Not to long ago I decided to end my relationship with Bank of America. Over the years they had irritated me with their crummy hours, and their crummy service, and had grown exceedingly wary of being nickel-and-dimed with fees and surcharges. I decided to close my accounts in phases: First I closed the savings accounts, then I transferred the money to a credit union, next I switched my direct deposit, waited for a few weeks, and finally closed the checking account. The only thing I regret about the whole process is the cumulative 1-1.5 hours I spent in the Bank of America branch waiting area.
Today I received my final balance for my savings account. It looked like this
Balance...............$ 0.02
Service charge.....$3.00
Ending Balance...$ -2.98
I called customer service and the conversation went something like this
2 minutes of navigation through the system.
3 minutes of holding
2 minutes of identity verification and initial pleasantries
Me: I closed my account, the balance should be zero, but you say it is 2 cents. The next line shows a service charge, which is one of the reasons I closed my account, of $3.00. Next you say I owe you $2.98. I will NEVER pay you that $2.98, if anything, you owe me 2 cents.
Agent: You went to the branch and closed the accounts, filled out the paper work, and received pay out?
Me: Yes.
Agent: well I suggest that you go down to the branch and have them take care of this.
Me: ABSOLUTELY NOT!, I will not go down there. The other reason I closed my account is because they have hours that are inconvenient for me, and when I do go I have to wait for 30 min or more. I will not go down there, and I will not pay you $2.98 so we are going to handle this on the phone tonight.
3 minutes of transferring and holding
2 minutes of re-explaining my issue
New Agent: I can mail you a cashier’s check for $0.02.
Me: For a multitude of reasons that would make me very happy.
2 minutes of ending the call
So there you have it. After years of getting screwed by Bank of America, I was able to stick it to them for a change. I don’t know exactly how much this interaction will cost them, but I know it will be more the 2 cents. If you want my 2 cents it would be ditch the big national bank, especially if it is Bank of America, and switch to a local credit union.
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7 comments:
From Alexander Pope's Rape of the Lock, "What mighty contests arise from trivial matters!" Have ya ran outta gas lately?
I've paid a small fortune in fees to Bank Of America. That is the principal reason I closed my accounts. I was not about to give them one more penny.
Bank of America sucks! They started charging $30 fees to maintain IRA accounts. When I rolled the IRA over to a different institution (because I refused to pay the $30 fee), Bank of America charged me another $85 to transfer my own money to the other institution, whipping out all earnings for a couple of years.
I then write a letter to their headquarters in Atlanta to complain about all their fees and they never have the courtesy to respond.
Guess where they got the dough to blow for the Arena's namin' rights. Suckaaaaaaaaaaaas!
Here is some BOA propoganda. Enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0qAuqq1LFnU
Oops. My bad. Wrong thief. BoK is a whole lot better. If ya overdraw on a BoK account using their debit card, they'll let ya keep doin' it til kingdom come!
we recently closed out several bank of america accounts as well. same reasons. and we hated that stupid 800 number deal they have. we want to talk directly to OUR branch. we want to be in control of OUR money, not the other way around.
besides, i can't stand megalo-corporatism. whenever possible i try to use the littler guy for services. that includes walmart. shopping there is like selling your soul to the enemy. more than one relative went out of business because a walmart opened nearby.
the other one is chase. they convinced a nearly 75 year old grandmother to tie up her life savings for seven years. luckily, we got all her money back one day before the right of recission period ended. some financial adviser that guy was......
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