Consumer complaint received 2023-11-21
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: NY
Product: Credit card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Overcharged for something you did purchase with the card

Complaint:
In XXXX XXXX, I purchased tickets to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  ) that was to be held in XXXX over XXXX XXXX Weekend in XXXX using my Bank of America XXXX BoA ) credit card for {$280.00}. When my statement including this purchase came in the next month ( still in XXXX ), I paid the bill in full and DID NOT owe BoA ANYTHING for this purchase. 

Come XXXX XXXX, due to multiple egregious failures on the event planners ' part, the 3-Day music festival was shut down by the City XXXX XXXX for one full day out of severe safety concerns, started hours late the second day after the event barely met the City 's safety requirements for attendees, and I was unable to get in the third day as a result of the vendor overselling tickets to the point that doors had to be shutdown extremely early by the City out of safety concerns, causing pandemonium to erupt. 

Due to these issues and issues regarding a partial refund on the purchase that the vendor had yet to fix ( i.e. I was overcharged for the initial ticket purchase ), I decided to request a chargeback through BoA. The initial claim for a chargeback was submitted to BoA on XX/XX/XXXX ( the last day of the music festival, when we ended up on the news for how poorly the festival had gone and I realized how much I had been scammed ) for the ticket purchase made in XX/XX/XXXX. However, I believe BoA has this date listed as XXXX XXXX, XXXX given that I called again on this date to provide additional updates to my claim. 

Regardless, when I submitted my claim, the agent on the phone explained that I was not the first person to call BoA requesting a chargeback that day regarding this very event. Based on her instructions, I provided all email evidence from the vendor that was sent to me, all communications sent to attendees via social media, proof of purchase and printed news articles showing the extent to which the event had been such a disaster, resulting in attendees like me being endangered and not even receiving all the three days of music festival that we had paid for. 

Following my initial claim, BoA sent me a letter on XXXX XXXX, XXXX, stating that a conditional credit had been added to my credit card account for the full amount of the purchase while my claim was investigated ( {$280.00} ). However, I can not stress this enough, that this was NOT THE CASE. A credit was NEVER granted to my credit card account. Some time after I received this letter and not seeing a credit, I called BoA again to ask for an update. The agent on the line agreed that a credit was NOT granted, despite what the letter said, and stated that he would start a new claim to put this on top of the to-do list for the Claims Dept. at BoA so that they could actually issue the credit they had stated that they had already granted to my account. This was on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. However, despite that agent 's attempts, I never got a response from the Claims Dept. regarding this missing credit nor was a credit ever granted. 

Come XXXX XXXX, XXXX, BoA sends me another letter -- this time denying my claim AND letting me know that the credit they had " granted me '' would be taken back DESPITE the fact that no credit was ever granted. And now, since XXXX XXXX, XXXX, I have had a " balance adjustment '' charge on my credit card for {$280.00} that is BoA supposedly charging me back for a credit that they NEVER gave me for a purchase that I had ALREADY paid BoA for back in XXXX. 

Starting from XXXX XXXX until last week, I have had multiple calls with BoA, each an hour or two long, trying to get someone to help me have this {$280.00} charge removed from my credit card statement as it's one thing for BoA to deny my claim but another thing entirely for them to demand I pay TWICE for a purchase I already paid them for in XXXX. Every time I call, I tell my story, the agent on the line investigates my account, AGREES that they can see on their end that this is a clear error from BoA and transfers me to a department that will then transfer me to another department because it seems that no one knows how to handle my case and I am not allowed to speak to the Claims Dept. directly despite my requests. It has gotten to the point that I get bounced to 3-4 agents before the call drops or I am given another BoA number to call and I have to call again until I eventually demand a supervisor ... only for the supervisor to tell me that they sympathize with me, AGREE that there is a clear error on BoA based on their own records because a credit WAS NEVER granted, and then apologize because they can't fix my issue as its out of their purview. 

The last time I called BoA was on the morning Wed, XXXX XXXX. That time, after almost an hour of being bounced around from agent to agent, I was finally put through to a specialist who supposedly could remove the {$280.00} charge from my statement. He took some time to dig through my account and to read through notes from previous agents regarding my case just to agree that this charge was a clear error as a credit from BoA was never granted. He said he filled out the necessary paperwork and that I should see the charge removed in 2 business days but that I should call back in 4 business days if not. It has now been 4 business days and the charge is STILL on my statement.

At this point, I can not bear another 1 hour or more phone call with multiple BoA agents who will sympathize with me but will never speak to the Claims Dept. ( the ones who may actually be able to fix my problem ). I am filing this complaint with the CFPB as a last ditch attempt to get BoA to do the right thing and remove the erroneous charge they placed on my latest credit card statement. 

Thank you for your time.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with monetary relief