Consumer complaint received 2018-07-05
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: OR
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Fees or interest
Sub-issue: Problem with fees

Complaint:
I just had a very unfortunate and distressing incident with my XXXX XXXX XXXX Master Card,  operated by Bank of America. I never receive my XX/XX/2018 bill in the mail and consequently did not pay for that month. XX/XX/XXXX I just saw a late fee of {$25.00} and interest of {$14.00}. on my my XX/XX/XXXX bill which alarmed me to call Bank of America and point out a mail delivery problem. 

I always pay on time and the full amount of the bill. I never leave an unpaid balance. Accordingly, I have an excellent credit record. When a missed payment occurred before, with other cards, i would always call and speak to a rep and explain what happened. They would see my history and drop the charges and make sure this incident did not show up on my credit history as courtesy. Not so this time. 

Apparently Bank of America now has 360 degree AI phone operators who : do not understand English ; do not allow transfer to a human operator unless one makes false statements or payment promises that are not necessary ; are  incredibly rude and hang up on customers multiple times ; are incapable of making subtle distinctions that enable customers to resolve problems ; and ; essentially act as robot gatekeepers to pen customers away from any communication with this corporation. 

The Customer Service phone number listed on my XXXX bill is XXXX. One other number I found online was XXXX.I found one other Bank of America phone number to call. All phone numbers use the exact the same operator and script algo with the same off-target questions and responses filtering out my customer contact with a human operator. These automated systems can not deal with sophisticated problems, probably by design. Why would a bank not want customer contact to resolve a bill, unless it's just to make them give up and pay up? I even called a B of A branch in XXXX ... all employees busy ( understaffed? ) with no call back possible. 

At the bottom of the statement is an " Important Message '' declaring that since they have not received payment I may not use my account until it is paid. I checked my account activity online and found my current total balance and am placing a check for that amount, minus late fee and interest assessed ( because I am unable to dispute it with Bank of America ), i
n the mail tomorrow XX/XX/XXXX. 

My complaint here is the inaccessibility to Bank of America with customers. How can services be provided if the provider is dictating terms and filtering out the possibility of speaking to a Bank of America employee to resolve a problem? We hear everyday how wonderful AI is for business. But what about the other way around? Eliminating human labor to save the corporation money is not justification for incompetent business practices like the AI wall I experienced here today. This one-way business activity against consumers by financial service providers should be illegal.

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