Consumer complaint received 2021-05-20
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Advertising and marketing, including promotional offers
Sub-issue: Didn't receive advertised or promotional terms

Complaint:
The Bank of America offers cash back deals from certain vendors to promote use of their credit cards. Typically, the rate might be 5 %. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received an email that offered double cash back if a purchase was made on the weekend of XXXX XXXX 2021 as a tie-in to the change to daily light savings time. One of the vendors participating in the deal was XXXX XXXX. On Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX, I ordered a notebook PC and received via email an acknowledgement of the order and an indication of an expected ship date of Monday, XX/XX/2021 and an expected delivery date of Thursday, XX/XX/2021. 

By Thursday, XX/XX/XXXX, I had not received the PC, so I checked with XXXX and there had been a screw-up in their system and the order 's processing had been delayed. The agent I spoke with handled the problem and the PC was shipped on Friday, XX/XX/XXXX and I received it on Sunday, XX/XX/XXXX. On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, the charge appeared on my credit card account. A few days later, I received a credit of 5 %, {$72.00} on my credit card account. I waited until XX/XX/XXXX and since no further action occurred to credit me with the additional 5 %, I contacted the Bank of America. 

I spent over an hour on the phone with an agent who was trying to help me. I repeatedly offered to send a copy of the order and a copy of the email with the double cash back offer, but the agent said it was not necessary. The agent indicated that the bank would follow up. 

By XX/XX/XXXX, there had been no change on the credit card account and I had not heard from the Bank so I called again. This agent apologized and said that typically it takes up to 30 days to process a problem and that she would enter a notation in the complaint to have someone contact me by Monday, XX/XX/XXXX. By Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I still had not heard anything so I called again. This agent apologized and said that the original trouble ticket did not include a specific reference to the double cash back reference so she made a new record and said I might have to give them another 30 days to resolve the issue. 

On Friday, XX/XX/XXXX, I received a letter from the Bank that asked me to call them about the account. On Monday, XX/XX/XXXX, I called and was told that the Bank would not honor the promotion because the vendor did not charge the credit card until XX/XX/XXXX. I pointed out to the agent that the promotion said nothing about when the credit card had to be debited and that once I made the order, I had no control over when the vendor charged the card. I followed the terms of the promotion and made a purchase on Saturday, XX/XX/XXXX and I expected them to honor the terms but even after speaking with a supervisor, the Bank still refused to honor the promotion. 

First, there was nothing in the promotion letter that specifically stated that the credit charge had to be made on XX/XX/XXXX or XX/XX/XXXX. Second, a vendor like XXXX is typically not going to charge a credit card until the product is shipped. So even if the order had been handled perfectly by XXXX, the earliest they would have charged my card would have been Monday, XX/XX/XXXX on the initial projected date of shipment. This would have been the first business day after the weekend order was made. 

Given this well-defined business process, it appears that there was no intention to honor the double cash back promotion. In effect, this offer became a bait-and-switch proposition to induce a purchase but not provide the expected customer credit. I expect that the only way a customer might benefit from an offer like this is if there is no product shipment involved. In XXXX 's case, this probably involves purchase of a service or the download of software. I expect the Bank to honor its promotion. The amount may not be very large, but I expect this deception happens to other customers too and they should not be allowed to benefit from it. I am attaching a copy of the offer email, a copy of the PC order, and a copy of the letter I received on XX/XX/XXXX with my notes on it.

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