At a branch of my bank, forced to make a visit as needed a wire transfer to close on a rental investment property.
Her, working on the wire transfer, per a printout I've provided: "We have very attractive mortgage rates, we can beat any offer."
Me: "Can you please focus on the task? I don't want any errors."
Her, with a sly smile: "Sure, but have you thought about a mortgage?"
Me: "why don't we have that chat after the wire is done?"
A few minutes later,
Her: "are you looking for a new home purchase or a refinance?"
Me: "that wire transfer was for an investment property, paid in cash, closed in 7 calendar days." (It was only USD 55k)
Her, with mouth agape: "what?"
Me: "How long would it take your bank, best-case, to process a loan on an investment property?"
Her: "At least 14 days... I have to ask my manager"
Me: "this is why we can't do business on loans. you guys are slow, too slow, my deals are faster than you guys can pick up a pen or click a mouse. This isn't my first deal, not my last, y'all need to up your game."
Thanked her, took my copy of the wire, and bailed out of the branch, evading the manager who wanted to chat for "business opportunities".
The next time I was in a branch, 5 years later, was to change our account beneficiaries to our trust. They wanted to sell us a bunch of products, I evaded all attempts for small talk.
Finally, we had to sit with the Merrill-Lynch person in the office, as she's the only one who know how to handle trusts. She asked a couple of questions about investments, I told her I use a simple portfolio using index funds from Vanguard. She said I could have the funds at zero-cost at ML. Asked her why would I do that, when my employer has set up the 401(k) with Vanguard, so it would be prudent to keep it all there. She looked at me, smiled, and said "well, looks like you know what you're doing. I won't keep you any longer." She's the nicest person in that branch, cuts to the chase.
I hate that bank employees are pressured to upsell constantly, they've replaced car salespersons as the new vultures.
Meanwhile, our new hybrid car purchase last August was super smooth and pressure-free, from arrival to payment to delivery in under an hour, all negotiation having occurred via email.