Consumer complaint received 2023-04-02
Product: Credit card or prepaid card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (ME)

We were on vacation in XXXX from XX/XX/XXXX - XXXX of this year. On our last day a fraudulent charge for {$1300.00} appeared as pending on my XXXX credit card. We think what happened is that when we stopped to top off our rental car with a couple liters of gas my husband handed the credit card to the attendant who walked away with it. We heard never to do that in XXXX because of fraud. Always be present with your credit card. It was the only time someone had my card where I wasn't present. He came back to the car and said that the card wasn't working. I tried to hand him my Amex and he waved it away saying that the internet wasn't working. So we paid cash for a couple liters of gas and left. I didn't think to save the receipt. I didn't think to check my credit card for pending charges while we were there. We left, returned the rental car and made our way to the airport. I noticed the charge when we landed. I immediately disputed the charge with Bank of America. It's now almost XXXX months later and they are intentionally making the process impossible. First they make you send them letters with more information even though they already have all the information and could easily just call you for it. These come in the mail and by the time you get them the letter states that it must be received back to them within a day or XXXX which is totally ridiculous. So I sent the letter and I called because of the short deadline. Also they list a different mailing address on the letter than they do on the return envelope you are mailing it back to them on which is confusing. So then a month goes by as I hear nothing from them. I call and the agent explains to me, oh we need to classify this as fraud. It's not classified as fraud so that's why it's taking so long. So then another month goes by and I get a letter in the mail saying please sign this and we'll issue you a new card and get you a refund. Again the letter has a date that it needs to be received that's only two days from the day I received it. I sign it and mail it back. Then I call them because of the short dates on the letter they give you to respond. I don't want my case being closed because they didn't get the letter in time. This agent now tells me that my case is only now being escalated to fraud. I say, what? I was told that over a month ago? Was that agent lying to me? I was then informed I wasn't going to get a credit yet even thought the letter I signed said otherwise. That I was now going to have to wait for the fraud department to get back to me and I should just sit tight. I can see on my Bank of America statement that my fraudulent charge was refunded on XX/XX/23 and then charged back to me again on XX/XX/23. I don't know why it's taken three months to get this escalated to fraud along with two different letters written and signed sent back to them and probably four phone calls. I can say this process is set up intentionally so that people will get exhausted and drop the fraud charge. It's insulting. I wish this happened to me on my Amex as it would have been resolved months ago. I asked directly to speak to a manager on my last call and wasn't allowed to. Please make the cycle of hell stop. Have someone in Bank of America who has some knowledge of their actual profession call me to resolve this. Also there's no need to mail letters these days. If there's such a time crunch then try just asking for an esignature. I'm sure you use them already in your banking application.