Mechanics Bank

Do NOT use this bank. While they were once a friendly, locally owned company, they are now owned by a major bank conglomerate in Texas. They made a major error on their end and offered no notification or apologies and the situation will take 12 – 14 business days to rectify. Unacceptable!

Loan got bought by these folks and was serviced out of this office. Horrible customer service and complete inability to answer the most simple questions. Be afraid… be very afraid.

Mechanics Bank customer service and policy has really gone to heck after they were purchased by Ford Financial Fund in the fall of 2014. This branch in particular promises callbacks that never happen. It was impressive how badly the woman who set up my business account messed up, causing me to make two extra trips into the bank to sort things out because they could not be fixed over the phone. After the acquisition the bank has no ability to refund fees without running it by upper management (they drained my savings account, trying to cover an overdraft, charging $ 7 and then proceeded to charge another $ 30 to cover the overdraft). Based on my experiences as of late, there seems to be no difference between Mechanics and any other heartless-​corporate bank. I can’t wait to leave.
Update 2015-​03-​05: It gets even worse. I can’t transfer money between my business and personal bank accounts at Mechanics Bank without a $ 2 fee and I have to call on the phone… you cannot do it online. This place makes hiding your money under your mattress look avant-​garde.

I love this bank! I made a transfer which was a big amount and they called me right away to verify that it was I that actually made that transfer!!! Now that’s CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!

WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE EVER!!! Im a regular here at this is location because this is where my grandmother banks. I come here when she is not feeling well and cannot go herself. I make her deposits and cash personal checks that she writes out to me. Ive been coming here since the place opened and they act as if im not a familiar face. They always give me a hard time when it comes down to cash a check. I understand theres procedures when cashing a check to insure that my grandmother is not being robbed but they make u feel like a fraud by getting multiple approvals and asking random questions and also questioning the signature. There excuse for not cashing the check was because her signature looked «shakey» I said well if you were 87 years old im pretty sure your penmanship would be as well. Its funny how they can take the deposit with no questions asked and did not question her signature on that deposit. This branch is not friendly at all compared to the richmond location. Im not sure if im being profiled or not but ive always received bad service. They make me feel very unwanted every time I go there.

This review is for the institution in general, not necessarily this location. This week we had the second security hack in less than a year to our checking account. Last time the loss was less than $ 1k, but this time it’s more than $ 4k. Frankly, I’m done with this institution. Apparently there is no monitoring of abnormal charges. Really, Mechanics Bank, you think we traveled to Seoul this week considering our other card uses in the area? I love doing business locally, but I just can’t afford to in this case.

Everyone here is so nice and friendly. One of my favorite Mechanics Bank to come too! The only thing is the parking because of the high school so close and it’s such a small parking lot with so many surrounding stores.

I love this branch. The people are so friendly and I love the small bank feel with all of the big bank features.

I started banking here a couple of years ago after having a terrible experience with Wells Fargo. My poor old mom went down to get a small equity loan on her home from Wells. She had been banking there for probably fifty years. She easily qualified, and so did her home. After sixty days Wells said no. I took my mom in to meet with Barbara Cronin the manager at Mechanics, and she had the loan done in just over two weeks.
Suffice it to say I do all my banking here. The staff is friendly and helpful. Excellent.
A+++
Brian Wieber

I love this bank. Everyone is so friendly and remember you when you come in.

Great customer service. Down to earth local bank. As business grew in Pinole, a second branch was opened at this location last year.