Consumer complaint received 2024-06-27
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement — Credit card company isn't resolving a dispute about a purchase on your statement
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (WA)

I am would like to submit a complaint regarding the dispute process that Ive experienced with my Bank of America credit card. On XX/XX/XXXX I booked a hotel room at XXXX XXXX via the hotels website. This hotel is located on XXXX XXXX, XXXX. The dates of the booked hotel stay are XXXX XXXX XXXX. Thirty days prior to the start of this reservation, my Bank of America credit card was billed for the full amount of the stay, which was {$2200.00}. When initially making this hotel reservation, the hotels website gave a description of the room, which specified that the room was to include air conditioning. This was also included in the reservation confirmation that was received during the initial booking process. The hotels website also included the fact that the room was to include bathtub / shower. 

After check-in at the hotel on XX/XX/XXXX, I found that the hotel rooms air conditioning was not working. In addition, the hot water was not working for the bathtub / shower. I reported these issues to the front desk, and was advised that they would fix these issues promptly. It however took the hotel two days to fix these issues. The hotel refused to credit me for the first two nights out of the five-night stay so on XX/XX/XXXX I disputed the amount of {$880.00} with my Bank of America credit card XXXX which is two-fifths of the overall room cost. This dispute was filed with Bank of America under the category that the service received was Not as Described as the hotel room received did not include working air conditioning or hot water on the first two days. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I receive a letter from Bank of America stating Were unable to confirm that you canceled the charge ( s ) with the merchant. We requested but didnt receive a copy of the cancellation information you sent and/or received from the merchant. Upon receiving this letter, I called and spoke to the Bank of America Disputes department. In speaking to the Disputes Department, I learned that they had categorized my dispute under the wrong dispute type. The Disputes Department representative advised me that he would resubmit the dispute under the correct dispute category. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a second letter from Bank of America stating Were unable to confirm that you were supposed to receive something different than what you received. We requested, but didnt receive information showing what you received is different than what you purchased. In my initial dispute filing with Bank of America, I included a copy of the reservation confirmation that included the room description which included the fact that the room was to include air conditioning. Upon receiving this second letter, I called Bank of America Disputes department again and explained the situation to the representative. He was unable to give me any specific reason for why my dispute claim was not approved. He just told me that he would submit my dispute for appeal. I asked him if there was anything specifically needed that was missing in the dispute to get an approval, but he didnt know of anything else that I should specifically send. 

On XX/XX/XXXX I received a third letter from Bank of America stating Although we understand youre unsatisfied with what was provided, the merchant may charge you for any service or merchandise that you received. You may want to contact the merchant directly about your dispute. 

My understanding of XXXX chargeback reason code 13.3 is that this code applies when the service provided differs from the description provided at the time of purchase, including when the quality of what was received is lower than what was expected. I believe that the hotel room that I received was lacking the substantial features of air conditioning and hot water during the first two days out of the five day stay that I had prepaid for, and therefore Bank of America should have approved my dispute claim in the amount of {$880.00}. I provided them with the hotel reservation confirmation showing the description of the room booked, and detailed my interactions with the hotel staff. If anything else were specifically needed, the Bank of America Disputes Department should have specifically asked for it ( however, I do not believe that anything further should be needed to approve this claim ). 

In addition to the above, I would also like to note that at no point did Bank of America issue a temporary credit to my credit card during the dispute process. It is my understanding that a temporary credit should have been issued in a timely manner while the charge was in dispute, but this did not occur. 

Please review the process that Bank of America used to review this dispute and ask them to reconsider this dispute. I believe that the documentation that Ive provided should be sufficient to approve this dispute, but if something additional is needed that can be obtained, I would ask that Bank of America provide a specific description of what is needed.