Consumer complaint received 2020-04-17
Company: TRUIST FINANCIAL CORPORATION
State: FL
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/XXXX I received an email from XXXX stating that due to the Department of State advisory of US citizens to avoid all international travel, my all inclusive resort reservations were cancelled, that they could not refund my money and if we wanted our money back, we should contact our financial institution. I immediately filed a fraud claim with BB & T that morning. On the XXXX I called BB & T Fraud to obtain a status, since they never called me back to tell me what I needed to send them to prove my case, like they advised on the call of XX/XX/2020. They then said to send any correspondence that gave out the dates to prove I had already not taken the vacation, the email receipts of the monies paid and the cancellation email where it states that they were not refunding our money and that we needed to contact our financial institutions for a refund. I sent what was requested, I called to confirm receipt and then I waited. On XX/XX/2020 I called BB & T fraud to check the status and I was told by XXXX @ XXXX that it was still under review and that they were trying to contact the merchant and that me getting my money back was contingent on BB & T collecting from XXXX, which I disputed since the bank is FDIC insured for such fraudulent activity. On XX/XX/2020, I received a letter dated XX/XX/2020 stating the claim was denied because no fraud was committed and that they would not return my money. I called on XX/XX/2020, spoke with XXXX again, who was very rude and adamant about the fact that since this was due to COVID19, BB & T did not need to give me my money back. I explained that all though that is what the email and website say. It is all over the news and it is common knowledge at this point that XXXX went bankrupt. She then began speaking a little louder and I asked for a supervisor. I was told she could not, that they were busy in meetings. I hung up and called again after speaking to the other family members that had their bookings cancelled by XXXX and they had all gotten their money refunded back to them by their banks. I called my friend that is a loan officer of a local bank and he told me that if I paid for a service that I did not receive and I can prove it, they would have to return my money regardless if they manage to collect funds back from the merchant or not. That the bank is insured for such losses. I called back again and asked to speak to a manager, it was XXXX who answered and she just hung up on me. Then I called back and picked another option, so that I may get another person in fraud claims other than XXXX. This time XXXX told me that she knew that there were many of these claims that the bank has been in communication, that other financial institutions had returned the money to their clients and that her mother worked for an airline and had told her that XXXX went bankrupt. She tried to get a supervisor for me, but after a very long wait, no one answered her. She took down my information and said that either Supervisor XXXX or XXXX would call me back. I have never gotten a call back. No matter how many times I call, and I request to speak to a supervisor, I never get one. The all inclusive resort has not cancelled any of their reservations. This is a destination wedding and all of the persons that booked directly or through other travel sites still have their reservations intact. Also, everyone who booked through XXXX got the money returned to their account, except me and no one at BB & T can explain to me why.

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