I had been a satisfied customer of BoA for over 6 years, until this last month. One Saturday in April, I went to deposit $380 in cash at an ATM that I frequently use. Got the deposit receipt, kept it as usual to make sure that the deposit is posted online, got my card back, waited until the ATM was completely done and left. Now, you may call me an idiot but I had been successfully depositing cash into ATM machines for at least 4 years now without a single problem. YES, that does NOT mean that something can ever go wrong, but my problem with BoA does not center around the actual deposit, so read on before you criticize (Ive read some posters on this website that jump on complainers throats, so Im just preemptively covering my own @$ here). So, the deposit NEVER posted on the online banking website, which I check at least once a day. I immediately called and filed a claim with the Electronic Claims (EC) department. Simple machine malfunction, I understand, it happens. No ones 100% perfect all the time, and BoA is a huge company with thousands of ATMs to manage. They even gave me a temporary credit so that I could write my rent check that month, and in a month, I got a formal letter from the EC dept saying that they ruled in my favor and thus made the temporary credit permanent. I was honestly very pleased with their relatively quick service. However, fast forward a month, they reversed that permanent credit for $380 without any kind of notice. Fortunately I had enough money in my account, or I would have had to go through that whole NSF charges hell. However, little did I know that was pretty much the last time Id see that money. I called the EC dept to complain and they said that it is their ATM department that took out that money for reasons unknown to the EC dept? Okay, I kind of understand that. BoA is a HUGE company and different departments can sometimes have miscommunications. So I filed another formal claim with the EC dept, got a temporary credit, which obviously was reversed second time because this was a duplicate claim although the second claim pertains to the REVERSAL of credit without any kind of notice, NOT the ATM deposit. Their own investigators took a whole MONTH to investigate that ATM deposit and deemed it legitimate. Well, now, apparently the other department can only see that I was credited twice but NOT the fact that I was debited twice? I can put in $380.00 in the search window on my internet banking website and get that information in about 5 seconds, but okay, fine. Ive since talked to about 20 different EC dept agents and THIS is where my problem with BoA is. I have my phone records showing phone calls to the EC dept direct line lasting 20-30 minutes, placed almost every other day. Almost every agent I have talked to seemed understanding and although not very knowledgeable about whats going on, and EVERY SINGLE agent I have talked to have assured me that they are taking meticulous notes while I explain my case over and over again from start to end, and two of them even told me that they put this escalade status on my claim that makes the process go faster. Well, dont you know it, the case never got resolved and it never got ANYWHERE. THE THING IS, every time I talk to someone they have NO IDEA what I am talking about. They all claim that the agent who talked to me previously did not take notes or take proper actions (the agent I talked to today placed a service call whatever that means? Probably was lying, anyway). THAT MEANS, all that time I was talking to these agents explaining every single detail about my case over and over again, THINKING that they were listening and taking notes on it because they were going to help me, they were probably just yawning and zoning out. Or maybe laughing at me for fussing over just $380. ALSO, WHAT ABOUT ALL THOSE ACTIONS THAT THEY ASSURED ME THAT THEY WERE TAKING? Every single one of those agents have promised me something - Oh, I just talked to someone over at that department and they are going to take care of it. Oh, this is just a simple misunderstanding. Were going to look into it right away. Yea right. Every single one of those agents have told me that this will be resolved in 10 days. That was over a month ago. Theyre obviously just telling me that to shut me up for 10 days, but obviously I keep calling back and what do you know, theyll make me explain the whole thing all over again because no action was taken that I would have to wait 10 days for. They are clearly just taking my calls and not doing anything about it, since when I talked to another EC dept agent today, there were no notes or actions taken on this and she doesnt know why. Same crap, different day. Sure, theoretically I could have put in an empty envelop for $380 as they told me that a lot of people do - I probably lost at least a year of life being frustrated over this, and countless wireless minutes.
Lastly, I apologize to anyone reading this who may be offended because I am, after all, sitting here writing about only $380. From reading some of the other stories posted on here, I really AM lucky, I guess - and I really feel sorry for anyone on this forum who were not as lucky. Everyone Ive talked has told me to consider this a $380 lesson and move on, and be thankful that it did not involve a bigger sum of money - and that is what I am planning on doing. I am opening a new bank account next week with another bank account next week, and moving all my money out of BoAs reach. I have simply lost my trust in BoA, and do NOT want them anywhere near my hard-earned money, no matter how little it may seem to other people.
The thing that kills me most is that if it were ME who owed them $380, heck even if it were only $0.01, whether it was a legitimate charge or not, they would be dragging my good credit through mud as soon as they can file a report, and doing everything they could to make my list as miserable as possible. Or maybe things would be different if I were a big business pulling in a lot of money for them - maybe then they would be more willing to help and actually give a hoot. What can the little guy do against the corporate America?
Helen
Brighton, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
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