled this was really rude. I told her, I understand that I’m not yet a customer, but I was hoping she could do this simple exchange. She told me that I was wasting her time. To which I replied that, «It is just making change, from Bills to quarters. And I was sorry to bother her.» She reluctantly exchanged the bill to a roll of quarters, saying she would make an exception. Thank Goodness! Praise Zeus! I’m thankful for your mercy!
For the record, I’ve worked with customers before, I did my stint in retail. I’ve exchanged bills and quarters to customers (and I didn’t work at a bank) and I don’t understand what the big deal is. Company policy or not, you won’t find me ever doing business with Century Bank after this. If the reverse had happened (they gave me the exchange with no rolling of eyes or snippety behavior) I would have really considered to use them in the future. Rude people are not on my bucket list, as well as Century Bank. I say good day.

Frustrated with Bank of America and inspired by the endorsements of radio personalities on WKLB, I left BoA and moved my accounts to Century Bank.
In hind sight, I might as well have had «sucker» written across my forehead.
Century Bank does not live up to its advertising as a customer service oriented bank, and their technology is about 20 years behind the rest of the industry.
When I first walked into Century Bank’s headquarters in Medford, I was expecting that friendly, personal customer service they talk about on the radio. Instead I got a cranky secretary with a desk in the middle of the lobby, next to a long line of customers waiting for the single bank teller. Privacy was as non-​existent as the customer service.
When I finished registering, I was told my debit card should arrive by the end of the month, and the funds I’d deposited would be available in 7 – 10 days.
Really???
I was given a small hand written card with my login number for their website, and when I was finally able to log in, it was like I was transported back to 1993. The website was awful, it looked like it had been designed by a 7 year old in computer class.
The ATMs (all six of them worldwide, I think) were even worse — I think they were designed in South Korea in 1978. But memorize where they are, you’ll get hit with fees by Century for using any other ATM.
Eleven days later my funds were finally available, setting a trend for what would be incredibly slow processing time for deposits, withdrawals and transfers. Even transfers from savings to checking accounts would take days, and I would routinely get hit with egregious overdraft fees because charges would hit before transfers would register.
In one particular case, a transfer took three days to register, meanwhile Century charged me $ 180 worth of overdraft fees ($ 36 each) for $ 4.95 worth of transactions ($ 0.99 each) that occurred during the period of time.
In another instance, Century botched a fund transfer that cost me $ 250 worth of fees on the other end. When I called to speak with customer service, they admitted they screwed up but couldn’t tell me why. When I asked to speak to a manager, I was told he would return my call later than afternoon. I never received a call. I called again the next day, and got the same «he’ll return your call» excuse, but never heard back.
That’s when I closed my Century account, less than 18 months and $ 1300 in fees after I’d opened it. I now do all my banking with my investment manager — the technology and customer service is 100% better, and I haven’t been hit with a single fee yet.

I had an account with Century Bank for years, simply because I used to work for them, so it was convenient. After I left the job, I kept my checking account there, and it was passable. It was a bank, and it did normal bank things without charging me anything.
I’m finished with them now, though. I ran out of checks near the end of November. I needed to pay my rent, so I went into a bank to order more. I also asked if they could give me one temporary check so I could pay my rent. They couldn’t do that, I needed to buy a treasurer’s check for $ 5. Okay, sure, fine, they can’t do that, and I honestly don’t know if any bank can. So I paid the $ 5, as well as ordering new checks so I wouldn’t have to pay again in January.
A couple of weeks passed, and I didn’t get the checks. I called Century and, after spending about 10 minutes on the phone (mostly on hold), learned that the check printing company had a problem with my account number (which I checked, and it was correct) and they never ordered the checks. No one bothered telling me, because why would I need to know that information?
I asked them to re-​order the checks, and they said they would, and would expedite them for free so I’d have them in 4 days. A week later, I still didn’t have them, so I called again, and again there was a problem with my account number (which was correct again) and no one told me. Then the customer service person told me I needed to talk to someone at my primary branch in Everett to get it taken care of.
Excuse me, Everett? I’ve never been to the branch in Everett ever. I opened the account in Medford, I’ve been to a couple of branches in Boston, I have no idea where the branch in Everett even is. How, exactly, did my main branch end up being Everett?
I told the CSR on the phone not to bother forwarding me to Everett, and not to re-​order the checks again. I’ll take care of it later, I said.
I took care of it by closing my account and opening one at a different bank.
Three days later, Century sent me my checks.