[legion]

Some history:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/showthread.php?threadid=282524&highlight=ank+of+America

Here's my fist draft of a letter to Bank of America:

Kenneth D. Lewis
100 North Tryon Street
Charlotte, NC 28202

Dear Ken,

My father passed away on February 2nd of this year. Unfortunately, he was a Bank of America customer.

I was named executor of his estate. A few weeks after his death, I attempted to close his account for the first time. I had to travel 150 miles to the Chicago area to visit the closest Bank of America branch. I presented a death certificate and court papers. Copies were made of these documents. I was given a cashier’s check of his account balance and told that his account was closed.

About one month later, I got a call from my father’s former landlord stating that she had received a check for $464.00 for his March rent. She told me the check was from Bank of America. I instructed her that the check was no good and she should send it back.

After facing refusal by anyone at Bank of America’s 800 number to tell me anything about why his former landlord was still getting rent checks, I made another trip to the Chicago area to attempt to figure out what was going on. I presented a death certificate and court papers again. Copies were made of these documents again. I was informed that he had an “online account” that was still issuing payments. I asked why this had not been closed on my previous trip. I was given no meaningful answer, but assured that no further payments would be issued and that the account really was closed for good this time.

Two weeks later, I received an account statement stating his account had a positive balance of $464.00. I called the 800 number, and was again refused any information and told to visit a branch, again.

I made a third trip to the Chicago area to attempt to close his account. I presented a death certificate and court papers, again. Copies were made of these documents, again. I was told that his rent check had been returned and his account was credited. I asked to close the account for a third time. I was told that fees would be assessed for his account being reopened by an automatic deposit. I explained that if it weren’t for the incompetence of Bank of America tellers in properly closing the account on the first visit, the check for his rent would never have been issued, never been returned, and the account would not have been reopened. After nearly an hour of arguing (I refused to be penalized for your company’s incompetence), the fees were finally waved. I left with a check for $464.00 and an assurance that his account was really closed for good this time.

Today I come home to a letter addressed to my father that had been forwarded to my address. I open it to discover a collection notice on behalf of Bank of America for the amount of $664.00 by NCO Financial Systems. I call them and explain that my father is dead, the deadline for filing claims on the estate is long passed, and the estate is closed. I am told this will be “noted on his account”. I believe a collection agency telling me that about as much as I believe Bank of America cares about its customers.

I call Bank of America to figure out why I got a collection notice on their behalf, and why I had not been contacted about my father’s accounts prior to a collection agency being contracted. After navigating the hellish labyrinth that is Bank of America’s 800 number, I finally get to talk to a real person. The first person I speak to cannot help me and transfers me to “the right department”. After speaking to someone (he wouldn’t give me his name), I am told that I need to fax in a copy of my father’s death certificate. I explain that you already have three copies. I ask where the $664.00 comes from, and I am told that there were checks issued for $464.00 and $200.00 after I closed the account. Why were these payments issued on a closed account? Why was I not promptly notified? Who was the $200.00 issued to? Why has no one I have spoken to in dozens of phone calls and three 150 mile trips to branches been unable to explain anything nor really close my father’s accounts?

The thing is, this situation is 100% due to a mistakes made by Bank of America. Yet I have been continually vexed and harassed by your organization because of your mistakes. How is this good customer service?

I am under no illusions that this letter will actually make it to Ken Lewis’s desk. It will be tossed in the trash by some low-level gatekeeper flunky and ignored like most complaints.

Still, Bank of America is a fundamentally flawed organization. You promise easy banking from everywhere, what you deliver is a nightmare of poorly merged systems, procedures, and employees. No one knows what is going on. No one is empowered to solve problems. All along the way I have been expected to know ahead of time what accounts my father had and how they work, rather than having it explained to me. I have been expected to tell your employees what they are supposed to do, rather than being served.

The blame lies squarely with you, Mr. Lewis. In your quest to build a large bank and line your own pockets, you have neglected, no—abused your customers. You are so far into the diseconomies of scale with your operation; I doubt you will ever recover. Bank of America is made up of a disparate collection of employees, acquired banks, and back end systems. No one knows what is going on, and trying to put everyone on the same page will cost more money than you would ever be willing to spend.

I have decided that I will never, under any circumstance, voluntarily do business with Bank of America. I will tell every person that I know what torment it is to do simple things like close an account for a deceased family member.

And still, this fiasco continues. My father’s estate has been closed. The time for filing claims against the estate has been past for nearly six months. The creditors have been paid; the heirs have gotten their inheritances. There is no provision for your extremely tardy claim to be paid. This could have all been avoided if back in February the staff at your location in Bloomingdale had closed my father’s accounts properly.

I expect this issue to be closed immediately. I do not want to receive any more letters from collection agencies. I do not want to get any more notices that my father owes money, or that his account has been reopened, or that his account was not properly closed. In short, I do not want to get any more surprises from Bank of America (other than an apology). I will be contacting my attorney shortly to explore what relief is available.

This problem has been caused by Bank of America, and it is the responsibility of Bank of America to fix it promptly.

I expect a written apology and a written plan of how this will be resolved and prevented from occurring again. I expect this to be taken care of promptly.