I really need to follow up on my last post “All Credit Card Companies Are Not the Same” with an update.  Unlike Roland Burris, Junior Senator of Illinois, I believe it is only fair to present all the facts.  One day after I posted my rant about Bank of America on www.consumerboomer.com, I received a call from a very nice gentleman I will call “Team Manager Kevin “.  He was very cordial and immediately identified himself and what he was calling about.  In all fairness, some credit needs to be given to ”Team Manager Kevin” for the way he handled my recent dilemma with an unjustified late charge.

The Call

He apologized for not calling me back immediately saying that he found the note, explaining my request for a return call, on his desk  when he arrived at work the following morning.  After reviewing my account information and the file on my complaint he decided to waive the $29.00 late charge.  He went on to say that it should never have been added in the first place, and this issue  should never have escalated to this point.

In addition, he apologized for the two other representatives I spoke with on the previous day.  He was firm about the fact that the two representatives should have handled this differently.  He said that it all should have been taken care of in the first call.  He assured me that Bank of America valued my business.  He ask if I had any further concerns or questions that he could help me with.

Papa Boomer’s Balloon Just Got Busted!

I was “blown away” and almost “speechless” (not normal for me).    It was not what I expected after the opposite treatment I had received from “Christopher” and his “Supervisor” on the previous day.

• First, I figured I wouldn’t even get a call.
• Second, if I did get a call, I certainly didn’t expect satisfaction.
• Third, I was actually looking forward to expressing my total dissatisfaction with the BOA, the entire customer service operation, executive bonuses, the stimulus package,  tax payer ripoff, Fanny Mae, Freddie Mac, socialism, and global warming, if given the chance … just one more time!

So, instead … I was stuck with thanking ”Team Manager Kevin” for his helpful assistance and told him I had no further questions.  That’s no fun!  What a disappointment!

Boom-Bazzelled or Not?

I am thinking, I may just have been “Boom-Bazzelled” by one of the best … but he was good! He handled a bad situation well.  He left a customer who was very angry feel better (and defenceless).   He made me feel it was worth my call.  And, he made me feel victorious.  Now that is a customer service team manager on top of his job!

So … what do I do now?  As in the Saturday Night Live skit, I could just say … Never mind!

Not Papa B.  In retrospect, I do feel a little guilty for the full blown rant.  However, as much as I appreciate the way the return call was handled by “Team Manager Kevin”, I also feel that if the situation would have been handled properly by “Christopher” and his “Supervisor”  in the beginning there would never have been a rant or the the need for a return call … I also had such a blast writing it, I would have missed out on a lot of fun!

Summary

In summary, I am convinced there are good employees and not so good employees, especially in customer service.  It does makes a difference which one you get on the day you call.    At this point, I am not ready to say never mind, but in fairness, I did feel obligated to present all the facts and complete the follow-up.

“Team Manager Kevin” is good and deserves credit for handling the situation with professionalism.  Unfortunately, in order to speak with him, I had to first go through num-nuts “Christopher” and his “Supervisor “Mr. double num-nuts.  After that, I  had to call back and talk with “Scott” just to make sure that Mr. double num-nuts did what he said he was going to.  And, he didn’t!

The Final Word

So my final assessment is as follows:

Just because I was finally able to get an obvious mistake on the part of Bank of America corrected, doesn’t mean they still don’t suck.  It took a lot of effort and persistence on my part.  To read the original post click here.  Maybe they don’t suck as much as they would have, had they not hired “Team Manager Kevin”, but Bank of America as a whole, and compared to Capital One, still sucks!    End of Rant.  Papa B.

I recently posted an article on Capital One concerning my personal experience with identity theft.  The post was a rave review of how Capital One did such a fabulous job of handling my personal credit card account in the midst of a difficult situation.  The words I used were “Capital One Rocks“!  Today I had a much different experience with Bank of America.   In a word I would say Bank of America “SUCKS!!!”   As far as I am concerned they are unethical crooks!  After receiving a mere $45 billion in tax payer bailout money they hit me for $29.00 on an unjustified late fee.

Bank of America SUCKS!

Here’s my story.   I have had a Bank of America credit card for over 9 years with a zero balance.  The first time I ever used it was January of this year.  I decided to use it to keep it alive, so to speak.  I made a single charge on the card for $119.25 in early January during the time my other credit card account was temporaily closed due to identity theft.   I received a bill in my mail box on January 18, 2009 with a due date of February 3, 2009.  I wrote a check for the entire balance and placed it in the mail on January 22, 2009 (just 4 days after receiving it in the mail).

Bank of America really SUCKS!!

To my suprise I received a bill in the mail today February 17, 2009 for $29.55.  It shows a credit for $119.25, a late fee of $29.00 and finance charges of $0.55 on the late fee.  It showed a processing date of the $119.25 on February 5, 2009.  Two days late!  First of all, I have never paid a late fee in my life.  Secondly, I mailed the payment four days after receipt of the bill and it took them 14 days to receive it in the mail and process it on February 5, 2009.  Third, this card has a credit limit of $28,000 and has always had a zero balance on it except for the $119.25 charged in early January.  I called Customer Service thinking I could easily straighten this out.  After all, how can it take that long to process my payment.  I was wrong!    

Bank of America SUCKS beyond belief!!!

As I tried to explain my frustration to “Christopher” of Customer Service.   I was cut short and told that under no circumstances would Bank of America waive the late fee.  He told me that it was my responsibility to make sure my payment made it on time and he could not control the US Mail.  I asked if he could check the post mark and he simply said that, in all cases, Bank of America processed payments on the day they were received without exception!  I pointed out that the IRS accepted the post mark as a date of receipt.  He said that they were not the IRS and to them the post mark was meaningless!  So, Bank of America can’t control the US Mail, but it is my responsibility to make sure I do!  I then asked how he knew it didn’t lay on someones desk for a few days before it was processed?  He said that could not happen because it was their policy to process all payments the day they were received.

Bank of America SUCKS and BLOWS!!!!

By now I am very frustrated and starting to lose it.  I asked to talk with someone else … his supervisor.   He told me I was wasting my time … I told him that was OK because it was my time!  He put me on hold for 23 minutes, in an apparent attempt to get me to give up, but I was persistent and finally I got what he said was his supervisor.  Before I could even explain the situation the so called supervisor told me I was wasting my time.  I asked if he could at least explain how I could be charged a finance charge on the $29.00 late fee when it wasn’t even due yet and I that I had never received a notice on.  He paused for about 15 seconds and then graciously agreed to remove the $0.55 finance charge with a “chuckle”.  By now I am ready to rip my phone in half and crap down the mouth piece.   … Can I please talk to your supervisor… I was told no managers were available, but I could leave my number and someone would call me within 72 hours.  I asked if I did not receive the call within 72 hours if I could charge them a late fee.  Coldly, he said of course not.  I said I didn’t think so.  I told them I thought they were crooks and had no intention of doing any more business with them.  I told him to please make sure the manager called me back, because I was dying to ask him how much his bonus was this year for screwing another tax payer.  End of call.

Bank of America SUCKS, BLOWS, and are CROOKS!!!!!

I decided it wasn’t worth any more effort or waiting for the call so I wrote a check for $29.00 and put it in an envelope to be mailed.  But, before I mailed it, I decided I better check to verify that this customer service jerk actually took the $0.55 off my bill.  I called again and got “Scott” this time.    I tried to explain my prior call and told him I had given up on the late fee removal.  All I wanted to know was what my current balance was.  “Scott” was much easier to talk to because he thought it was actually funny!  I am glad I checked because if I had actually mailed the check for $29.00 instead of $29.55,  I would have received another late fee of $29.00 on the late $0.55 next month!  Who are these idiots?

In addition, I found out that the previous customer service representative cancelled my account,  noting on the account that the customer requested it closed!  I guess, when in the heat of the moment, I said I had no intention of doing any more business with Bank of America, he took that as a request to close my account!  I am the first to admit I wasn’t very nice to any of them, but noonly after they were no longer nice to me which took about 30 seconds.  I had “Scott” reopen my account so when I finally get my call in 72 hours I can close it again!

Credit Card Company Review from my Personal Experience:

• Capital One ROCKS!!!
• Bank of America SUCKS!!!

For more on Bank of America click on each of the following comments:

• Bank Of America SUCKS!
• Bank of America really SUCKS!!
• Bank of America SUCKS beyond belief!!!
• Bank of America SUCKS and BLOWS!!!!
• Bank of America SUCKS, BLOWS, and are CROOKS!!!!!
• To find out how BOA handles Identity Theft (Click here)
• OR … Just Google ‘Bank of America Sucks’ and view some of the 377,000 sites that come up! (Click Here)

I hope everyone knows that this is not about the 29 bucks or the 55 cents!  It is all about the principle! I wouldn’t give Bank of America $0.45,  more or less, $45 billion. Papa B. is now one pissed off Boomer!

Related Article:

Identity Theft – Capital One saved Me!