Bank of America sucks my nuts Options

[Spectatrix]

One time, I ate at a restaurant in Austin and the stupid server authorized my card for $178 instead of the $17.80 my tab was. The restaurant said they couldnt do anything about it until the charge went through completely, meanwhile I'm stuck with a $2 balance in my account and no gas or food. I went up to the local BofA and they gave me a temporary credit of $150 so that I could get gas and food...because I showed them the receipt from the restaurant. It was awesome. The charge cleared a couple days later and I never once had to worry about the money in my account. Best customer service I have ever had, by far.

FYI, the people that you talked to at the restaurant were either idiots or were lying to you. I've had the same thing happen at a pharmacy ($500 instead of $50) and they were able to rescind the previous transaction immediately and recharge me correctly. Neither the original $500 nor the cancellation ever showed up on my account.

[Melanie]

FYI, the people that you talked to at the restaurant were either idiots or were lying to you. I've had the same thing happen at a pharmacy ($500 instead of $50) and they were able to rescind the previous transaction immediately and recharge me correctly. Neither the original $500 nor the cancellation ever showed up on my account.

Yeah, wouldn't that be the same thing that if you order take-out and cancel your order 2 minutes later, they still can't charge you... Jason's Deli rescinded my credit card payment a few days ago.

[Mommy]

FYI, the people that you talked to at the restaurant were either idiots or were lying to you. I've had the same thing happen at a pharmacy ($500 instead of $50) and they were able to rescind the previous transaction immediately and recharge me correctly. Neither the original $500 nor the cancellation ever showed up on my account.

Oh Im fully aware of that. I spoke to several managers there, and they were all like "sorry about your luck". Im so anal about my money that I catch a lot of stupid shit like this.
Once when I ate at Trudy's, they authorize your card for amount of ticket + 25% gratuity, so even if you only tip 15% you still have that extra 10% being held until the charge clears. Most restaurants just authorize for the amount of the ticket, not including gratuity. I called Trudy's wondering why I there was a charge for more, and they told me their policy. I will still eat there cuz its one of my fav restaurants, but I did tell the manager that I didnt appreciate them doing that without noting it on the ticket.

[GOB]

were you part of a big group? because most restaurants do that for groups of like 6 or 8 or more

[pebkac]

FYI, the people that you talked to at the restaurant were either idiots or were lying to you. I've had the same thing happen at a pharmacy ($500 instead of $50) and they were able to rescind the previous transaction immediately and recharge me correctly. Neither the original $500 nor the cancellation ever showed up on my account.

With most banks it takes 2-3 BUSINESS days. Ever since I switched to ING direct though, they've gone through immediately.

ING pwns BoA

[Spectatrix]

With most banks it takes 2-3 BUSINESS days. Ever since I switched to ING direct though, they've gone through immediately.

ING pwns BoA

Yeah, I know it takes 2-3 days to show up, but a retailer can cancel a charge before it goes through.

ING, unfortunately, has lost my business for now. I was not happy about them dropping rates twice in the last couple of months, both times the day after the fed cut rates. I moved my money to a local (Austin) credit union and am getting 6.01% APY on checking (with, thus far, customer service as excellent as that I got from ING).

My BoA experience consists purely of me opening an account and then immediately closing it because I decided I wanted to bank elsewhere (Compass). Compass was kind of a dud too, but eh, whatever.

This post has been edited by Spectatrix: Nov 25 2007, 10:28 PM

[Mommy]

were you part of a big group? because most restaurants do that for groups of like 6 or 8 or more

no. 2 people

[pebkac]

Yeah, I know it takes 2-3 days to show up, but a retailer can cancel a charge before it goes through.

Yes, but that doesn't mean that the bank has to post it to your account immediately.

[schwab]

i have had a BoA account (student one) for the past 6 years, and havent really had that much of a problem with it. I have gotten some fees but when i called boa about it, it was usually a mistake, or they canceled it if i complained. other than that, it pisses me off that they charge you for the drive up banking....

my girlfriend had a BoA credit card, and only had it for 2 months due to them sucking. They gave her all sorts of crap with mail and forms at the beginning, but that is sort of expected. And then for some reason they gave her a 50 dollar credit on her credit card that we do not know where it came from or why it was there, but she didnt call about it since it was 50 free bucks. She signed up for the online credit card payments, so it automatically deducts the amount so she does not need to worry about it. The first month it didnt work, and she called and they told her the system was down, so it wasnt her fault it didnt work and they didnt charge her for the late payment. The next month, it again did not take the money, and they charged her late fees, even though she was signed up. They refused to give her the money back even though she was signed up for the automatic payments and it didnt work....so she immediately canceled the card and closed her account....

[Mommy]

To be completely honest with you, I think BofA eliminates all fees if you do a certain amount of banking. I throw a couple grand into my account at a time and spend a lot of money, so I have a lot of transactions on my account. Plus, I have a credit card, a savings, another checking account, and had a brokerage account through BofA. Never once have I been charged for using their drive up banking, I use the ATM all the time, etc. The only charge I have ever had on my account has been for using a foreign ATM. Not only does the ATM charge you, but BofA will also charge you. I have a student account. It's not like I have some fancy account. Plus, I went to the BofA here in San Marcos, sat with my friend while she signed up for an account, and got to talking to the BofA dude and he gave me a free box of checks with designs on them. If you treat people with respect and chat it up a bit, you get stuff out of it. Plus the guy was super hot so that was cool too. heh

[dauss]

Well, fuck BoA. I've got an account with US Bank here in Colorado and I use it for the sole purpose of getting cash out when I need it. I can go to the teller unlimited amount of times, and no minimum balance to avoid fees. It's not a student account, just a regular one that everyone can get.

I told the bank rep my situation, and in so many words, he said that it wasn't profitable for BoA to keep me as a customer. Colorado is one of the few states that BoA. They'd probably lose a lot of money because they got a lot of credit unions to compete against.

I was only able to recoup half of what was stolen from me. I probably should keep better track of a thieving bank, but they should have sent me notice that they were going to charge me an account maintenance fee.

[impala454]

I always laugh when people bitch about Bank of America. I have had nothing but flawless banking/credit card history/investments/ savings with them. Ignorance isn't an excuse.

Same here. Never had a single issue, always had great customer service, etc. Guess I just got lucky.

[Mommy]

I told the bank rep my situation, and in so many words, he said that it wasn't profitable for BoA to keep me as a customer.

Exactly. What a lot of you fail to realize is that banks still have to make money. If you aren't bringing them business by using your card enough, making deposits regularly, and utilizing services they offer then you aren't going to be profitable for them. They have to get their money some way. BofA is a grown-up bank. I've known this since before I even started banking with them. It's not a secret. If a bunch of kids just went there to get the free checking and never put much money into their account, why would BofA want to keep them? I love BofA. I take care of them, they take care of me. I guess a lot of people just fail to realize that they too are a business that needs to make profit. Never EVER had a single fee on my account for any of the problems you listed... never for using their drive up service, their atm's, NOTHING. Got a foreign ATM charge ONCE, and I learned my lesson to not be a lazy ass and find a BofA atm. They are all over the place. I haven't had a single bank that has treated me as great as BofA. Everything from excellent customer service in their banks and over the phone to having my atm deposits go through on my account the second I deposit them, no matter what day of the week or what time of the day it is.

[impala454]

Just had a pretty kick ass experience with Bank of America. Here's the story:

I placed an online order for some tweeters for a speaker I'm building about two weeks ago. Right after I finish the order, I get an email saying the item is out of stock and won't be in stock for a couple weeks. I called them and asked them to cancel the order, they said sure, and I received a confirmation email that it was in fact, cancelled. Well today I see the full charge from them on my account, so I call them. Guy looks it up, says it looks like they made a mistake and actually charged it and sent it when it came in. I said no problem, go ahead and credit me and as soon as I receive them I'll refuse shipment. They said that they can't credit me until they receive them back. I said sure you can, if you can credit me when you receive them you can credit me now. They basically told me they wouldn't. So I told them I'd contest it with my bank and hung up on them.

Called BoA, they confirmed the transaction had posted then forwarded me to their claims dept. Lady was extremely nice, took down all the info, even had me fax her the email cancellation I'd received from the company, and then sent in a temp credit to my account right then. She said that credit will stay there while they investigate the claim, and likely remain for good as she said this type of occurance usually ends in favor of the customer.

Anyhow, I was very impressed with the speed they had in taking care of this and crediting me back. It's great to see my bank has my back when I get treated with some terribly bad business.

[dauss]

My credit company does that too. No big deal.

Shortly after this thread, I closed that US Bank account I have here in Colorado. I was trying to figure out what I would need a bank for and couldn't think of a good reason.