Bitter Battle with BofA

After 26 years as a good and fully satisfied customer I find myself caught in an extended ‘he said; she said’ back-and-forth battle with Bank of America. Though it’s not what he (let alone she) said, but what they claim I did despite clear and obvious evidence I didn’t. In fact, couldn’t have.

What’s aggravating is that the investigators don’t appear to be actually investigating. They won’t contact me or the merchant, so I’m not sure quite what they’re investigating.

This has been going on all summer, since late May…

May 26: My first inkling is an email from BofA asking about suspicious credit card activity. Did I authorize this? It was for $4620.50 for a company I’d never heard of, so I clicked No. That took me to a webpage that essentially said, okay, we’ll cancel the transaction, now call us to change your card.

Which I did, and they did, and then I had to go through past bills to see what sites used that card so I could change to the new card when it arrived. I also gave some thought as to how my card info got into someone’s hands. For years, I’ve only used that card online, so the possibilities are limited.

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The email/text thing happens from time to time, usually when I buy something different enough to trigger their watchdog algorithms. You may have experienced it yourself. In such cases, I did buy the thing, so I click Yes, and all’s well.

I only experienced stolen credit card information once. It was back when it was common to hand the card to a cashier for them to process. I’m pretty sure a new hire at the liquor store I frequented made a copy of my card number and later tried to use it.

[That store clearly had trouble getting good help. The workers there were young, disaffected, and focused on their phones. Any interaction, even paying for your purchase, they treated as an interruption.]

Then as now, BofA contacted me about a suspicious transaction. I clicked No, and then called them about canceling the card and getting a new one issued. That went smooth as silk, a new card soon arrived, and I wasn’t charged for the fraudulent transaction.

I thought highly of BofA because of how painless the experience was.

And thankful they had my back.

Oh, how the times have changed.

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Everything seemed okay. BofA removed the charge (on May 28), I got the new card, I changed it on the sites I’d registered it with for auto-payments, and I deleted my account from one site I was suspicious about.

I won’t name names (other than BofA, obviously), but I’d recently registered my profile info, including CC number, on a site that had been recommended by an earnest and I’m quite sure genuine YouTuber. I have no reason, let alone a good one, to doubt the site; as far as I can tell, it’s 100% legit. I’m going only by the coincidence of timing. And that nearly all the other sites that know that card number are major sites (e.g. Amazon).

I’d ordered some goods from the site in question before, and they were delivered (and exactly what was ordered). But that first time I used the card in passing and didn’t create a profile or have them save the info. Months later, ordering from them again, I decided I’d like return again, so I created a profile to make things easier. Shortly thereafter, this all happened.

But, as in the first time, it appeared to end well.

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July 9: I get a letter from BofA saying they are “unable to approve” my claim. The reason they give is:

We confirmed the merchandise was shipped or service(s) was provided to an address listed on our account.

Grammar aside, that’s simply not true. As it will turn out, it couldn’t be true because no actual merchandise or service(s) ever existed. The fraudsters created the whole thing electronically using stolen information.

I called BofA immediately and protested. The call taker said they could resubmit the claim for further consideration. I said please do!

With the letter, I’d gotten documentation from BofA of the alleged transaction, and I noticed a number of interesting points:

Firstly, the invoice number was #000001. That’s weird. Invoice numbers are based on the merchant, not the client, otherwise a merchant would end up with lots of invoices numbered #000001. It’s as if the merchant was brand new.

Secondly, the order was for “siding” — no other description, no details.

Thirdly, while my name and street address and email were under “Customer”, there was no shipping info of any kind. In particular, no delivery date.

[The documentation BofA sent me is apparently some sort of photocopy of printouts. They have a beige background with slightly darker beige type. And smaller than the page, so very difficult to read. I had to scan them and use a photo editor to crank up the contrast.]

When I called BofA I pointed out that I lived in a condo and not only wouldn’t order “siding” but aren’t allowed to have anything to do with the siding here.

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August 20: I get essentially the same letter from BofA:

We confirmed the merchandise was shipped or service(s) was provided to an address listed on our account.

Why does it take them so long to respond? Their assertion isn’t true, so I called again, spoke to a call taker again, and re-re-submitted my claim.

I’ll say this: the call takers are all very nice and sympathetic. Unfortunately, they can’t really do anything but pass on information, and the people making the decisions refuse to communicate with me. It feels like malfeasance.

I think it was this time the call taker suggested it might be helpful to contact the merchant. I took that under advisement. For a severe introvert, cold-calling a company to ask about a supposed transaction made in your name is a bit intimidating. My self-defeating thought was, “They probably consider that proprietary information and could even be offended I dared to ask.”

As it turns out, this ended up being one of the nicer parts of the story.

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September 7: After looking at their website, I decide to use their contact page to email them. I wondered if I should actually drive out to their location (about 100 miles outside the cities), if it would be more effective to ask in person, but thought I’d try email first.

The website also provided the phone numbers for the CEO and CFO, so I built up my courage and, getting their voicemail in both cases, left messages for both.

September 8: While shopping at Target, my phone rings, and it’s the CFO from the merchant I supposedly ordered siding from. He’s really nice. He tells me I’m not the first one who experienced this. Someone else in the Twin Cities called him back in July about almost the exact same thing (and as he recalled, about the same charge, and he thought it was a BofA card to boot).

They’re a small construction company about 100 miles north of the cities. It seems their identity was stolen and used to create fraudulent transactions against stolen credit card info. He’s reported this to his local police, and there was a police report on file, and the officer had even provided his phone number.

I also got a call from the CEO, who at that point was just following up, but she was very  nice, too. Yet another life lesson about not letting self-defeating fears stop you from trying.

They recommended I fill out a police report with my local police, which I did the next day. That was interesting. I’ve seen it on TV many times. Now I’ve lived it.

I called BofA and provided all this info, including the police report numbers and phone numbers of all parties. And that the merchant was happy to explain the situation.

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October 8: I get yet another rejection letter from BofA. This time they’ve gotten a bit terse:

The merchant provided documentation confirming you received the merchandise or service.

Which is physically impossible. I’ve spoken to the merchant; the BofA clearly has not. I don’t know what playbook they’re operating out of, but something is rotten in Denmark.

I called and had them resubmit once again, but at this point I’m not sure what to do. Should I get a lawyer and try to sue them? It’s all very distressing and depressing, and it put a dark cloud over my summer and fall.

I thought we were finally done, especially after providing the merchant and police info, but what does it take?

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Let’s summarize:

• BofA recognized this as a suspicious transaction when it happened.
• I immediately affirmed it wasn’t my doing.
• No shipping info on supposed order (e.g. delivery date).
• No details on what was ordered, just “siding”.
• Merchant confirms they were not involved; identity stolen.
• Electronic fraud, no actual merchandise or service(s).
• Trouble-free customer for 26 years, why would I do this?

Needless to say I am a very unhappy customer. They put the charge back on my credit card, so at the least I’m being charged (noticeable) interest on it. So far the minimum payment has been below whatever charges I put on the card that month, so in my mind I’m paying only for that.

But assuming I get BofA to do the right thing, it’s going to be a tangle trying to sort out the interest charges. And if they refuse to recognize that I had nothing to do with this, and I’m forced to pay this charge, then I think I’d have no choice but to find a lawyer and try to sue them.

[In my fantasies, it becomes a jury trial, and the jury is very sympathetic and unhappy with giant corporations, so they award a huge amount in punitive damages. Enough to truly spank BofA. High fantasy, for sure, but if it did happen, I’d donate every penny to dog charities.]

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The irony is that, back in the day, the Hippies really hated Bank of America because they saw it as a symbol of Big Corporate Money and Greed. I’m not much of a causes kinda guy and mostly ignored all that. I’ve had two of their credit cards for 26 years, so obviously I am, or at least was, fine with them.

It’s only now that I’m like, “Fuck Bank of America!” Took only, what, fifty years to catch up to my former crowd? I’m typically a slow adapter, but this one is a record, I think.

Stay steady, my friends! Go forth and spread beauty and light.

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