Silly Bill. He thought Bank of America would let him spend $5,800 on a home theater system just because he had over $10,000 in the bank. He tried to charge the system to his Bank of America Visa Platinum Check Card but was declined. Confused, Bill called Bank of America customer support for an explanation and had the sort of conversation that makes you want to drive a fork through your ear.
So tonight I went to my local Best Buy, planning on surprising the wife with a new bigscreen TV.
We get there and, believe it or not, the Best Buy people are helpful, friendly, informative and DON’T try to push Monster cables on me. (I know – I nearly fainted too).
Having done my homework, I picked out a receiver, speaker system, wall mount, some blue ray movies , and a 58″ plasma TV. Total cost : $5870.69
So I head to the register to pay for my newly acquired goodies and my card – despite having a few grand more than the total in my “available funds” is declined.
Puzzled – I call Bank of America , wait on hold about ten minutes, go through countless adverts for bank services, double authorizations etc and FINALLY I get to a human. Of course in spite of all of this the woman wants my information all over again even though I just typed it in. She wont even help me til I provide it and so I do.
I explain that I am in the store, at the register, and that I know I have available funds.
She puts me on hold about 5 minutes , then comes back and says “Im sorry – that’s over your daily limit. There’s nothing I can do. Was there anything else I can help you with?”
Remembering to keep a cool head, I ask about a supervisor giving me an override on the limit. She says “let me transfer you to the ATM department.” And before I can explain that this isn’t an ATM problem, she disconnects me.
Frustrated – I dial again, more menus, get a human, get transferred, get another human, get transferred, (every time re-verifying my ID)finally I get to the FOURTH person who apologizes 10 times and says “don’t worry sir – I can help you!”
I think I’m getting somewhere but then a supervisor comes on and explains to me that “Everyone in the United States that uses Bank of America has a daily spending limit of 5000.00 no matter what.”
Stunned, I ask for an exception and in a parent-giving-me-a-cookie tone he says “well, I suppose we can up that to 6000.00 just this once.”
At this point I am over an hour on the phone but we try the transaction again. Declined.
More hold time. He comes back and says that he is sorry but 6000. is the limit and buying gasoline and dinner earlier in the day is going to put me at more than 6 grand for the day and so I can come back tomorrow and buy the TV or I can go to my branch and get a money order.
Fuming, and doing my best to remain calm, the conversation goes like this:
“Let me get this straight – I have an “available” balance of nearly 10 grand in my account?”
“yes sir”
“And its not pending or a deposit waiting to clear, that’s my money, confirmed and in your bank?”
“yes sir”
“And you have kept me on the phone for over an hour, asked me multiple times to verify my identity and are satisfied that I am who I say I am?”
“yes sir”
“And you are going to deny me access to MY money?!?!”
“No sir – we are not denying you your money, your’re just over your daily limit.”
“My daily limit? This isn’t a credit card. It’s a PLATINUM Visa checkcard. I understand that you have to put limits in for my protection but I need to make this purchase”
“Im sorry theres nothing I can do”
At this point, after nearly an hour an twenty minutes on the phone, I lose my cool. I am embarrassed, have essentially shut down a register lane on a Friday night at Best Buy and am obviously the talk of the store both from employees and customers.
I ask to speak to a supervisor and am told that I am speaking to one. I ask to speak to HIS supervisor and am told that’s not possible.
Out of desperation I ask again and he says “wait just a moment”
More hold. Ten more minutes. I am fuming. He comes back and excitedly tells me “try it now.”
So for the umpteenth time I swipe my card. This time it comes up “authorization code needed”
I relay this to the BoA guy and he says “well, we are making progress”
A few more minutes of hold time later and he comes back with the code and makes my purchase go through.
I have NEVER experienced such shoddy customer service ever. Im sure Im preaching to the choir when I say this, but Monday morning I am cancelling my BoA account, and fellow consumerists – Stay the heck away from Bank of America!
As a side note, after the transaction was completed I said to the supervisor, “So, what if I was say, Donald Trump and wanted to spend 30 grand on something?”
His response, ” Well , for Mr Trump we would have made an accommodation ahead of time.”
I said “And if I’d decided tonight to buy the $14,999.99 71″ plasma TV in here this evening?”
“You wouldn’t not have been allowed to do that.”
At that point I hung up.
Sheesh!
Bank of America, though still thoroughly decrepit and evil, may have been sending a helpful signal. Large purchases like home theater systems should be charged to a credit card, ideally one that offers rewards and extended warranty protection. As Bank of America would say, it’s for your own good.
(Photo: Getty)
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DIE BOA, DIE!!!!!!! I avoid them like the black plague. I had a few accounts there when I was young and dumb. But after a series of mistakes on their behalf on my deposits, (my payroll checks came out to $515.15 a week, and I would use the ATM because I hate dealing with the tellers, the deposits were always listed as $51.51). Customer service and the tellers at the branch would get rude and angry when I would ask them to correct their mistake.
Again, DIE BOA, DIE!!!
@SchecterShredder: and probably using his Sprint cell phone to make the call.
The OP, Bill, is a friend of mine. What may not have come across in print but did in person when he told me this story is how very, very long he was on hold. Combined with being disconnected at least once and sent to the wrong department as well I can sympathize with him.
The fact that this was ultimately approved means that it is possible and can be permitted. If it were absolutely against the rules he would have left without a TV. I think that’s where a lot of the frustration comes from. He had to wait so long and jump through so many hoops to get this done. It was ultimately done, why all the hassle?
The other thing is that, as some have pointed out, he passed all the security checks. There was no question that he was the owner of the account and that the money was his. At that point who was being protected by the limit?
I can appreciate that BofA has policies and enforces them. I think the policy doesn’t make sense if it denies people their money after proving who they are.
I should note that I too use BofA and have never had bad service and even had some really helpful people help me out.
Finally, as for not being familiar with the policy: If his account is like mine it was opened at Baybank. Baybank merged with Bank of Boston to become BankBoston. BankBoston merged with Fleet Bank to become FleetBoston. FleetBoston was bought by BofA. Keeping track of all of this can be a task. The policy he started with may have been very different.
BB was not at fault, so stop blaming the guy for shopping at BB.
BOA is PIA. I agree with the OP. Good God, it’s his money, and he passed the ID qualifications; they should have just immediately given him access.
And the people here complaining about the guy not using credit or maybe even having enough credit to buy it- shut it. Who cares? The guy had the amount in his account to cover it.
But then again the last time I bought something that cost that much (a $7k used-card), I had it all in 100′s in nice little envelope because I did not want car hassles.
Uh, I can’t tell you how many times I took a trip, only to have at least one credit card declined because of their anti-fraud measures. I had to call up the CC Cos and tell them that I am on the road and that everything is cool.
Moral of the story: Make arrangements ahead of time with your financial organizations if you are going to do something out-of-the-ordinary. It is for YOUR protection.
First of all, Why are you buying a Plasma TV from Best Buy for $5800?
Secondly, everyone should already know that there are limits to a Visa CheckCard, where the penalty for overdraft is multimple NSF fees.
Lastly, Consumerist is right, you should be using a rewards card with extended warranties and reward points. Points or chashback on a $5800 TV is $58-100.
Overall, your little attempt at instant gratification cost you hours in frustration and about 50% more money.
Ugh,
Some of these comments are very scary…
At no point should security be a reason to deny YOUR money. I understand that there can be extra checks, that is fine, but in the end there should be a established mechanisms for dealing with a issue like this. A hour on the phone is in-excusable.
Also the typical corporate mun drum that we provide horrible customer service because of our policies is really getting over-played.
Then everyone keeps saying that the bofa is protecting you…. This was one of the greatest half truths the bank inddustry has every pulled. The bank could care less about your funds. They do however care that they cannot find you liable for any fraudlent charges. So in the end there are protecting BofA.
Pure genius in convincing the general public that they make are lifes a living nightmare anytime we travel, purchase 1000+, buy something on ebay or online, etc, is actaully for our protection… ha! Some people even pay extra for this!!! o:
Evil genius’s
But i guess thats why they have all the money?
I am American, I work in sales in Mexico, I deal with this problem all the time. However, this is a FOREIGN COUNTRY. We are selling to Americans, the bank flags their acct for big purchases, BUT, it always just takes one phone call for the bank to verify they are who they say they are and the card was not stolen, and they almost ALWAYS will up the limit. And this is to drop a lot more than 5 g. I have also run into this when taking my boat to foreign countries but have always been able to up the limit and get it OK’d. Of course, once I told them that the fuel was already in the boat and we couldnt pump it back out they kind of had no choice, but still….this guy was getting reamed. Probably a schmuck with a pattern of having about twelve bucks in his acct…
Not everyone can get a credit card with a +$5k spending limit, even people with a large amount of money in their bank accounts. See, you have to have this thing called a “credit history” and then banks and other financial institutions “trust” you with their credit cards. Just because you have a lot of money and are making large purchases doesn’t mean you have a (good) credit history.
“Overall, your little attempt at instant gratification cost you hours in frustration and about 50% more money.”
Little attempt at instant gratification? Do you realize how condecending and stuck up you sound? You don’t need to make reservations at a Wendy’s and you shouldn’t have to take a bank officer with you to Best Buy to buy a TV.
Whether or not using a credit card or not would have been smarter as a consumer isn’t the issue. For whatever reason he didn’t use a credit card and shouldn’t have to. He had the money. He proved his identity. End of story.
As for purchasing at Best Buy, not everybody’s shopping needs are the same as yours. Have you ever returned a 58″ TV that you bought online? The shipping would probably be a few hundred dollars. Also, had you bothered to read and actually comprehend the story you would have noticed that he bought a receiver, speaker system, wall mount, some blue ray movies AND the TV for $5870.69. He didn’t pay $5800 for the TV.
Now if you’ll excuse me I need to call Wendy’s to reserve a table for six…
@Obi5Kenobi
It’s okay, you can admit that this person is YOU, not a “friend”. Otherwise, I don’t see why you are getting so upset because my comments were mostly sarcastic. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.
a) I used to work at Circuit City and people with plenty of money would get denied for WRITING A CHECK (which BTW you could have tried) because the system rejected them. They didn’t blame the bank.
b) Yes, customer service is frustrating especially when dealing with money, so getting transferred and having calls dropped sucks, yes, but it happens.
c) I’m not defending BoA, i don’t work there or own its stock, it’s just that you wrote into The Consumerist, and as a consumer, I was offering to you other options that involve saving you money.
d) Finally, did Bank of America actually let you have access to your funds? I think they did. And if anyone were trying to pull $6000 directly out of my cash checking account I would hope it would be difficult.
@ DeanOfAllTrades
I have no way of proving that I am not Bill so kudos to you for creating a situation that cannot possibly be resolved. You’re a clever one. I’m interested in this because Bill is a friend of mine and people seem to think this is his fault. I feel bad for you that friendship is such an alien concept. That must be very lonely. To be honest it was your statement of “little attempt at instant gratification” that irked me. As if Bill shouldn’t be able to buy a TV and some electronics on the fly.
You said:
“Yes, customer service is frustrating especially when dealing with money, so getting transferred and having calls dropped sucks, yes, but it happens”
Does not that attitude conflict with the very premise of Consumerist? Essentially you’re saying, “Companies treat their customers poorly, get over it”?
You said:
“Finally, did Bank of America actually let you have access to your funds? I think they did.”
Bill did get his money, which means BofA’s policy is not set in stone. Why all the hassle? Either it can be done or it can’t. If it can he shouldn’t have had to go through so much hassle. If it can’t then they should have told him it can’t be done.
You said:
“And if anyone were trying to pull $6000 directly out of my cash checking account I would hope it would be difficult.”
Even if it’s YOU trying to pull $6000 out of YOUR account? That should be difficult? I think we’re going to have to agree to disagree on that one.
@Obi5Kenobi
So one last thing, and we’ll stop this whole flame war you have going on in your head. My point was, yes, you can buy TVs on the internet, and it’s convenient too! I purchased my last TV and receiver on the internet, otherwise I wouldn’t have recommended it. I had it all shipped for $40 directly to my door and saved hundreds off the price and in sales tax. The guys who brought it even offered to set it up on my TV stand. Much easier than trying to fit a 50″ into my Altima. If the Tv or Receiver had not worked (which this one did) they had a free shipping exchange policy. The only bad thing is if you change your mind you’re out the shipping costs. So my comment that ENRAGED you was just a point that if you can wait for something to get shipped, you can save a lot of money and a lot of frustration.
As a former Bank employee (WAMU)I can say all banks have a spending limit on a check card WAMU has a $500.00 limit per day. The problem with customer service is something most people do not know or understand, we at the call center are punished if our calls last longer than what is set by the Call Center Management based on the type of service provided. My limit was 182 seconds max. anything over that and we were punished I was fired because I actually believed we should provide the best customer service no matter how long it took. Another thing you the customer is not aware of is when you request to speak to a supervisor you’re just being connected to another call center operator designated as such. This person is trained to give you, well, the basic runaround until you either accept what you are being told. If you want anything done DEMAND to speak to the Service representatives, Manager (CSM)but that usually isn’t much good either because I discovered that most of these don’t know what to do either, except how to whip their charges into meeting the time restraints. Also when you are transfered to another department such as the ATM dept you will always be transfered to someone on the bottom of the ladder and you will probably be given another set of runarounds, remember the time limits. Remember to a bank your money is more important than you are god forbid that they have to let you use it. I could go on but You probably get the gist of this. I just wish I could have told some of my customers to get out of the bank and get into a Credit Union.
@nevergod: I am finding hard to find places that would accept a check for any amount let alone this large purchase. and because of security reasons when the merchant calls to verify if funds are available most banks no longer give that info.
Dear Dean,
The “flame war” is not in my head. You yourself are perpetuating it. Your comment that I said “irked” me has now, according to your last post “ENRAGED” me. No, it hasn’t. And accusing me of being a sock for Bill also contributed to making a heated debate into a flame war.
If your point was that TVs can be purchased online for less money than a brick and mortar store then point taken. I’m guessing that point was taken for most of us years ago but thanks for the reminder. That’s not the issue. The issue is access to money.
It seemed to me that your point wasn’t so much to save Bill money but to say that all the hassle he went through should be expected and is OK by you. We simply disagree there.
We have one CC (platinum)with a self-imposed limit of $1200. Our ATM allows only $300/day withdrawl – no matter what. So our solution… C A S H.
Of course making plane reservations is difficult (if you pay cash for a ticket – I think it’s $300 – you are under scrutiny as a possible terrorists).
One thing anyone dealing with banks should know: after closing hours they engage in market activites in the overseas markets by wire with your money. So far every morning it appears like magic back in your account. For now. Just one gitch in world affairs,electronics,etc., though, and millions of us will be suddenly demanding to speak to a plethora of supervisors! Sugggestion: don’t leave any more money in an account than you can afford to lose ESPECIALLY OVER LONG WEEKENDS AND HOLIDAYS. No card, account, limit is going to be available shortly with BoA into the derivative market for over $40 trillion. Fact. All the 25 major banks are exposed at over $500 trillion in derivatives and the bond market is failing that backs them.
Sort of makes that plasma t.v. seem almost a Goodwill puchase. By the way, recent Consumer Research reveals that that t.v. will run about $200 per MONTH in electricity. Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy !
@FLConsumer: He was not using it as a debit card he was using as a “check” card it is supposed to be as good as writing a check.
I have no doubts the positive comments about Commerce are sincere, even though they come from employees. As a Commerce customer, I have a different experience with the quality of their customer service. I purchased a gift card at my local branch; when the recipient tried to use it, there was no balance.
Trying to deal with this, I learned right away the gift card was really provided by some third party, not Commerce. It was extremely difficult to get through to the third-party customer service on the phone, and several attempts to remedy the problem failed.
I went into the branch–even they couldn’t get through to the Customer Service, which didn’t even give the option of holding for an operator; it went to an answering machine. (This is about 2 in the afternoon.)
It took a week and 2 visits to the branch to get things straightened out.
I had an issues with BoA one time. I had lost my debit card, which was picked up in a restaurant and held. I went back to get the card the next day, but some one had called the number on the back which cancelled the card. I had already called in and cancelled the card, and they were sending me a new one. When I received the new one I tried to activate the card, but it had already been cancelled because someone called in the card after I had it cancelled. I was going on a trip to new york in a couple days and needed access to the money. I immediately went to the BoA center to get a new card. The lady there, who later I found out was the bank manager, treated me like some dumb college kid who wasnt worth her time. Well, I am a college student, with out a lot of money. Everything was “taken care of.” When I went to with draw from the ATM the next day (sunday), the card wouldn’t work. Fed up with all the stupid games and the way the lady treated me, I went back to the bank and told them I wanted to with draw all my month and close my account. The person helping me was very nice, and i told her the story. She informed me the lady helping me with the bad attitude was the bank manager. I requested to inform the bank manager that she lost a customer. I’ve switched to USAA and never looked back. Every time I call, They treat me like I am the most valuable person in the world, Im not, and they know it, but they still treat me the best. Im avoiding BoA forever now. And after a bad experience with US Bank, doing me a “courtesy” by allowing me to overdraw and charge me $35 every time I do it, Im avoiding them too.
Maybe, BoA is just trying to avoid that the customer might ever experience a fraud.
But, having to wait so many minutes, and just to be told that there is nothing that they can do, and even worse: “Was there anything else I can help you with?”. Well, it does not speak loud of a bank that is really interested in the customer.
Certainly, if all this had happened to me, I would send a letter to the General Manager asking for an explanation and suggesting a change in the policies of BoA.
A decade or so ago, when I was in my pre-teen or early teenage years, my dad decided to spring for a big-screen TV… I remember he had to basically do a lay-away overnight on it because the limit on his card was $2000 and this was before cell phones and 24/7 national customer service lines. I don’t remember what kind of card it was.
BofA turns down a large purchase at Best Buy — I’m not so sure that’s a bad thing given some of the stories here on BB. Granted, you can spend your money how you want…
Umm…don’t they give EVERYONE PLATINUM check cards. I have one, and I have about $600 in my checking account. This guy sounds like an entitled douchbag. “I need to make this purchase…” It’s a TELEVISION. No one needs a TV that badly.
I have a question, a little off topic, but maybe someone can give me some advice… or am I bette
I am a BOA customer – i hate the bank, I only opened the account because I was moving from PA to GA last year and need a bank that had branches at both ends of the move to aid in transferring closing monies within the deadlines.
Here’s the thing – when I close my BOA account (and I definitely am closing it!), am I better off dealing with a different large bank that has all the bells and whistles, or off dealing with a local bank or credit union that has fewer, but better and more personalized service?
I have to disagree with the “use your credit card” summary in the article. Yes, for a TV, that might be sensible, but in the end, it’s the consumer’s choice how much of his/her money to spend, and on what and when.
What if it were a more critical expenditure?
My opinion on this article is that, he can use any card he wants. Who knows why he wanted to use that card.
The main focus should have been on how terrible bank of America’s service was.
I am sure there alot of people that have been impacted by bank of America.
This is my story:
I am a dissatisfied ex-client of Bank of America.
As I kept my personal accounts with BOA, and had not experienced any problems, I opened my business account with them as well. My business was doing well, and I took out a bank of America visa business card.
Shortly after, my business slowed down, as most businesses do. The business card had a balance of just over $14k. For 4 months I was not able to make a payment on the Visa card, and had no funds available in my bank of America business checking account. My Personal checking account had just over $8k and another $2k in my personal savings account. My wife had cashed out her 401k so we could pay for our daughter’s upcoming surgery.
I received a (yes just one) call from the bank of America’s collection department. They wanted to work out a payment plan. I let them know that I was just going through some difficult times and was not able to structure a repayment at this moment.
Sure there was about $10k in my personal accounts, but to me my daughter’s surgery was more important. The $10k, along with selling my car was going to cover her surgery.
Well Bank of America removed ALL the funds from my Personal accounts (both savings and checking) to payoff the business credit card.
So we called bank of America. The call was redirected to a representative of bank of America who identified himself as Tobias Thompson. He said that BOA had taken the funds to collect the debt on the business credit card. Tobias said that Bank of America had every right to remove these funds as it was in the terms of business agreement. I have read it and still can’t find where Bank of America can take money from my personal account to payoff a business credit card. We even explained to Tobias how the funds in the personal account were for our daughter’s surgery, and that is why we were not able to make payments on the business card.
They didn’t care!
I read some of the comments above, and my business was is Corporation, which is in fact it’s own separate entity. I am in the proccess of finding an attorney and fighting, this. I don’t know with what funds, but hopefully I can find one that will take my case.
Either ways, I found a way to get back at bank of America. I made a blog, and posted google ads on it. Guess who advertises on Google….. Yep you are right!
Tell your friends about our blog, this is the link ( http://www.iwontusebankofamerica.com ).
I have a BoA credit card that I have had for years (formally MBNA). I have a $14,000 credit limit. Last week I wrote a BoA check to my primary bank for $2,500. Today I receive a notice from BoA that this check was rejected by them and returned to my bank, stamped refer to maker. What is wrong with this picture? I tried to get some satisfaction from Customer Service but with no viable results from them. I am done with BoA!!! Now I have to figure out how to cover checks that I paid on this $2,500. This company is a fraud. Do notuse BoA for a credit card – they are not MBNA!
I hate to say that the whole situation could have been resolved if the merchant had called for a manual authorization as they were instucted to do so by the bank. All the other stuff is your fault for not reading that little piece of paper that they give you when you open the account called “Cardholder Agreement”. All the details are in there.
oh my, that post above is a beauty O:
Nothing like a coporation hiding behind a TOS or “Cardholder Agreement” to provide horrible service…
Not sure what is worse, the big corparations providing the horrible service or the people who think that this is a “OK” bussiness pratice…
Try using a credit card and not a debit card.
Limits are placed on your debit card account for your protection. For instance, if the debit card is stolen, you won’t lose all of the money in your account.
For a credit card, you have a bit more insurance–you have 30 days to settle and can challenge unauthorized charges.
So, if you decide to eliminate your debit card daily spending limit, you are essentially screwing yourself.
Try using some common sense before getting angry. A therapist might be able to help with some talk therapy and medication.
Realize that Bank of America is a very solvent institution. If you decide to immediately close your account because you don’t like their protective measures, be careful. Many other banks are much less solvent. Instead of being denied the transaction because there are safety limits, you might be denied a transaction because the bank is insolvent!
Or, if you actually have good credit, you could get a credit card. What kind of a fool keeps $10K in a no-interest checking account, anyway?
@ColinEspish: What kind of a fool keeps $10K in a no-interest checking account, anyway?
i was thinking the same thing.
Any debt can be dangerous. Credit is good, but only for very few smart people.
People can sign up for prepaid credit cards and debit cards even
on my site: Debit Cards