Complaint Review: Soundown Corporation

Mr. Murray from Soundown Corporation had been one of my suppliers for acoustical materials. I had an open account with them and had been paying them by check and by debit card. They were asked in writing not to use my debit card without my permission, since they had already done this without my knowledge or permission once before.

I was trying to work out a billing problem with Soundown, since they had made some mistakes on my invoice. I was currently waiting for a loan to to be funded, so I could pay them and other creditors. I had let Soundown know this and corresponded with them regularly trying to figure out why my invoice had other people's orders on it and didn't add up. They responded by threatening me, with my sales rep warning me that his manager, Chris Murray, would resort to some "nasty" tactics to get his money if I didn't pay him immediately upon request. I didn't know what was meant by that.

I found out in October of 2004 that Soundown had a tap on my Bank of America business Account, because as soon as my loan came through, they didn't ask or wait, they went into my account and cleaned it out, taking $4910 in three separate transactions, all within minutes apart, the day after I deposited $5000 into the account.

I was online when I saw the first two transactions come through, and immediately called Bank of America customer service and told them that this was not me and that these withdrawals were not being made with my knowledge or authorization. I was told that they were just authorizations, not withdrawals and that I shouldn't worry, but call the next day and let the bank know that these withdrawals weren't authorized. One more such authorization came through while I was on the phone with Bank of America.

The next morning, I went in to my Bank of America branch, and told them the same thing. They told me not to worry that the money would not be removed from my account. I don't have much faith in Bank of America, since I've seen this sort of thing happen before, so I withdrew my $5000 deposit that I had just made the day before to ensure that the money wouldn't be taken.

$4910 was debited from my account, causing a huge overdraft. I was furious and called Bank of America again. They said not to worry and issued a "temporary" deposit of $4910 to cover it while they "investigated" this activity.

The end result is that Bank of America debited this credit a couple of weeks later stating that "no banking error had been made and this was between me and the other party," since we had done business in the past.

I hired an attorney to write to Soundown on my behalf and request that they give back the money, work out the invoice problems with me, and set up a payment plan whereby I would repay them. They basically laughed at me and made some snide remarks and told me they'd give me some credits for the money they took and apply them towards future purchases.

After several phone calls from me and attempts to reason with them by my attorney, as well as numerous calls and claims filed to Bank of America, I realized that they were going to get away with this.

I had most of my bills for my business coming from this account via direct deposit, and wasn't able to stop them until I had incurred over $1000 in overdrafts. I was charged another $378 when Bank of America forced closure of the account. I eventually had to compensate for the money taken out of my account by Soundown ($4910), the overdrafts and penalties ($1000+), and the closure fee ($378.00) to keep from being reported to Chex Systems.

Without any discussion or opportunity to explain, my business merchant account with Ipayment was closed when Ipayment discovered that my primary business account with Bank of America had been closed. They were not interested in my explanations or letters from my attorney. I was told that I was now a high risk and they could not reopen my account.

The consequences to my business have been very severe, and I am very angry that this company has been allowed to access my bank account without my knowledge or permission. I am a disadvantaged small business and struggling to succeed with very little help. I have been honest and have believed that my hard work would be rewarded. Instead, I've been duped and robbed. I would appreciate any suggestions.

I suspect that this is how this company eliminates their competition. I am a female business owner, and my business associates who know of this company tell me that this has been a matter of discrimination since I was stepping into a male-dominated industry where I was not welcome.

Please warn people about the dangers of using debit cards and let them know that the zero liability that Bank of America and Visa claim is a simply not true.

Discrimination against women is alive and well and we have very little support when it comes to defending ourselves in the financial world.

M. M.
San Diego, California
U.S.A.