Consumer complaint received 2020-02-17
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: SC
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:
On XX/XX/2020 I signed up for a free month of a XXXX XXXX Premium Subscription, set to expire on XX/XX/20. At which point, I would have to pay for each month. The total for a year was set at {$570.00}. According to my documentation, should I have neglected to cancel prior to or on XX/XX/XXXX, I would have have to pay per month, not for a year up front. 

I never intended to continue my subscription, and even made a note to cancel my subscription prior to or on XX/XX/XXXX. At the time in XXXX, I had just found out that I would be losing my job at the end of XXXX, and therefore wanted to take advantage of the networking and job opportunities a month long free XXXX XXXX   Premium subscription would provide. 

For four days, I have tried to cancel my premium subscription and revert back to a free XXXX XXXX account. I have spent a handful of hours online at XXXX XXXX trying to cancel my paid account ( not CLOSE my account entirely ), as well as XXXX options to close my account. I have followed the instructions given to cancel my account by XXXX XXXX articles ; however, there is no " Cancel '' button on XXXX XXXX where indicated. When I finally found a phone number to call today ( XX/XX/XXXX ) for XXXX XXXX, there is an option 1 and 2. Both options do not lead to human beings, but direct you to go back to their website. 

I finally found a page where I could submit a claim/report. However, when I filled this out, the browser/connection refused to submit the claim. My wifi worked for other websites during this time, including other XXXX XXXX pages. It has been over an hour now since i attempted to submit a claim on their website and it still won't process. 

There is a transaction for {$620.00} pending in my Bank of America account by XXXX XXXX for what I assume is a year long subscription ( despite the fact that it is supposed to be for {$570.00} -- even though I don't want to renew at all ). I don't believe I should be charged any of this, since I have diligently tried to cancel my account since XX/XX/XXXX when it was to renew automatically. 

I got on XXXX about an hour ago to " XXXX at '' XXXX   XXXX..the only option I thought I might have to reach a human being about this transaction which I do not believe to be lawful. XXXX XXXX has clearly made it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to cancel a trial. I believe they have deliberately mislead consumers to inaccurate information in an attempt to make it impossible to cancel a paid subscription. 

I contacted my bank to see if I could dispute/halt the charge, but since it hasn't cleared yet, they can not take any action yet. 

Thank you in advance for your help and support. 

I can not afford to make this payment for a service that I never intended on using past XX/XX/20.

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 explanation