Bank of America consumer ripoff

On 12/31/99, I discovered that my bank debit card had been used by someone unknown to me, without my knowledge or permission, to the tune of $1,152.03. According to my bank’s stated policy, they will reimburse me if my check card is lost, stolen, or used without my permission, if I report it promptly. I reported it as soon as I found out. They said they’d conduct an investigation and reimburse me, probably within a couple of business days. I received a reimbursement a day or so later.

In March, they took the money away again. On 3/19, I called to find out why, and they said they hadn’t received the paperwork I was supposed to send. At my request they sent another form. When I called to get the mailing address, and they said I had already sent the form and didn’t need to send it again, and the investigation was still underway.

In May, I still hadn’t heard anything. I tried to put the correspondence in email since they hadn’t been very helpful via telephone, but they refused to discuss the matter except over the phone.

Today I called again. They said the investigator handling my claim wasn’t there, but would call me back. He didn’t. They also said they had sent me a letter in April, but hadn’t put my apartment number in the address, so the letter was returned. The lady said she couldn’t give me any other information.

I called later, and THIS lady said no investigation was ever done, and she had no record of receiving the paperwork. She did, however, have a record of the other lady telling me they had received it. She also had a record of the mail being returned. She admitted they could have gotten the correct address from their customer service department but they didn’t. She offered no explanation why the lady from this morning wouldn’t give me this information, nor why I have been given conflicting information from the beginning. She said if I faxed the paperwork to them today, she would personally expedite the investigation and call me Friday with a status report.

I called to see if they’d received the fax. The man put me on hold for a while, then said the claim had been denied on March 9, would probably not be reopened, and, since more than 120 days had elapsed, they would probably not give me my money back anyway. He didn’t have an answer for why nobody had ever said any of this until now.

If, at any time, they had informed me of this 120 day limit, I would have been on the phone to them every week instead of waiting. Even so, the phone call where they said they had received my paperwork and I didn’t need to send it again, was well within 120 days. If they had been honest with me then, I could have stayed within their time limit.

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