First of all.. Royal Bank is great is for me
Understand that it is 'teller discretion' whether they put any hold at all. If they don't know you etc and you have no money in your account etc - they can hold it - however you can request that after 5 days they call the US bank that issued the check and verify that it has cleared - then they will release it - they will charge you a few bucks for the long distance phone call too if you can beleive it.
Here is what you do. Always go to your home branch. Try and deal with the same tellers all the time. And the most ideal thing is to talk to the branch manager after a few months of depositting so many US checks on a regular basis and ask them to put notes on your account that say: Do not hold US checks
Once you have that - it doesn't matter what teller you get or what they say - just tell them to check the notes.
And of course this should be academic but show up dressed professional and act reserved until you get those notes
