Consumer complaint received 2021-02-19
Product: Checking or savings account — Checking account
Issue: Problem with a lender or other company charging your account — Transaction was not authorized
Company: PNC Bank N.A. (NJ)

XXXX XXXX XXXX made an unauthorized ACH debit to my PNC Bank checking account ending in # XXXX in the amount of {$380.00} back on XX/XX/2020. The following day, XX/XX/2020 I informed my bank relationship manager at PNC Bank, Mr. XXXX XXXX of the unauthorized debit. I also called XXXX XXXX but could not get through to a human being until XX/XX/2020, at which time I spoke with someone in billing who could not figure out why my bank account was charged the {$380.00} ( it is completely unrelated to us ). She said they would be crediting my account but it might take a week or two. I let it go, assuming the credit would come back into my checking account. Turns out it never did, and then on XX/XX/2020 they did the same thing again and took another {$190.00} out of the same account, also completely unauthorized by me. ( We do not have any business directly with XXXX XXXX by the way ; nothing at all. ) I brought it up again with Mr. XXXX, and at that point I again asked PNC to formally dispute the new charge as well as the old one. He recommended I try calling XXXX XXXX again. 
After numerous attempts, in early XXXX I finally got through to a person at XXXX XXXX ( took hours of time on hold and going through automated menus ), but I finally got through to XXXX ( Employee ID # XXXX ) case ID # XXXX. XXXX confirmed she identified both of the unauthorized ACH debits they took from my PNC checking account, and agreed those were not charges that should have been taken out, as they applied to some other company that apparently gave them my bank account number. She said since she identified the client that should have been billed and saw they used an improper bank account number, XXXX XXXX would fix this and would definitely credit back my PNC checking account XXXX. She said it might take 3-5 business days but that it would definitely be done. I waited another week, did not see any credit, but instead received a letter from PNC Bank saying they would not be crediting my account because after " investigating '' they found " no error occurred ''. I immediately tried calling Mr. XXXX, who did not answer, so I emailed him. He responded that I can just ignore that letter as he looked into it, and XXXX XXXX was supposed to be crediting my account, so everything will be fine. So I waited another couple of weeks, still no credit. So I wrote Mr. XXXX at PNC again, but no answer. So I wrote him again a few days later, but still no answer. This morning I called XXXX XXXX and after almost an hour got through to a human, someone named XXXX who escalated me after a 20 minute hold to someone named XXXX, a manager in Resolutions ( Employee ID # XXXX ). XXXX looked up the issue, found the unauthorized ACH debits from my PNC account, admitted that those were taken out of my bank account for someone else 's utility account, but despite that, she told me they will not be refunding my money. She said they never refund money, ever. It must be done through a bank dispute, according to XXXX. I pleaded with her because we did file a dispute with PNC Bank but she said all I could do would be to complain to PNC Bank. She said again XXXX XXXX will not be giving me my money back. ( This was the first time anyone form XXXX XXXX said any such thing ). I called PNC once again, got through to someone in Customer Service named " XXXX '', who looked it up and said that PNC Bank will not do anything to get my money back " because by now it has been more than 60 days since the unauthorized debit ''. Obviously this is grossly unfair. Nobody at PNC Bank until today, more than 4 months after the unauthorized ACH debit, ever told me anything about a 60 day rule. If they had, I would have been persisting in disputing and following up on the dispute in XXXX and XXXX. To the contrary, PNC originally ( and many times thereafter ) told me not to worry, it would be fine. Only now are they saying they will not address it because it has been more than 60 days.