Consumer complaint received 2023-03-24
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Foreign currency exchange
Issue: Problem with customer service

Complaint:
This is an exact copy of an email I sent to a higher up within Bank of America, please do not think I am talking about you! : On XX/XX/XXXX, I ordered {$210.00} worth of Great Britain Pounds and {$210.00} worth of European Euros, with additional fees for each currency. I subsequently obtained the money from the XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX CA, location on XX/XX/XXXX ; on the day I received the currency, there were no altercations, situations, or issues with what I collected. The tellers verified my identity and the amount of money within the envelope, so we traveled back home thinking all was well. However, on the day that this message is written, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a grand total of 4 calls from specific Bank of America employees demanding that I return the currency I collected on XX/XX/XXXX because it was not supposed to be issued to me. These four calls all happened in subsequent fashion, one hour after the last, whilst I was at work. Due to my working status during the time at which the calls took place, I was unable to verify whether or not the bills I was issued on XX/XX/XXXX were indeed the bills I was supposed to collect. I did not delay resolving the matter out of ill intention, but rather a commitment to my place of employment ; I am unable to leave my workplace whenever I feel the need to, therefore I could not have possibly been able to verify the information the callers were asking of me at the time the calls were made. 

After explaining my current situation to the employee, named XXXX, sending the first call, I was continuously harassed by your workforce to strongarm me into returning the money at the very instant they requested. Not only did they speak in a harsh tone, but they resorted to pressuring me into dilemmas not appropriate for conflict resolution. All four calls carried the same message, that I was the one who had collected the money whilst knowing it was not intended for me ; that can not be further from the truth. The envelope that I received the money in on XX/XX/XXXX had no markings of identification ( no names, addresses, social security numbers, nothing ). As stated before, I bespoke and verified my identity with the tellers and they proceeded to grant me with the pounds/euros I collected on that day with zero issue. The only way in which the money could have landed in the wrong hands is if the teller mistakenly grants the customer the wrong parcel of currency ; as I said before, in the form that the money was given to me ( envelope ), I had no way of checking that the money was indeed for me. Due to these circumstances, I fail to see how this was a fault of my own, and not one of the tellers for giving me the incorrect bills. Upon intensely explaining this fact to your employees calling me on the phone, I was met with even more accusations of theft and fraud. To say that I felt berated by their instructions would be an understatement, that is no way to speak to a customer of over 25 years no matter the situation at hand. 

I am collecting these forms of currency because my son is planning to take a trip overseas with some of his classmates, one of which being the intended party for the currency I collected on XX/XX/XXXX. This classmates family ordered their own forms of currency and they arrived at the XXXX XXXX XXXX location on XX/XX/XXXX, giving them 11 days from that date to collect the pounds and euros. However, upon speaking to the intended recipient, I found out that when they arrived at the bank on XX/XX/XXXX, the tellers told them that since he did not pick up the currency on XX/XX/XXXX ( well before the allotted 11 days time ), they returned the money and it was now gone. In short, the tellers lied to them in order to cover up for their mistake in giving their money to me when I collected it on XX/XX/XXXX ; the tellers, in no fashion, told the intended party the truth about the fate of the currency they ordered. In addition to this grievance, within an invoice hastily included alongside the envelope, is all of the intended partys private, sensitive information. If I were truly a bad actor, I could have utilized this information to extract even more money from these individuals. However, since I had no reason to suspect that I was given the incorrect parcel of currency, I did not open the envelope containing the bills. I did not want to misplace them in any way until the trip is set to begin, therefore I did not catch this invoice inside of the envelope until your employees angrily demanded I verify whether or not the money was mine. I have a searing question in regards to this aspect of the situation, isnt the normal due process and diligence in leaking an individuals private information to tell them that said info has been revealed? On XX/XX/XXXX, when the intended party arrived at the bank, the tellers spoke nothing of this information discrepancy, even when they realized that they had made a critical mistake. 

Not only have your employees concealed the true impacts of this issue from the intended recipient, but they have also strained my mental well-being throughout the day to get this sorted out. As Ive said before, Ive been a customer of your band for an extraneous amount of time. I want to get this issue resolved as soon as possible, but there is no need for your employees to treat and accuse me in such a terrible fashion. Not only do I feel intensely attacked, but that my time has been wasted on something that should have been handled internally by your staff ( since it was entirely their mistake ) and not have to be done through aggravating phone conversations with callers that do not care to listen. 

I appreciate any assistance you can grant towards resolving this issue. 

End of email.

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