Consumer complaint received 2019-08-19
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem accessing account

Complaint:
Hi,I have been a PNC bank customer since XXXX, when i was a New Jersey resident. In XXXX, i moved outside the US but maintained my checking account with PNC, which i have accessed regularly via their web-based platform (https://www.pnc.com/en/personal-banking.html). In XX/XX/XXXX, i tried to access my account the same way as usual but got rejected by the system. Since PNC strictly insist to only communicate in writing through their secured communication channels (emails and chat), which was then unavailable to me, the only way for me to get in touch was over the phone. I looked up for an international toll free number on PNC website and found one on their customer care webpage (https://www.pnc.com/en/customer-service.html) under the "Personal Banking Account" section. I was obliged to call them at two occasions XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX) to reinstate the remote access to my account. Given, the instructions provided on PNC website ("Calling from outside the United States? General Customer Service can be reached by calling International Collect, XXXX, to help you with your existing PNC accounts") I expected these calls to be at no charge to me. However, when i received the phone bill from my local phone operator i discovered i had been charged for an aggregate amount close to $XXXX (XXXX euros). In XXXX, I called my local operator, who confirmed that they had effectively been charged themselves by the US phone operator, as if the number was actually not toll free. My local phone operator took the initiative to call PNC Technical Service directly to understand the root cause of the problem. In parallel I contacted PNC Customer Service. See below for a full transcript of my interactions since July 30 using the secured email tool on the PNC web-based homebank platform.The responses i received from PNC Customer Service were vague, general and did not address my questions. My last message on XX/XX/XXXX has been left unanswered so far. As far i know, the investigations from my local operator directly with PNC have not yet yielded any response either. This silence suggests that PNC have no intention to provide any specific response nor identify clear responsibilities for the issue, and are happy to leave me with a $XXXX phone charge, incurred to solve a problem they created in the first place.I hope you will be able to help me out.Thanks,TRANSCRIPT[XX/XX/XXXX: Me] Good morning, This quick note to let you know that my local cellphone operator "XXXX" has just informed me that they took the initiative to contact PNC Mrs "EmployeeName1" to clarify payment responsibility for a series of phone calls made to PNC International toll-free number XXXX XXXX XXXX. Indeed, at two occasions XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/XXXX I was obliged to call PNC to solve a an issue in connection to my online access and subsequently got charged for my calls in spite of it being advertised as international toll free. Would really appreciate if you could be so kind to follow this up for me. Many thanks by anticipation. XX/XX/XXXX: Bank] Dear Mr "XXXX", Thank you for contacting us through the Secured Message Center!  I would like to first apologize for the circumstance. All though we have provided the toll-free number, we would not be responsible for the fees that are being charged by the phone company as this is not something we are requesting to be charged. I will certainly file feedback in regards to this to ensure we work towards providing a better experience in the future. Signed: "EmployeeName2"[XX/XX/XXXX Me:] Dear "EmployeeName2", Many thanks for your response, which I have carefully read. I fully understand that XXXX dollar may be immaterial for a large company like PNC, but I hope you would understand in turn that it is a sizeable amount of money for an individual customer, so please kindly allow me to follow up on your answer. The fact of the matter is that my decision to call the XXXX XXXX XXXX number was solely based on my faith in PNC website s representation that this is an international toll free number provided by PNC. Such a representation is obviously a contractual commitment from PNC in favour of all their customers, i.e. a commitment that these calls are always charged to PNC and never to their customer. It follows that PNC must have taken adequate arrangements to fulfil this commitment and whenever something goes wrong, PNC must be concerned by such a failure to fulfil their commitment, and cooperate in good faith to help clarify what went wrong. This the only thing I am, as a longstanding PNC customer, kindly and formally requesting at this stage : your help to go to the bottom of this and understand what went wrong. My first question would be: could you please kindly confirm whether the international toll free service XXXX XXXX XXXX was effectively a service I was entitled to as a PNC customer at the time I made these calls in Spring XXXX, i.e. that this service had not been deactivated for my account, e.g. for the same reasons which led to the deactivation of my online access. As a second question at this stage, I would like to ask you if you have succeeded in contacting Mrs "EmployeeName1" and if you have been informed of the outcome of any interaction she may have had with my local Telecom service provider, named "XXXX" and based in "XXXXCountryName"? Please be sure that I really do appreciate your help in this.[8/06: Bank] Dear Mr "XXXX", Thank you for contacting us through the Secured Message Center! I can definitely understand your concern, I would feel the same way, Mr "XXXX". Although we have the International number to provide if you are out of the country and you are requesting to speak to someone in regards to a issue with your debit, there may be a fee to for the international#. You can also contact our customer service department directly to avoid the charge as well. After further review, I do not show a request to contact "EmployeeName1" at this time, I do apologize for the inconvenience this may have caused. I would recommend contacting us back directly via chat or customer service to further review your account or any other questions or concerns to make sure your issue is resolved in a timely manner. Signed: "EmployeeName3"XX/XX/XXXX: Me] Dear "EmployeeName3", Thanks for your empathetic response. Your explanations do not seem unfortunately to make a lot of logical nor legal sense to me. The words ...International toll free number... are specifically meant to express the ability for PNC customers who are out of the country to contact the bank with respect to account-related issues WITHOUT being charged for the international#. Otherwise it would simply be called, well, a standard phone number. Furthermore, at that time, i could not contact your customer service department directly to avoid the charge, since the issue was precisely concerning my being abruptly cut-off from online access and therefore from all email communications with PNC, since the bank does not allow for email exchange outside of their secured platform. I know for a fact there has been contact taken by my local phone operator directly with PNC and I will allow for some more time to leave a chance for that channel to work out. In the meantime, i have a question for you: is there a mediation procedure within PNC, like an ombudsman, or any person who can serve as a conciliator in case of apparent deadlock, which could be called upon?

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation