Complaint Review: Bank of America

Years ago I had the opportunity to order a catalog from Specialty Merchandise Corporation aka: SMC. I ordered their catalog on what was said to be a 30-day free trial, although I had to pay up front for the catalog with the promise of a "complete refund" if I found out that we were not a good match. I thought that meant that I would have 30 days to look at the catalog. Wrong! The 30 days starts when they mail it, not when you receive it!

And they sent it via USPS Media Mail - about the slowest thing going when it comes to mail delivery! So, I found out that I could buy just about anything in their "exclusive" catalog at almost any discount store (Dollar General, Big Lots, etc.) FOR THE SAME MONEY! So I called them and they said my 30-day trial was up! I told them that I had only had it for about 25 days and they relented and said that if I mailed it back to them overnight, insured and with delivery confirmation they would issue me a full refund as soon as they received it. I mailed it to the address they gave me and waited and waited.

Long story short - despite their insistence that my money would be refunded it was not. I took my complaint to Bank of America, explained what happened and asked that my account be closed. The next month SMC attempted to take another $49.95 out of my account and BOA charged me $35 for NSF as if the account were still open! I insisted that they couldn't charge my closed account anything. It was closed and that was it.

So they repaid the NSF fee into my NEW account, somewhat begrudgingly I might add, but I was making such a fuss in their lobby they figured - lesser of two evils - pay the man back. To this day I don't right checks and only use the debit card to draw cash to pay bills as needed. I've learned my lesson. What money I have left over I put in a credit union for safe-keeping, limiting what I keep in BOA!

Thomas Jefferson was completely right when he said, "If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent they conquered."

I couldn't possibly have said it better!