SmartStep Insurance called June to offer me "Accidental Death Insurance" at a price of $20 a month for a $100,000 policy (there are better policies out there for much cheaper a month if I were going to authorize something like this). I listened to the associate, and told her no, I was not interested, and I thought that was the end of it.
About two weeks later, I received a letter in the mail saying that I was enrolled in the policy. I quickly called them and canceled the policy, and explained that I had not signed up for it in the first place. Again, I thought that was the end of it.
This past weekend, December 6 I found out that they have been charging my account $20 a month for the past year and a half. How I overlooked these charges for so long, I don't know, all I know is that I'm disturbed by this blatant use of customers for gain.
Currently, I'm a college student paying my own way through school, so the total that they have charged me adds up to more than a month's work in pay for me. I called SmartStep today (12/8), and they told me that they will start an inquiry into what happened, as they have no record of me canceling it the first time in 2007. I will be calling them again to make sure that it went through this time.
However, I'm more upset about Bank of America's abuse of customers. My understanding is that SmartStep is an affiliate of Bank of America Corp., so they automatically have my account AND routing number, so they can charge whatever, whenever they want. On other sites, other customers have reported deductions of more than $40 a month from their accounts. I am going to bother SmartStep until I get all of my $240 back.
0 comments