This is Round 25 in our Worst Company in America contest, Bank of America vs Toys R’ Us. Vote which sucks more, inside…
Here’s what readers said when they nominated the two companies:
Bank of America:
“aka Band of Assholes in our family”
“Bank of America cost me hundreds of dollars in bogus fees plus the hassle of trying to straighten out their mistakes and then my time to change my bank accounts to a different bank. After I left them, they still rip me off for $3 each time I need to use one of their ATMs.”
“Bank of America -what do you mean my ex can still charge my credit card?! You won’t permanently close my account either?! 16.99% is NOT the lowest you can go on a credit card!”
“Between now owning Countrywide and shafting its credit card users, it’s a no-brainer.”
“For sheer wickedness in how it views its customers (or should I say serfs)”
“Bank of America. I am sick of being @$$ raped by their non-boa ATM fees. Sometimes, I go to areas (in the US) that have NO boas and I still get punished. I am sick of all their hidden fees. (NEVER get a savings account there.) Also, arbitrary rate increases? Please.”
Toys R’ Us:
“Bad prices and terrible returns policy, oh and their super rundown stores.”
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america/
STILL OPEN FOR VOTING:
Toshiba vs Microsoft
US Airways vs Washington Mutual
American Airlines vs Blockbuster
Time Warner Cable vs Radioshack
Wellpoint vs Charter Cable
Dell vs Home Depot
Sears vs Citibank
Wal-Mart vs TJMaxx
Mattel vs ATT
Capital One vs Video Professor
eBay/Paypal vs COX
Apple vs SallieMae
Diebold Vs Pfizer
MTV vs TransUnion
CompUSA vs DirecTV
Target vs Best Buy
Allstate vs Verizon
DeBeers vs 1800 flowers
Starbucks vs United Airlines
Exxon vs Crocs
Google Vs Sony
Ticketmaster vs Wachovia
Facebook vs The American Arbitration Association
Comcast vs Menu Foods
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@nikalseyn: Some of us aren’t all that concerned about that. Frankly, I don’t believe it’s a bank’s job to enforce the immigration laws. That is the government’s responsibility.
@trujunglist: Most banks charge foreign ATM fees now. It’s not just BoA (though I agree that it sucks).
BofA: Cash Deposits Post Immediately! After midnight. After we post debits. And bounce your checks. And take our fees.
BoA for that stupid “we’re gonna make lots of money” video. f them.
[www.adultswim.com]
Not only are Toys R Us not in the same league as BoA, they aren’t even playing the same game.
@dotyoureyes: You really can’t call USAA an alternative to a bank because it’s not open to everyone. USAA is an exclusive organization that is only for military personnel.
Most…lopsided…”victory”…ever…
I used to return broken video game consoles at Toys R Us when I was 9. For that I give them credit.. BOA just rips people off for no reason.. at least Toys R Us lets you know what you’re getting into.
@Buran:
“However, a bank has much more potential to cause actual harm to customers who DO have problems than a toy store does, so I voted for BofA.”
Hard to argue with that.
Okay, the few yahoos with their lacy panties in a bunch over BofA letting people w/o documentation (but cash and no credit flaws) open accounts: where in your contradictory ideology do you fit limited tyrannical powers & free market & corporations being unfettered by Washington bureaucrats so they can simply conduct their business?
And since BofA is international, why should a bank discriminate on national origin (again, when there aren’t any laws preventing it). Since when should private companies set public law?
If O’Flannery opens an account in Cork then makes a deposit in Stockton, what entrails is a bank employee supposed to examine to figure if he’s a tourist, a visiting businessman or an Irish person overstaying his welcome.
Whoops sorry: White skin. He gets a pass. But let’s say he’s REALLY tan. Or (gasp) Hispanic.
Why don’t the number of internal contradictions whizzing around in your head cause you to spin around and levitate off the ground?
When my kids went into Toys R Us to use the gift cards they received for Christmas, one of the cards wouldn’t go through and the manager insisted that it must be because the card had already been used and my 8-year old was trying to perpetuate some sort of fraud, despite the fact that other customers in the store were having the same issue. We asked them to hold the toys he had carefully selected until we could call the corporate office, which they agreed to do. Called corporate to learn that the processing system was totally out of whack (but no apologies forthcoming), and returned later in the day to find the toys that were supposed to be held? All stuck back on the shelf. The manager saw us and comically scurried off in the opposite direction, in order to avoid having to apologize for making my kid cry. HATE.
Ugh, BofA is a complete joke. I switched to HSBC a year ago and I am very happy with my decision. BofA charges you death, and their high yield interest rate is a joke.
At least I can that the branch manager at my branch was awesome, and closing the account wasn’t a hassle, except they charged me a $2 fee.
Actually, the worst toy store in America is this place.
PSSST! BoA! nice try, but its gonna take more than a few employees clicking away at their computers to try and balance this poll out. A for effort though
Band of Assholes is right. We briefly had a BOA credit card, but I quickly sized up this was a stupid move on my part and cancelled it. Got a relative in the business of cyber security at an international level and I asked her afterwards “what’s up with BOA?” Without hesitation she said, “Besides PayPal, the least amount of interest and budget spent on securing their platform. Get Away From Them.”
There’s a difference between running a company poorly (T’RS) and being a giant hulk pos company that will wreck you if anything doesn’t go 100% smoothly (BoA).
Vote BoA! That’s a vote for America!
Say, Ben, just how long are the polls going to be open on these things anyway?
No contest. Bank of America is the very definition of evil.
i worked at toys r us for a year when i was 17. it was hell. they sell your information to telemarketers because they’re desperate.
this one time, i found a toy on the ground that obviously belong to some kid who was in the store. it didn’t look dirty, but it didn’t have a tag or anything. i brought it up to the lost and found, and my manager literally said ‘if no one claims this by the end of the day ill just put a price on it and sell it’. ew. im NEVER entering that store again.
Someone at the consumerist has leet photochopping skills.
BoA for the easy victory, its like a MLB team playing a college team.
@Davan:
It looks like this matchup needs to be added into the worlds most one sided fistfights category.
Consumerist, will these matchups be placed into brackets soon?
Thankfully never had to deal with BoA. However, TRU is the only place I can go and find product that has been on the shelves for 5 years, doesn’t look like it has moved from its initial peg, let alone touched at all, and never ever been discounted to try to shift.
I’m shocked that Toys R’ Us has actually garnered 8% of the votes.
BTW – as to Toys R Us, we had a little insight into Corporate-Think recently out here on the edge of Oil Shale Country …. Toys had a modestly sized store in Grand Junction, Colorado for about eight years. It was a big deal when they opened their store, because Grand Junction has never had much of an economy out here on the edge of Utah. Emblematic of boom and bust cycles. Despite a tough economy in that area, Toys R Us opened in Grand Junction and soldiered on for about a decade.
January of 2006, Toys closed this store. Along about March of 2006, the Oil Bidness came to Western Colorado like the Huns storming Rome. Halliburton, Schlumberger, you name it, the oil and gas business went from sleepily poking along to an explosion of activity rivaling a pool of gasoline and a lit road flare. The town went from roughly 40,000 to something close to 160,000 in the Valley in a year and a half. Instead of $6 an hour, average blue collar folks were now earning $25 hour and up with the oil services industry. $$$ are flowing through Western Colorado like a dam burst somewhere.
And Toys R Us closed up shop mere moments ahead of the bonanza. In a region now flooded with poor impulse control workers with their Carhartt pockets stuffed with oil business paychecks.
Says something about corporate-level insight.
BOA is right up there with Microsoft.
My BOA troubles started in a little state called Rhode Island. Pre-1984, the largest bank in RI was called Industrial National. In 1984, they change to Fleet. Now anybody in Rhode Island would tell you never bank with Fleet. Awful fees, etc.. etc..
Fleet in the early-mid 90′s then buys Bank of Boston become FleetBoston which then buys Shawmut and host of whole other banks. And then finally gets bought out a few years back by BOA. Geez, I thought Fleet was bad after they took over my Bank of Boston (or was it BayBank account).
BOA made them (FleetBoston) seem like my local friendly credit union.
I never shop at Toys R Us, but I do bank at BoA and I hate em. My wife is the only thing keeping me from closing our account.
Take that Band of Assholes! Raising that rate to 20.99% from my nice MBNA 7% – we’ll see you in the Final Four of the Worst!!
Late to this particular voting party, but of course it’s BofA.
Every time I would desposit a check, they would clear it in the branch only to put it back on hold at midnight. I escaped them by moving to a city where they’re not around, but even then they held on to my relocation check for EIGHT business days!
PNC Bank has non-local checks cleared in 2…