Consumer complaint received 2015-03-27
Company: PNC Bank N.A.
State: IL
Product: Bank account or service
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Account opening, closing, or management

Complaint:
PNC BANK has come to my place of employment several times throughout the years to sign employees up for new accounts, and they typically offer a cash bonus ( usually {$150.00} ). I decided to go to my local branch to talk to someone about signing up and getting a bonus for my new account. ( The person I spoke with and signed up through does n't work there anymore. ) The bank representative I spoke with in XXXX 2014 did some research and said that PNC offered a workplace referral bonus of {$200.00} for my employer. He told me that I had to meet XXXX requirements within 60 days : 1 ) XXXX online bill payment. 2 ) Sign up for online statements 3 ) Have XXXX direct deposit credited to my account. 

Because I switched my direct deposit from another bank over to PNC it took 6 or 7 weeks to get my first direct deposit with PNC. About 4-5 weeks after signing up, I was concerned about how long the switch was taking, so I walked into PNC and spoke with a rep. This person explained that there was n't a hold up on their end, and as long as I had XXXX direct deposit within 60 days everything would be fine, and I 'd receive the bonus. 

After the XXXX direct deposit hit my account ( the other requirements were already met ) I visited PNC bank to find out when I would receive me bonus. I was told that it could take a while, perhaps a month or two. Then about two weeks ago I went to PNC and sat with a representative to inquire about my bonus. He said that he 'd put a request in for someone to research my bonus code and requirements and someone would call me back. No one called me. 

So yesterday, I explained the situation again to someone new at PNC over the phone and he followed up with me today to say that I did n't qualify for the bonus. He said I needed a total of {$1000.00} in direct deposits within the 60 days. I explained that this was n't communicated to me. He said there was nothing he could do. I called PNC 's XXXX number and spoke to XXXX different people who said the same thing. I was told that it was my word against someone else and there was nothing they could do. 

Well I feel like a fool for getting the same information about the bonus requirements initially from XXXX different people at the same branch at PNC where I signed up, only to have been duped. I was n't given anything in writing that laid out the requirements for the bonus, and perhaps that should happen in the future. I based my expectations upon what was communicated to me when I first signed-up. I do n't think it 's fair for PNC to wash their hands of this. If you do n't issue something in writing that explains the bonus ( so that everything is clear ), then why should I be penalized if the representatives willfully or mistakenly gave me the wrong information. To make matters worse, XXXX XXXX XXXX offered a bonus of {$150.00} for a new direct deposit account ( with all the terms written out on paper ), and I turned that down to sign up with PNC. So now I 'm supposed to walk away with nothing. PNC needs to take some responsibility here and issue my bonus. Going forward they need to make sure that bonus terms are written out and given to the new account holder, so that this confusion does n't happen again. 

I hope this gets resolved soon in my favor, because this whole experience leaves a bad taste in my mouth and has already wasted so much of my time. If not, I 'll move my account somewhere else because I do n't appreciate what I 've been put through.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation