Consumer complaint received 2021-09-23
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
I am XXXX XXXX XXXX, that was targeted by hackers late XXXX causing me {$73000.00} in damages, then COVID-19 came in early XXXX so struggling to stay in operation is an understatement. 
I believe in our country and our financial institutions, and I understand the economic impact of people charging back valid claims because in XX/XX/XXXX I lost {$24000.00} from chargebacks of valid transactions, without regard of the amount time, effort and energy I provided to these clients. I provided hundreds of documents, proving valid signatures, and proving that I had maintained my agreement to perform services. However, the bank did not reverse the chargebacks on my merchant accounts, and my previous XXXX  checking account bank refused to reverse charges that were literally stolen from account. 
{$73000.00} was a hard lesson to learn, but I just kept working and praying for better days. 
Recently, I decided to try to open a XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and began selecting the merchandise I wanted to carry. Shopping was fun at first, but then came the logistics. Then my worst nightmare happened. Major purchases were marked delivered, but when I would go to mailbox or parcel locker it would be empty. The first incident occurred on XX/XX/XXXX, and lucky for me the parcel locker system caught the thief on camera, I filed a police report that day and when the officer came out to the property, he did not believe me or did not care, even though I provided the photograph of the suspect, the license plate number of the vehicle and a list of items stolen since XX/XX/XXXX. I continued to be targeted for another 2-3 weeks for a total time frame of approx. 2 months, until I was able to get crime stoppers involved and the suspect was arrested mid-XXXX. During this time, I called the police several times, had my mailbox rekeyed, and filed several complaints with both the post office and the vendors. 
I filed service requests and waited patiently and followed up as advised but I never got results. I would call the post office and stay on hold for hours without ever speaking to live person to resolve my issue. I called the merchants and explained the situation over and over. Several of them took pity on me and re-issued my items but a few of them did not. I finally spoke to someone at the post office after about 45 days of struggling and stressing and was told that my packages were gone, and that I should file a claim for the missing items and wait to find out if the post officer would pay me back. What a joke, the online claim system wont accept international packages being delivered domestically and no one at the post office seems to know how to help me resolve the issue of filing a claim in order to pray for restitution. 
Meanwhile, I had invested all my funds into the merchandise and payroll and finally reached the point where I had exhausted my operating capital and had much less than the inventory I had ordered. Long story short, I went out XXXX  before I could ever start doing XXXX. 
To add insult to injury, the police would not help me, the post office would not help me, and the merchants would not help me. Thousands of dollars spent in good faith that I would pay upfront and receive the merchandise I ordered was gone and no one cared. 
XXXX had the nerve to ask me to fill out a form for each item which came out to 6 items that totaled approx. {$500.00}. I filled out the form 6 times as requested, but they did not like my answers for questions 5 & 6 so they requested that I revise all 6 forms and resend them again. I complied, revised, and resent the forms as required and received another rejection because they requested tracking numbers and order numbers to be separately a specific way, so again I complied, revised and resent the forms as required and the rejection came back that my answers needed to be within parentheses and at this point I had gone above and beyond working directly with them on several occasions, ( more than 10 times ) over the course of 3 weeks. I finally gave up trying to find a reasonable person to assist me and called my bank ( Bank of America ).

I explained the police report, the mail theft and the awful customer service I have experienced, and I just wanted my money refunded. I was told not to worry, that Bank of America was on my side and would intercede on my behalf. I waited 2 weeks
and never heard back, so I followed up and was told that the investigation would take 45 days and I agreed to be patient.

The 45-day mark came and went, and I followed up again, and was told my claim was denied without being asked for supporting documentation or anything. Now thats kicking me when Im already down. I was advised to fax my supporting documents to XXXX and provide the following claims numbers : XXXX for the {$300.00} charge and XXXX for the {$200.00} claim. I faxed 75 documents for each claim, proving the amount of effort I had made to work with the merchant, police and USPS. I hope that the information I provided will finally help me recuperate some of the loss. 
However, due to the situation regarding the mail theft I have several other claims that need to be addressed. I did not immediately dispute charges because as a small business owner I try to treat others the way I would want to be treated. Again, I was patient. I waited for the time to elapse where we could safely assume the package would not actually be located. I filed the service requests with the Post Office and waited. I called the merchants and told them what was going on and I called the police with no resolution. 





$ XXXX- XXXX $ XXXX-XXXX  $ XXXX-XXXX  $ XXXX-XXXX  $ XXXX-XXXX XXXX $ XXXX-XXXX  $ XXXX-XXXX $ XXXX-GONE WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT I have spent {$10000.00} with these merchants without complaining and I understand that 22 % of what I spent I am now asking to be refunded. However, I am the victim here, my mail was stolen, and I have proof. I did the right thing and called the police and I jumped through hoops with USPS, and I notified the merchants and I begged for help. 

I never got my XXXX  off the ground after investing over {$17000.00} and XXXX XXXX XXXX. They are victims too, its not their fault the items did not arrive for us to resale, but too much money going out and nothing coming in and all my time and effort being dominated by begging each entity involved to help cost them their jobs. 

Im grateful the numbers are not {$73000.00} like last time but my XXXX XXXX stimulate the economy or at least it did and would have been a viable business if the thieves had been stopped by the police, the mail carriers were more aware of their surroundings and the merchants were reasonable and understood the millions of dollars they make would not have been detrimental to their daily operations, but the few XXXX dollars that totaled over {$2300.00} crippled mine. 

Yes, I faxed 4 claims to the dispute resolution department as directed. The 2 XXXX claims had 75 pages of supporting documents each. I also, filled out the dispute form for XXXX  and provided 41 pages and 43 pages of evidence that I tried to work with the merchant before making this decision. Meanwhile, my business account has been over drafted for over 30-60 days, while I am begging for help causing 36 overdraft charges and another {$1200.00}, gone with nothing to show for it. 

{$3500.00}, put me out of business, and cost 2 young ladies their jobs and Im supposed to accept that I will never receive my items, and I will not receive a refund while XXXX reported XXXX XXXX with a B in XXXX, and XXXX  reports XXXX XXXX which seems low based on the amount of money they have stolen from me. 

I spent {$3500.00} with XXXX the same month, the {$500.00} worth of merchandise was stolen, and {$6100.00} since XXXX from my Bank of America account. I spent {$2100.00} with XXXX but received less than half of my merchandise and spent {$1800.00} with XXXX and only had a problem with {$280.00}. 

The amount of money being disputed is substantial because of the amount of money I invested, and its unfortunate that 22 % was lost or stolen before it reached its destination causing me to close the doors before, we opened, and laying off 2 ladies that I adore but I need someone to see this situation from my perspective and review the documentation I have provided and reverse the funds back in my favor. 

I hope this letter finds its way to someone that has the power to affect positive change and will help me reverse the charges as requested previously.

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