Consumer complaint received 2016-03-08
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: MD
Product: Credit card
Issue: Billing disputes

Complaint:
I had a phone appt with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX on XXXX XXXX explaining about his debt management program. He requested for a {$1000.00} fee upfront over the phone before he can show me his powerpoint presentation through shared computer screen. He never declared that {$1000.00} is a non-refundable fee. Prior to the phone appt, XXXX XXXX did mention about {$1000.00} guarantee if his program did not meet our goals and that {$1000.00} will be refunded. I did not understand how that works considering that I have not yet signed up for his program. After the phone appt and powerpoint presentation, I specifically requested for a copy of the powerpoint presentation for our further review to understand his program better considering that the phone was conducted through third party, video phone interpreting and that there was a lot of information which overwhelmed me and my partner. XXXX said he will send me the powerpoint presentation which I never received. He did schedule another phone appt with his assistant for follow up on XXXX XXXX and I did keep the appt to answer her questions for program set-up and she sent us an email with e-docs during the phone call. I did specifically tell her that I am still waiting to receive the powerpoint from XXXX and it has been 2 days. I told her that we will not sign the contract until we receive the powerpoint and told her not to charge upfront fee of {$1000.00} on our credit card until she receives our signatures. She said ok and will follow up with XXXX. I never heard back from either of them on my request and 3 days have gone by. On XXXX XXXX, sometime early afternoon around XXXX, I called XXXX XXXX and he answered my call. I told him of our decision to withdraw our application into his program as we never received his powerpoint per my request since XXXX XXXX call. Approximately XXXX 3 hours later on XXXX XXXX, I received copies of all credit card charges of {$1000.00}, {$4000.00} and {$1000.00} from XXXX XXXX. I noticed the charges were made on XXXX XXXX without my approval except for {$1000.00}. That prompted me to send him an email soon after that questioning him why he charged me {$4000.00} and {$1000.00} without my authorization and I requested him to refund an entire amount of {$6000.00} XXXX {$1000.00}, {$4000.00}, {$1000.00} ) immediately. ( I do question his tactics since he waited until 3 days to send me receipts of the credit card charges after the fact I called to withdraw my application for his program. ) XXXX XXXX did respond back apologizing that I was not clear about these charges. He did try to explain in his email which was still not very clear to me. I further requested to have a phone appointment for clarification and he agreed to talk with me on XXXX/XXXX/15 to discuss the charges and refunds. I talked with XXXX on XXXX XXXX to work out an agreement to refund my money. First I discussed about my authorized charge of {$1000.00} and offered to pay him {$97.00} for his time he did with me and my partner and refund the rest of {$930.00} which he said he will think about it. Three days later, he responded back via email informing me that he will not accept my refund request. Please note the timing of XXXX response to my original claims on charges of {$4000.00} and {$1000.00} which he did not respond on the same day I disputed my claims with my credit card company, Bank of America on XXXX XXXX or XXXX. Three weeks later, he disputed my claims around XXXX XXXX. He originally did not dispute my claims until he received a letter from my lawyer. The letter from my lawyer clearly angered him and decided to dispute my claims for the services he never rendered to me and my partner. Bank of America reviewed the details of my disputes, they were unable to pursue my dispute further and placed these charges against my credit card. I sent an appeal letter and the Bank said it can not intervene in situations involving a merchant 's cancellation policy.

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