Consumer complaint received 2020-07-18
Company: BANNER CORPORATION
State: WA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account
Sub-issue: Transaction was not authorized

Complaint:
Banner Bank here in Washington state in the XXXX, WA area is refusing to refund for a fraudulent charge in which a company refused to honor it's refund policy, despite the request for refund happening timely. 

The company stole our money, TAKING our refund rather than issuing it back to us, then closed its doors and disappeared. And Banner Bank is now complicit! We already closed our account after they said they were not going to protect us, but now they ( Banner Bank ) are calling and trying to collect these funds! 

Here is what happened : We purchased nearly {$1500.00} of hotel from a company called XXXX, which is a company similar to XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, etc. We had planned on attending the XXXX XXXX in XXXX XXXX. 

But of course then Coronoavirus happened. We had up until 14 days until the 1st day of hotel to get a refund. We contacted the company more than 30 days prior to our trip and within the refund time-frame. 

However, we got no reply. Days later, the company and its expansive website, telephone # 's, emails, contact forms, and more, were replaced with a single page that said ( and still says ) : " XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX the " Company '' ) of XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, hereby announces that On XX/XX/2020, it submitted to the XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX an application for order to open proceedings regarding the Company. 

Such order is the XXXX equivalent of the U.S. law 'Chapter XXXX " Trying to call their phone # 's I got a message stating that they have been disconnected and are no longer in service. They would not reply to emails initially. Now emails to them have an " auto-reply '' that says they are no longer doing business and to " call the hotel ''. 

I called the hotel, who said THEY ALREADY REFUNDED THE ORIGINAL VENDORS. They advised that EVERY third-party company was immediately refunded upon the COVID19 shutdown. 

So, the company was refunded, kept our money and ran! Despite this, Banner Bank refused to credit this despite this clearly being fraud, and us clearly being within the " refund zone ''. 

When I threw a fit, they opened a " 2nd Review '' only to deny us AGAIN, saying the company told them they intend to refund us but the issue is on the HOTEL 's side. They said due COVID19, they can't get a reply from the XXXX  ( that's the XXXX  hotel ). This is an out-and-out lie. 

As stated, the XXXX said ALL third-party company 's like XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, etc, were ALL immediately refunded shortly after the nationwide quarantine initially began. 

We provided thorough documentation including our timely requests to cancel and refund. We advised of these conversations with hotels and they could easily go to XXXX and see what their website says. 

There are countless reviews online now as well of hundreds of other people reporting the same. People all over the USA have had these scumbags from XXXX steal their money, keeping refunds after they're issued rather than passing the refund back to the consumer. 

Attached you will find XXXX XXXX  statement ( they own XXXX XXXX  where we were staying ) that ALL parties were refunded automatically upon the nation-wide quarantine. Attached you will also see my vouchers, emails, timely request for refund, my refund policy, and more. The refund policy is specifically at the bottom of the voucher.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation