The Bank of Bennington — Local services in Bennington

The worst bank I have ever used.

There is a reason the Bank of Bennington has a rating of 3.1 stars- it is a terrible place to keep your money. The Management are rude, arrogant and aloof. The staff are poorly trained and very lacking in customer service. Here is just a taste of what banking with them was like.

I tried to book flights to Ireland through the Irish National carrier Aer Lingus ( I am Irish, living in the US for 10 years). My card kept getting declined which was odd as I had money in my account. After a couple of tries I called the bank and I was told it must be a problem with the Aer Lingus website. This was incorrect information. 24 hours later I tried again with the same result, so I called into the bank in person to find out what was going on. I was told that the Bank of Bennington does not allow purchases on "non-US" websites! Shocking in 2022, I know! I was told this was to avoid "fraud" and one of the Managers asked in I could find "some other way to pay for the flights" A frankly incredulous thing for a bank manger to say and really speaks to the total lack of professionalism and customer service at this bank. After arguing with the management for several minutes they "unlocked" my card for 24 hours so I could book the flights I wanted. Again this was after been told initially that problem was on the Aer Lingus end! Just complete lack of customer biased skills and accountability.

Some months after that there was fraudulent activity on my account (shocker!) My debit card was rendered inactive. Was I contacted by the bank? Email? Phone call? Nope! I had to walk away from a cart full of groceries at Walmart because my card got declined, despite having enough money in the account. I had to call into the bank in person to figure out why my card was being declined. When I asked why I was not contacted I was told "I should download the bank's app to keep better check on my account." Once again just shocking customer service and total lack of accountability. I don't want your app on my phone!

Those are the most shocking highlights of my time with the Bank of Bennington, but there have been many more smaller issues- card getting declined upon first attempt at purchases online (to the point that I would cross my fingers). I really just get the feeling that neither the staff or engagement care to provide one iota of help information or good customer service. Add into that ridiculous and outdated monthly "fees".

It is a small town bank with a small town attitude. Do your self a favor and bank anywhere else! You will absolutely regret doing...

Not a customer and never will be.

My husband and I bank with Navy Federal and after moving to Bennington we no longer have a branch within driving distance. I needed to withdrawal some cash and specifically wanted $100 denominations. Navy Fed reimburses any ATM fees, so I thought I’d just run through the ATM at The Bank of Bennington (Phyllis Ln location) , withdrawal the cash in $20’s, then run back through the cashier window and exchange them for $100’s. When I went through the cashier window, I was told that I could not exchange my bills since I wasn’t a customer. I understand The Bank of Bennington is a private company and can hold any policies they like, however I found the whole situation completely ridiculous. I could also understand some sort of counterfeit prevention, but I withdrew the $20’s from The Bank of Bennington’s ATM moments prior. One would assume that The Bank of Bennington would be willing to execute simple, helpful tasks, such as exchanging bills to non customers (even for a small fee) in order to gain business. Especially to people such as myself who are residents that could benefit from a secondary bank. But, that doesn’t seem to be the case. Luckily, I was able to go to another bank in town that was able to...

Drive thru to cash a personal check for $50 - person the check was from forgot to put "50" on the check, did write the word 50 and filled everything else correctly - woman (who wasn't waiting on me) gave the young man who was waiting on me a ration of poop while glaring at me! He told me that he couldn't cash the check because of the oversight - moving to a new bank, her behavior was totally inappropriate! I have been with this bank for 30+years and customer care service has sucked...