Consumer complaint received 2023-11-02
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
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:
Amount : {$990.00} The debit card used for this transaction was in the possession of the account owners and it is unknown how the card number was stolen. This charge is the result of fraudulent activity and Bank of America has failed to investigate this matter in a satisfactory manner ; however, Bank of America deemed this to be a valid charge without any evidence to back their decision. 

Please see the following : 1. This charge was not made by either account owner. This statement was made to Bank of America representatives on XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 
2. The email address for this order is not the email address of the owner nor is it the address Bank of America has on file. 
3. The email address listed for the business ( XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) on the invoice is based in XXXX. The actual email address for XXXX XXXX is XXXX XXXX. XXXX XXXX is an established business that has been in operation for 75 years. This invoice is invoice # XXXX Bank of America can call XXXX XXXX to confirm that they are not on receipt # XXXX after 75 years in operation. 
5. The payment was withdrawn on XX/XX/2023. The initial phone call made to Bank of America to dispute the charge by the account owners occurred on XX/XX/2023. The invoice was created on XX/XX/2023. This invoice was only created in response to our initiation of the dispute process. 
6. This payment was made via XXXX. XXXX does not have a XXXX account for payment nor do they accept payment online. It is not possible to pay XXXX through a secure online system. 
XXXX. XXXX XXXX is a heating, air conditioning, refrigeration, and ventilation company. They do not sell goods. They operate out of Virginia and do not do business in California, where the account owners reside. The receipt shows the purchase of home tiles. They do not sell home tiles. There is no proof of delivery of the claimed purchased goods. 

We are highly dissatisfied with the lack of effort provided by the Bank of America fraud department. In addition, the level of investigation that we, the account owners, had to exert to discover some of this information was the responsibility of Bank of America ; however, it appears as if the Bank of America fraud department did not conduct any investigation prior to making their decision. The lack of attention to detail in checking the most basic of things ( i.e., account owners email address ) is negligent. The fact that Bank of America believes that {$990.00} is such a minor amount of money that can be stolen from their customers without concern is appalling.

On the behalf of Bank of America, we have conducted a brief investigation where we were able to collect some information for Bank of America. Please see the attached document from the accounting department at XXXX XXXX. This is a statement of fact that neither account owner made this purchase and that they do not sell the items listed on the fraudulent receipts. A simple internet search populated a phone number for XXXX XXXX at the physical address listed on the receipts provided. We have listed it here ( XXXX ) for Bank of America as Bank of Americas fraud department has been previously unable to locate the business in question and conduct their own simple investigation by contacting the vendor. In turn, we demand that Bank of America provide us the following t
o defend their investigative process : 1. Shipping and delivery address of the product claimed to be purchased. Proof of delivery that the product was delivered to the residence, business, or home owned by the account owners. Signature of the purchaser that matches a signature Bank of America has on file, identification of the receiver of the product, and/or any item that would be constituted as proof by a court of law. 
XXXX. Proof that XXXX XXXX has sold and/or delivered the product to one of the account owners. Documentation from XXXX XXXX that they have sold the product listed on the receipt to the account owners OR that they have sold this item and purchase was possible online or through XXXX. 
XXXX. PDF receipt created at the time of the charge. XXXX provides this when the charge is created and emails it to the purchaser automatically. 
XXXX. IP address of the purchaser of the product listed on the receipt. Proof that it is connected to the account owners. 
XXXX. Proof that the owner of the Square account that extracted the funds is connected to XXXX XXXX at XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX in XXXX, VA XXXX As the Bank of America fraud department did not investigate, we now consider this to be theft sanctioned by Bank of America. If Bank of America attempts to hold us, the account owners, liable for the fraud committed, Bank of America must prove that we, the account owners, were either negligent or ourselves committed the fraud. Otherwise, return our money. Immediately.

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