Bank of America review: privacy assist scam 53

I sent a wire transfer from Bank OF America Research Parkway Branch, Orlando, Florida 32826 on 10/10/2007 to Trinidad, and to this date the recipient has not received it neither has their bank any information about the transfer, I faxed my wire transfer receipt to the bank & the recipient, & confirmed all the information I gave to Bank Of America was correct, but still they have not been able to transfer the money, & the money is not in my account - this is all my savings. I have been to the branch several times, I called their wire transfer department but they are pointing fingers at each other - the wire transfer department which I called on [protected] said I should speak with the branch I sent the transfer from, the manager Mr Evans & the assistant manager Ms Patel is saying it is in the hands of the wire transfer department. This is very very very bad business, my relatives needed this money for medical costs, I have to keep chasing these people, and all I get is bad customer service & serious runaround for my own money. This transfer should have only taken approximately 3 days, it is almost a month now & nothing!

Why are you wiring money to Trinidad?

http://419eater.com

wow, I do wire internationally too. It is scary. Get an ATTORNEY RIGHT AWAY AND SUE THEM>>>>

What you need to do is take it up with the receiving bank, most likely your money is sitting at that bank and might have been deposited into someone else's account. Unfortunately once a wire is confirmed sent out of the U.S its close to impossible to bring it back.
The only way you can get it back is if the receiving back has mismatched information and are honest enough to reject the wire as a mismatched otherwise ?

i have filed a wire transfer from boa to wellsfargo but due to limited information wellsfargo rejected my wire transfer and bank of america didn.t let me know about my status of wire transfer. later on when my beneficiary told me he hadn't received money i found that my transfer was cancelled.
bank of america didn't informed me about my wired transfer and they charged me 35$ for wire transfer that's really great what a good service and just charging 35$ really very cheap and excellent service. i tried to know the reason and it took me almost 4 hours to reach the person with the information and i lost 4 hrs a day talking with BOA machines . that was another good aspect of their customer relationship. well thank you BOA for taking good care of your customer.

Bank of America is like Bank of ###. Since last week (Oct14th 2008) I have spent several hours each day to call the Bank of America track my wire transfer from China. Every BOA representative told different story about my incoming transfer, I don't know which story I should listen to. I am really sicking tired of calling them, they don't get the problem solved right away. They always told you which way you need to check and wait. And now I am still no idea where my money is because the bank in China hasn't received any returning money from BOA.

WOW i need money emergency... my parents have sent me money for thxgving but until now my money is not here.. i called them every day they told me to check for the sander bank... so i did check with them and they say the money has been sent and everything is okay... any idea guys on wat to do ? i called the boa guys and they keep passing me here and there... im sick of it like ### man... can someone help me please...

I discovered now, after 4 hours being bounced from hotline to hotline, that they set international exchange rates some 4 to 5% different from normal exchange rates. After 4 hours, they tell me that there is no commission but my international transfer costed me 600 dollars (over less than 16, 000). On top of it, there is no way to verify if that is really the exchange rate they quoted on that day as they only give you the one for the day, which of course looks great.
Not sure if this is legal, but somehow I have my doubts. I am furious.

With the technology we have these days, it is absurd for anything like this to happen. And then for the sending institution to take such a cavalier attitude and even charge the person they have fouled things up for. Absurd and appauling

Gene Kelly

I discovered a charge for BAC PrivacySource on my Bank of America Visa card on 3-14-06. I called BoA Visa Customer Service and asked to dispute the charge and they refused to allow me to do so. They only want to connect you to BAC PrivacySource (which is a Bank of America product licensed to Trilegiant Corp.)

I have been using BOA for a long time (actually the only bank I used so far) but recently found that they are vary bad when it comes to wire transfer. I had to spend several days on the phone talking to a bunch of customer service representatives without getting nothing done. I am on the verge of losing my deposit on mortgage down payment for the house I bought here in Canada thanks to amazing BOA wire transfer system.

I wanted to wire tranfer money to a bank in Poland, went to a branch of BOA, filled out a form - provided all the information - Bank name, account #, SWIFT #. Supposedly, BOA cannot wire my money to the bank in Poland. They are requesting that I provide them with the name of the intermediary bank in NY. My bank in Poland has never heard of such request. By the way, it is a reputable European bank, and they said they NEVER had any problems - people witred moeny from banks all over the world, without any problems. Bank of America - you are one of the biggest banks in this country - why is such a simple transaction such a BIG problem? I will have to take my money from my account, and wire it from some place else. And I am serously considering of switching to a different bank.

i am a boa customer, closing out my account at the end of this week. i am so disgusted with their banking practices and their lack of concern for their customers...I was previously employed by BOA and I know how little their customers mean to them from the inside, however, since the recession, things have gotten worse, and their only concern is generating revenue off the backs of their customers at whatever cost..it is frustrating and disgusting...so i am not surprised at the wire transfer problems or any others...your best bet is to move your money elsewhere...

I read your above statement with interest. My father is 84, recently had open-heart surgery, has a dementia diagnosis for which he is on medication. He has never had a Bank of America account. He does have a credit card thru his local bank which he never uses. Recently, when writing out his bills, I found a credit card bill with a charge for Privacy Assist in the amount of $12.99. As far as I can tell, this was the first charge for this. I immediately called the number to inquire. Like you, I was given the run around by everyone I talked to. I wound up having to call the third number given to me and finally talked with a lady at Bank of America. I explained the situation. She said she would have to speak with my father. He was sitting next to me and I handed him the phone. She asked his telephone number which he could not give to her so I prompted him. She asked to speak to me. She told me that she couldn't speak to him because I was giving him the answers. I explained that I am his Power of Attorney. She then gave me an address and said to write to this address giving the details of the situation, my contact details, and a copy of the POA. Like you, no one could tell me how my father was signed up for this service. Also, like you, I have a credit card with the same bank my father uses and no one has ever contacted me about this service and similar charges have never showed up on my credit card statements. I agree that BoA is targeting the elderly. I have composed a letter and have sent it via certified mail to the address provided, which happens to be in Chantilly, Virginia. We will see what happens. I want to resolve this issue without having to pay for an attorney to handle it. I am also writing to my Congressman and Senator and suggest that anyone in this situation do the same. This attack on the vulnerable has to be stopped!

I htink its more absurd that there are Bank of America ads on this page!

I recently lost my husband and had been less than attentive to our checking accnt. info as it arrived each month. My husband was ill and I was his caretaker and as long as the $$ in the accnt. proved ok. I was comfortable. I've had time to go over the accnts. online and realized that we had been charged $12.99 a month for 7 months and no one could explain at BofA. They referred me to Privacy Assist phone no. which I called and explained as best I could what I perceived to be $12.99 withdrawal for 7 months and I did not know how or why. The very kind woman explained it was to protect the SS of my late husband...still not a satisfactory answer. I asked to speak to her supervisor in hopes of having some explanation. No one would get on the phone with me. Instead, I was asked to FAX a death cert. to them. I replied this was not something I could/would do. I am presently on crutches, this would be a burden and I was not comfortable with this resolution. Since they withdrew the $$ why should I have to prove with a death cert. that he was gone. I was not happy and when the woman came back on she asked for his SS and DOB which I gave her and asked when I could see the refund. She stated they would refund 6 months fee and it would take several statements on my B of A accnt. for it to sho. I thanked her personally and stated this seemed fradulent to me and I was very unhappy with the bank.

If this is a preview of B of Am. new policies, I will be changing my bank. How dare they promote this type of scam.

I have a same exprience with my father's credit card account. He had been ill and not used his credit card for a long time but $12.99 monthly fee was started for several month without his knowledge. Becausee he does not speak English well, I guess they might take advantage of it over phone. When my mother visited BofA couple month ago and asked about the charge, they told her that she needed to pay the amount without explaining what it is. After finding out the charge, we closed the account. Even closing the account was not easy. I was translating for my mom and told her what to say. The BofA customer service told me I could not told her what to say. Worst bank!

Your claims are outrageous. Obviously you all should be more careful and pay attention to what you are doing. If you care so much then you would have noticed the charges earlier. It seems to me that you didn't pay attention to the fine print. Also banks have voice authorizations and confimations. I no doubt need to remind everyone it wouldn't be a problem if they would PAY ATTENTION.

I just received a call from BOA about this totally unnecessary expensive service. Bottom line, if you agree to have the stuff sent to your home, you agree to the $12.99 monthly charge. Only if you remember to call them within 30 days to cancel, you will be stuck with it.
All within the legal limits by voice authorization. Just do not agree to have the crap sent to your home. Like I did. Or just hang up the phone when they start their spiel about private assistance on identity theft. If you really worry about identity theft, most home insurance policies will accommodate for a lot less than the greedy unscrupulous banks.
And yes, I am a senior citizen, but still with a very sound mind though and adequate comprehension of English.

In agreement with snookers, I was contacted by Privacy Assistance as well with the same condition that I would be enrolled in the program at an additional 12.99 per month charge on top of my existing home loan payment and that to cancel I had to wait for the statement with the charge to arrive...telling the representative on the phone that I didn't want to enroll was not an option.

Consequently, I had to spend 25 min. of my day, with three transfers to the "correct department" to get the Privacy assist removed.

If you advertise a product I might be interested in, I will contact you. Do not enroll me in something and then make it my job to undo it.

I totally agree with you, don't bank with them! They told me that I enrolled that service when I activated my credit card, thks so much lier and I lost my 12.99$ for nothing. When I call and cancel that service, they threat me like "you will become a victim, some household lost their 24, 000$ for the thelf cause they did not use this service! Are u sure don't need our support ?" OMG that's make me LOL look like they are clowns haha.
DON'T ...BANK OF AMERICA !

1.800.516.9561, they transfered me 3 times, through many departments just to cancel 1 service. SUCK !

wow you guys are so lame. The people who work for privacy assist knows the steps of how you are enrolled and they have the authorizations shown how you enrolled. its not their fault ur [censored]es hit the same button over to agree for the service. Its not their fault you dont know how to say no. bottom line. if you agree to a service, thats your decision. This is why America is so messed up greedy ignorant people like yourselves. People are struggling to find jobs. They are just doing theirs. Just like you do yours. So if you dont want it dont authorize it they are partners with BOA they cant look into your bank account anyways. Learn all of thhe facts before you start talking trash... Thanksss.

and lovelylady is clearly perfect when reading fine print! and she must not work hard for her money either...c'mon people stop being angry about people stealing your hard earned money! "[censored]" is the word for people that don't take allllll of these complaints seriously! something is not right with boa and thanks to these comments i will not be taking my business there! fyi citizensbank is no better! stay away from them also!

lovelylady is very wrong.
You NEVER blame the victim. A girl walks a dark ally and someone rapes her... her fault?
She should not have walked there?
I do not think so.

By any definition:
Manipulating and making people do things they would not do if they understood the consequences is dishonest.
Possible it is the way this society works, but it should not... and then it does not very well at all.

Karl

i do not agree with the WAY in which lovelylady was offering her opinion, but she is correct in the content. the bottom line is that you need to know 100% of what you're doing. you can't just get mad later and say someone should have told you. it's unfortunate, but true :(

Really 12.99 a month compared to rape? What are you talking about? Not even a close comparison! Are we really trying to say that there was never any indication you had the service. I have the service and it does well. Of course I listened to the recording and what it said. Ask a BOA rep to explain the service then call the privacy assist repand ask them. You'll find that the BOA reps are not properly schooled as to what the privacy assist does for thier customers. Think about this... How many illegal aliens do we have in this country? Who's SS# do you think they are using? What happens to the open accounts they have like lights, water, rent, etc. when they get deported. It goes on the SS# associated with that account. Really, do we honestly think we are safe from it happening because we stay at home. Everything and i mean everything is accessible through the web whether we put it there or not. There is always going to be someone to hack it. I prefer to know when it happens instead of the ever-most popular phrase..."That wasn't me or That is not my account"... Do you honestly think a creditor believes that?

Wow, BOA is really wearing their customers down with this privacy cr*p. I got 5 calls in the past 2 days trying to trick me into saying "yes" to getting the free credit report while at the same time roping you in for a $12.99 a month service fee. I was not that civil anymore after the fifth call and screamed a very loud "NO" into the phone. They are getting more persistent than bill collectors.
Still when you get a call like that, you have to listen very carefully(lots of us do not do that). They will always start with free this and free that. Unless you say "yes" to the free credit report(which is just a complimentary free one month trial), you also said yes to the future, not free, monthly service charge. Canceling it after wards, will require some hoop jumping plus another lecture.
While telemarketing is not new, banks have an advantage. People do not realize they are buying something because they do not have to give their credit card number, bank has it already. Unfair playing field IMO.

I have to say that some of the users commenting just appear to be flat out 'moles', most likely marketing reps or just employees of "Privacy Assist" or BoA. I agreed to have the packet sent because the original spiel was so long and she told me she was sending me the information in written form. I received it and realized she had signed me up so I called the very day I received the packet to cancel. I have now been charged one month for the service. I called BoA credit card dept and was told I would have to call the Privacy Assist dept to handle that. I was told by the PA rep that I had called on Feb 28th but the records indicated I called to say I wanted to keep the service which was a flat out LIE. I told him I wanted the service canceled immediately and the $12.99 charge removed from my account. He told me he couldn't remove the charge because it was for services I had received. I explained that if the charge was not removed from my account or if the service was not canceled and I received another charge, I would cancel the card itself. He said, basically, that that was another departments problem. I told him I'm sure that department would still be interested to know that the reason I cancelled my card was because Michael from Privacy Assist refused to honor the original terms of the agreement that the former rep also refused to honor. I should also state that Michael would read from the sales spiel script NON-STOP without answering direct questions or my request to speak with a supervisor. He was never rude out-right, he just didn't respond and kept reading the script. I have absolutely no confidence that the matter is resolved. I doubt the charge will be removed due to my interaction with this rep today nor will the service be canceled. I have, therefore, reported the entire incident to the Better Business Bureau and I highly recommend the other people having issues with Privacy Assist do the same. The more complaints they receive the more pressure will be put on BoA and Privacy Assist.

I've had a similar experience with my own personal account. Someone should intervene and put a stop to this fraudulent practice. Under no circumstance should anyone deal with BOA!

They did the same thing to my credit card. I also had to fuss at them to get the money back. You have to watch them every step of the way. They are theives.

I was taken in by this same scam. A man called my home in July informing me that he was calling from FIA card services, I verified if this was a sales call and he lied that he was not selling and said that he was from the card services. He said in these days there are lot of identity thefts and seems that there was a hack into a batch of creditcard numbers at thier end. They were sending out the credit reports and i was to check if there were any misuse of my account. I confirmed if there is any charge for getting the credit report and he said that there was no charge and they sending it out to all people whose account maybe compromised. So they they had reason to believe my card account could have been misused and that they needed to send me the credit reports so I could make sure that my account was ok. He then proceed to tell my credit card number and he asked to confirm my social before he could proceed further. i confirmed my social. He then asked if he could record what we were saying and if i agreed to do this. I said yes. He then proceeded to very quickly read some terms and notices. I halted him saying he was too fast and i did not understand most of it. He lied that its part of his job to read out and make sure i heard it. He was pretty glib and kept on talking. I halted him again and he was pretty irritated and kept on talking.

I immediately went online and monitored my credit card account for a couple of weeks. No credit reports were mailed to me. Today Aug 14th i seen my credit card statement and there is a charge $12.99 a couple of days back by Privacy Assist.

I called Privacy Assist to check what was going on. The lady on customer assist was trying to convince me that it was a good deal to have protection. I said i m not interested. For the last so many years I have been regularly solicited to buy credit protection, and i never brought it. I then proceeded to tell the lady that i did verify if the guy who called was selling and how the guy lied. She then offered to lower the monthly charge if it was too high. It was like she did not understand that i did not want the service period. After much annoyance and petty talk she finally said that she will discontinue.

I asked for her to refund the money charged and she point blank refused, saying it is my fault that i accepted and BofAmerica customers wer given 30 days...it was like she never heard anything i told her about the guy lying and conning me. I finally told her i will lodge complaints. I told her in the first instance i got the card from Wachovia and not BofA. Secondly i never agreed to the service and finally i never got any credit report too. On and on it went, i was really getting angry. I told her to verify the call made by her rep and she had no right to call me a liar. After much trauma she finally agreed to refund the money.

I agree with earlier comments that 1. They are deliberately scaring someone with a lie so they can steal from the average man and this is so wrong. 2. Giving thier dishonest affiliates my credit card number and asking to verify last four digits social security number is also wrong. 3. The customer assist person tried her dammest to hook me to the service and refused to refund $12.99.

It is sad to hear that the USA employees at customer assist have to work in such pitiable circumstances. My heart goes out to them and urge them to leave as soon as they get better oppurtunities. It will not be easy in this economy. But harassing clients or being a fraud is not the better alternative.

For the most part the majority of customer assists call centers are outsourced and the people there are least concerned about service to Americans. I sometimes am inclined to beleive that they take deliberate pleasure in stickin it to Americans. I hope to be wrong in this, as the only ones to blame are other greedy Americans who outsource in the first place just to fatten thier bonuses.

BTW I agree that "tigereyze" has a vested interest in the company. He probably is employed by the company as PR and his job is to discrediting the folks who are complaining.

Do not trust such Corporates to be honest, or act responsibly, when it comes to this scam. They don't really care and just want your money.

I posted here before a while ago...
This is what happen since...
I complaint in writing to BOA and a month or two later I received a letter, that my money has been refunded to my credit card. Obviously in the mean time I got myself another credit card. Yet another month later, BOA sent me a check for the money in question... I cached this one ASAP.
Why am I not using my BOA credit card any longer? ... mess me around like you did and it takes a lot more than simply refunding my money before you get me back as a customer.

My advice FIGHT any which way you can.

Karl

With stories like this, this, and this, it's not hard to imagine why someone might need to kick their Bank of America problem all the way to the top of the dung heap . Here's some executive contact phone numbers:

Executive Customer Relations general line: [protected]

Nancy M. Condos
VP/ Customer Advocate
Executive Customer Relations
Office of the Chairman
nancy.m.condos@bankofamerica.com(email is bouncing)

Martha Dominguez, Executive Customer Relations Specialist: [protected]

Corporate Headquarters: [protected] / [protected]
Operator: [protected] (press 0 twice)

Corporate Headquarters (Bank of America):
Bank of America Corporate Center
100 North Tryon Street
Charlotte, North Carolina 28255

You can always write the CEO:
Mr. Brian Monahan

100 N. Tryon Street.
Mail Code NC-[protected]
Charlotte, NC 28255

There is a big class action going on against BofA right now because of this product... Too many people all have the same problem! Info at http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20101021006657/en/Glancy-Binkow-Goldberg-LLP-Announces-Class-Action

Check this one out: i am a small design company located in LA. My client out of NYC wired me a deposit of $12, 000 for a Don Julio Tequila job. Bank of America will not release the money to my company because they want Don Julio's birthdate and citizenship info! He's a bottle of tequila! It's been 4 days and hours, upon hours on the phone trying to explain to them that the information they are requesting is absolutely irrelevent. They will not release the money, but instead keep requesting this same info from my clients bank... day, after day. All the while, my client's bank doesn't even have the money anymore! It has left their account already. Which means BOA has it and simply will not give me, my company, MY MONEY.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INFURIATING! I am absolutely leaving this piece of [censored] bank as soon as this job is delivered.

I've contacted an attorney. She said that we would need at least 5 victims of this scam who were willing to join as named plaintiffs to file a class action suit against BoA. Please respond if you have any interest in pursuing this. thanks.

Does anyone feel as I do that the Privacy assist product is advertised as your credit report and score, when in reality it is a watered down excerpt from your actual credit report? Compare your actual report to this product and you will be amazed.

Money wire is a scam same history here with the bank name : richfield bloomington credit union from, MN

We in America have to live with these unscrupulous Corporations. Is the Congress - both Democrats and republicans looking. No -- I don, t think so. These politicians call other Governments corrupt - politicians here are the worst and majority of people ignorant of their schemes.