Oh, BoA, you certainly have a way of convincing me that you are indeed the Devil.
Today, I had the pleasure of not only being yelled at and belittled by a full-of-himself Assistant Manager, but also being told that I am a “delinquent.” Before I continue, a bit of back story for your reading pleasure…
Three years ago, I went into a branch office to make a deposit into my BoA bank account, as I’d done regularly for years. As I handed the teller over $3,200 in cash and checks, I had no reason to believe there would ever be an issue with accessing my own money. That was until two days later when I noticed that the deposit still hadn’t been credited to my account.
A quick trip back to the same branch revealed a serious error: My money had accidentally been credited to an account that belonged to someone else. The kicker? The manager was adamant there was no mistake and “I must not have deposited the money in a BoA account.” Excuse me??
Luckily, I happened to still have the small receipt they give you with each transaction. As I pulled it out of my bag and calmly placed it on the man’s desk, he turned 27 shades of red and began to apologize profusely (he was quite nice once the error was discovered and he had proof–he was never rude to me; just skeptical that this kind of mistake was made). Undeterred, I smiled as I requested the immediate closing of my account. Again, this was three years ago.
Fast-forward to last week when I received a mysterious letter from BoA in my mailbox. Upon opening it, you can imagine my surprise as I read that my account was “overdrawn.” An account that I no longer have a debit card for, have no checks, and have never received an e-statement or for which a single piece of mail was never sent to me in.three.years.
I immediately Googled a customer service number, and I had the joy of speaking with a woman whose only response to my request for more information and options to clear up the mess was, “You need to go to a branch and hope somebody there can help you.” Needless to say, I could tell this wasn’t going to be a fun experience.
Today, I went into a local branch right before closing time. The Assistant Manager was at a desk near the front door, so I approached him about clearing up the outstanding issue. A long story short, he not only told me that I was a “delinquent for not managing my own accounts,” but that I needed to “stop blaming others and own up to my mistakes.” Mind you, this was said quite loudly and in front of a very crowded teller and ATM queue.
Perhaps the best parts of all of it were when we laughed at me as I had a few tears rolling down my face from sheer frustration and embarrassment, then proceeded to kick me out of the office because he “couldn’t help me” (apparently I needed to do this over the phone) and “I needed to leave immediately because the bank was now closed.” As I asked what number I could call, he rolled his eyes, locked the door in my face, then went over to his desk. He scribbled a number on a scrap of paper, came back to the door, slipped the paper through a crack in the door, and pretty much dropped it at my feet.
Score one for amazing customer service!
When I finally managed to get everything taken care of in terms of backing out the fees they’d been charging me without my knowledge and actually closing the account (again), I did make sure to share my story with the customer service rep. Luckily, she was appalled and immediately transferred me to a person who let me file a complaint about the manager’s behavior.
Moral of this story? Be diligent about your accounts, get everything in writing, and don’t ever settle for being treated like dirt by anyone.
Shame on you, Bank of America, for allowing such a monster to be the face of your business.
Please share some of your BoA horror stories and tweet/link to your heart’s content—I surely can’t be the only one who hates this company!
Photo credit: fobulousliving
Oh My God! That is completely unbelievable! I read this story with my jaw trailing on the floor. I truly hope that man gets fired. No-one has the right to speak to you (or anyone else) like that. Unacceptable.
It's amazing to me that when I went into the grocery store next door, the woman working there asked me if I was OK (my face was still red & blotchy from crying). When I told her I just had a bad experience at BoA, she immediately said, "Ugh, Victor?! Yeah, that guys is alllllways giving me problems!" and proceeded to launch into some crazy tales of her own.
I hate to say it about another person, but he's a monster!!
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Holy crap, that is BEYOND ALL BELIEF.
I've been brought to tears of anger and frustration at bad customer service, too – luckily that was over the phone. Got so worked up I had to simply walk into the bathroom where my BF was on the toilet and hand him the phone so he could continue dealing with the CSR.
It's crazytown alright…
But I do have to admit that I laughed at your comment about BF on the toilet. I'm sorry that you had to go through that experience, but I'm sure happy you shared a bit of humor with telling it!
UMMM WOW! I'd be incredibly pissed. You better complain your butt off to BofA.
It's not my nature to complain unless it's terribly egregious, which this was. Ugh!
Wow! This is completely unacceptable and I hope BoA sees this and does something about it. You should sumbit it to the consumerist. I will be tweeting this for sure!
Thanks, Lance! I did submit it to the Consumerist–I'd be shocked to see if there can actually be a movement/resolution for this. Thanks for suggesting this!!!
I would say that is unbelievable, but it's actually PAR FOR THE COURSE for what I've come to expect from BoA. I also have been given the run-around about the local branch being able to help me, no you must call customer service, no you must get your branch to take are of this… Numerous mistakes that sometimes get corrected and sometimes don't… Ugh. I closed my account with them (I hope!) a couple years ago. Ironically I have received great customer service from my internet bank and I encourage everyone using BoA to GET OUT. Report them to the better business bureau. Spread your story!
I agree! I thought I'd closed my account 3 years ago, when I moved to Citizens (which I LOVE–even if they are another big bank). I keep most of my savings in an online account, but I keep checking in brick & mortar.
I posted this with the hope that it will be shared–if for nothing else than encouraging people to get everything in writing!!!!
My husband & brother in law have had a joint account (at BoA) for years, they have spent the last two years trying to close this account (which is apparently impossible as the account was set up in California and we live in Kansas currently). The account has $2 in it, they have spent more than $2 sending us paperwork on this account. We are hoping that we will finally be able to close it when we go out to California this summer to visit family.
They were charging me a $5/month maintenance fee because the account didn't have an appropriate balance (duh, I closed it!) and I never received a single statement, notice, etc….for 37 months!
they initially tried charging us the "maintenance fee" on our personal checking account, we went back and forth with them for months about it – finally got them to remove it as if you have a mortgage through them they aren't supposed to charge you. I hate them more as time goes on.
BoA is all on one system nationwide–including California–now, so you don't have to wait to have your local branch help you with a California account.
it appears my entire message didn't post in my previous comment so here is the rest – hopefully it won't duplicate! They (my husband and his brothers) also have a mortgage (on a property they inherited from their late father) through BoA, at least once a month we receive a stupid letter from them telling us that they don't have proof of hazard insurance on the property even though we send it to them every time we get that stupid letter (again once a month). Hate them soooo much, really wanting to transfer our savings to ING and our checking to a local credit union.
Oh I would tear a hole in someone's ass over this! What is WRONG with people? I'm so sorry they treated you badly. I really think you should file a complaint with the BBB.
The lesson I'm taking away from this is to NEVER throw away bank receipts or proof of closing an account. I've typically only kept those things long enough to make sure the action (deposit, closure, whatever) is applied to my account, but after hearing this story, I'm never ever getting rid of them! Sooo glad I've never used BoA for anything.
I hope this post gets lots of attention – I'm sharing it like crazy!
Thank you! The whole point of sharing it is the exact takeaway you mentioned—save those papers, be diligent about checking your accounts, and never settle for horrendous service from such a monster (and monster of a company!)…
Holy flaming cows, Batman… I hope that dude gets fired asap. That's incredible.
Thankfully I do all my banking thru a local credit union.
Hahaha….flaming cows, indeed. Local credit unions and banks that treat their customers right are totally the way to go!
What a horrible, horrible experience. Too bad you didn't post the manager's name and branch, so that he could be truly outed for his outrageous service.
I thought about it, but I didn't want to be accused of slander/libel/etc. His first name is Victor, though…
Yes, do it! When I thought I made the final transfer 3 years ago, I was oh so happy to move to a bank that actually treated me like a human being & actively helped me manage my $$ well!
We have a WINNER! And by winner, I mean loser. By "we have a" I mean that the guy CLEARLY went through the BoA customer service training, where they learn early and often to ruin any relationship they could have with customers.
Hahaha…well said!!!
Whoa. Seriously? I have BOA and never had any problems….. yet. I'm forewarned now! Man, I'm not sure if tears would've come to my eyes so much as I would've punched that guys face off! How dare he treat anyone like that?? Glad you closed your account. Again. Good move.
I had my BoA account for years without issue! Then closed it for years without issue…or so I thought. Just be careful & hopefully you'll never have to go through something like this…
You poor thing — this is SO aggravating. Name calling is absolutely unacceptable in any circumstance, and I hope that the internet rewards that branch with the karma it deserves.
That's why I'm sharing it! I hate complaining and acting all bank-bashing, but I can't let this one "slide through the crack" (pun intended)
That's absolutely inexcusable behavior on the part of that nasty-ass assistant manager, and he needs to be reported to a BoA personnel executive for his conduct. That said, this doesn't really surprise me with BoA, because there are tons of unpleasant stories regarding their unwritten no-customer service policy. If the world blew up today, and BoA was the only bank left standing, I would keep my money under my mattress before I would even think about doing business with that bank I'm sorry to hear about your ordeal, and I hope that you're OK.
I'm there with you! We can start our own mattress bank and reward customers for being great!!!
I have some experience with having problems closing accounts at B of A. I had a savings account there a couple of years ago, and tried closing the account 3 separate times over several weeks, all to no avail. They would never follow through on closing it for me. Finally I started ranting about my experience on my blog and Twitter, and the Twitter support team for Bank of America finally took care of me and closed the account. To their credit they also gave me a $50 gift card for Amazon to help soothe me. While I still closed my account, at least the social media support team was a bit better than their awful phone support.
For some reason, this went to my spam folder–sorry for not responding yesterday!
I read your story, and I was appalled at first but happy that everything got sorted out for you. Darn BoA–not good for much, eh??
What a horrible manager! I hope you hear that he gets demoted at the very least. (I'm actually hoping something more along the lines of "FIRED" but that's me) I'm so glad that you got it taken care of. I was delinquent with them and just cleared that up a few months back but I had a much better customer service experience. Granted, it was one good story out of a billion horror stories.
That's great you had GOOD service–that's what I had always had until that mistake a few years ago. While I completely understand that mistakes are made, I will never understand why a person thought he could treat me as he did!
Times like this I'm super happy that I'm living in canada and don't have to deal with crazy people. That sounds like a horrible experience.
Yay, Canada!!! He was crazytown for sure….
My BoA story is just a bit different. I once had a BoA credit card that had a pretty healthy limit. I then got an offer in the mail to "upgrade" my account. The new account would have neat features that at the time I thought were worth it. So, I called the number, and specifically asked if this would replace my old account, or if this was a new account.
"This will replace your old account" was the answer. I reiterated that I didn't want two accounts. I was assured that I wouldn't have two accounts.
I got the new card in the mail. Guess what……NEW ACCOUNT. Now I had two. Both with the same credit limit. I called BoA and gave them a piece of my mind. They apologized and promised to close the original account. Which I'm happy to say they did…..with one little snafu. They *combined* the credit limit of the two on the new card.
So now I had a credit card with a $32K limit. I was 24 years old. Now, I don't blame BoA for my irrational and irresponsible overspending for over a decade – but bank in their right minds would give a 24 year old a credit card with that kind of debt inducing power?
BoA will always hold a special place in my heart for that one…..
Wow!!! That's insane! To add insult to injury, I actually used to have a BoA credit card. They closed it without notifying me last December due to inactivity. The kicker was that it was the first credit account I'd ever had, which I obviously wanted to keep open for my credit history! Ugh…
Wow…I don't even know what to say about this. I am sorry that you had to go through it. I know that Sandy (actually her mom) from Yes, I Am Cheap had a horrible experience with BOA.
I hope that your complaint is taken seriously!
Thank you! I'm so proud (and thankful for) all of the amazing support from the PF community. You all have really helped a terrible situation feel a bit less awful!
I've heard soooo many horror stories with B of A. I am so sorry you were mistreated that way. NO ONE deserves to be treated and you most certainly do not act like customers are wrong – especially at a bank! What a freaking jerk.
I am so glad you finally got it taken care of. I bank with Chase and I have had nothing but good experiences with them so I do not plan to leave. Where do you bank at now?
I have Citizens for checking and HSBC for savings, and I LOVE them. The best story so far is when I came back from Ireland, I had Euro left. I went to my local Citizens branch and they immediately helped me–even going as far as letting me have a seat and gave me water (!!!) because they "had to fill out so much paperwork and felt bad that it would take some time to do." I wasn't in a rush, and I was fine with the wait.
The difference here? They made me feel like a HUMAN.
See… it's stories like these that make me wonder how anyone can patronize BoA and still sleep at night. I used to be a BoA customer years ago but finally switched to a local Savings and Loan after getting tired of only using an ATM (to avoid paying a fee) and hearing Consumer Advocate Clark Howard talk about how BoA falsely had a man arrested for trying to cash a BoA check from a Craigslist sale and then refusing to pay his legal fees. I don't care what crappy deal they're offering on a mortgage or a CD, service matters! Unfortunately it takes a lot of us learning the hard way before we will patronize businesses that haven't gotten where they are by robbing their own mothers. I have found this to be true for financial institutions, appliance stores, car dealerships, and plenty of others. BoA sorely misunderstands the minds of people who will actually accumulate wealth so they have to earn their money cheating people out of pennies and dimes. Reputable institutions understand that people matter. If the people can't trust you they won't trust you with their money. Ugh. Thanks for sharing your story as confirmation I made the right decision!
I agree! The funny thing is that I thought I'd already moved on from BoA. It was quite the surprise to find out that my account had never actually been closed!!!
The other kicker is that in December they closed my BoA credit card because of inactivity. It was the first credit account I'd ever opened, so I wanted to keep it current for my credit history. They refused to open it back up!! Luckily, my credit score is through the roof (lots of hard work to get/keep it that way), so it really didn't matter much…
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From the sound of it, I'd say this manager is likely an aggressive/directive personality in times of stress. To him, your collaborative and compromising approach (my guess based on your narrative) was a sign of weakness.
Typical aggressive/directive conflict personality types tend to respond better (and positively) to people who use aggressive/directive tactics. Of course, that's the same with all five types.
Do you plan to go back to that branch and confront that manager? I doubt your complaints will make it very far up the chain or even reach that person. A possible option is to request a meeting with that person's direct manager and use the power imbalance to call him out on his actions. After all- there will be video evidence of his behavior.
Someone has to stand up and keep that person from treating another customer like that…might as well be you.
Wow. I am absolutely horrified. I have had some bad customer service with my bank, but in no way was it ever as bad as this! I'm glad you told the person on the phone about it and i'm also glad you've blogged about it – maybe a Bank of America rep will see this (if they're perusing social media like some companies).
Oh yes! They saw the Twitter action and somebody called me yesterday!! He was actually fantastic, so hopefully further communication happens…
What a story. I remember closing accounts at a bank I had been with for over 10 years because their service was horrible and they were boarderline offensive.
What a story, indeed! It's just really sad that the guy is the face of the business in that particular location….no bueno…
Ewwwwwwww. That's horrible. I really hate BOA. You should call the Dave Ramsey show and tell him about this. He hates BOA with a passion.
That would certainly be interesting to see if there would be a response!!!
Fortunately, there actually has been a bit of a response from BoA, so I hope the proper measures will be taken (at least a conversation with the guy!). And I love that you mentioned the video piece–I thought about that when he inevitably denies doing what he did…it's right there on camera, buddy!!!
Hopefully there's a peaceful resolution. I just couldn't stay quiet about this one…
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OMG I cannot believe the horror that BOA put you through.
My current company has an account with BOA and we are constantly calling them to complain. How do you have automatic payments set up for two years, and then somehow the payments stop even though you never requested them to? They cause so much trouble, turmoil, and frustration.
I stick with my local credit union and have never had a single complaint.
Wow—especially for a corporate/business account, that's insane and absolutely unacceptable!!
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You are SO not a delinquent. This bank is really horrible. My family and I have been having trouble with them on and off for the last year, the most recent of which being that they refused my mother's Power of Attorney document: http://www.familyfandango.com/2013/03/27/bank-of-…
They scare me though – a bank "too big to fail"…what is it exactly that lures people into getting an account with them these days? Do they still manage to grow customers with all the negative press about them?
My recent post Bank of America rejected my Mom’s Power of Attorney document