Bank of America, Circuit City rip-off Washington District of Columbia
On July 6, 2002, I purchased printer supplies from a Circuit City store in Rockville, Maryland, using a check card for my account with Chevy Chase Bank located in Silver Spring Maryland. Shortly after that, I moved and closed that account. I opened a new account with Bank of America here in Washington, DC. I was issued a temporary check card for this new account.
On July 11 2002, I returned printer supplies to Circuit City in the amount of $133.32. Forgetting that I needed to wait for my new check card, I handed my Bank of America temporary card in error to the clerk at Circuit City. The check card was swiped into their machine, it was (evidently) accepted, and the credit went through their accounting department without incident. The credit has never appeared on any of my statements from Bank of America. Chevy Chase bank did not receive the credit, either.
I have contacted Circuit City and they have verified that the card number that went through their system was 4071-2800-0380-0715. Bank of America clerks have verified that this is the temporary card that was issued to me for my account here at Bank of America. This card has now expired. I destroyed it before discovering this current situation.
When we complained to Bank of America that we had not received credit, the bank arranged for a temporary credit to be issued to my account while this was investigated (claim number #4156-30AUG02). On October 8 2002, I received a notice from Bank of America that they will not credit my account because there was no purchase for the disputed amount on the dates mentioned. There is not going to be a purchase on the dates mentioned, because the purchase was not made via Bank of America (It was made on the old Chevy Chase bank card). However, THE CREDIT WAS.
We visited branch manager Jeremy Jordan at Bank of America, and he denied any responsibility and denied that the bank had received this money. He claimed that the responsibility lay with Circuit City. The Circuit City manager, predictably, produced documents showing that the money HAD been credited to my account, and claimed that the responsibility lay entirely with Bank of America.
Evan
Washington, District of Columbia
U.S.A.
1 Updates & Rebuttals
anon
Miami,Florida,
U.S.A.
Put it in writing to corporate headquarters
#2Consumer Suggestion
Sat, January 11, 2003
Hi-- A few years ago I had a car loan through Bank of America. It was supposed to be an automatic debit out of my account, no pre-payment penalties. Long story short, I made a big payment toward principal, and the numb-nuts on the other end of the envelope applied it to the payments. They suspended the automatic debits until the balance was used up. Of course, that was not what I wanted, the letter was quite clear on the intent to apply the extra payment toward principal, not future payments.
I wrote a letter to their corporate headquarters after spinning my wheels at the branch level. I received back not only a letter of apology, but a money order for $250 for the trouble. My account was fixed and adjusted without any further hassles. Needless to say, I was very impressed with this unexpected financial demostration of "customer service".
Bring your matter to the big cheeses. The peons at the branches aren't usually able to make autonomous decisions. Send copies of the Circuit City records with your letter of complaint.
I hope this information helps. Good luck!