Consumer complaint received 2024-08-13 00:00:00
Product: Credit card — General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Other features, terms, or problems — Problem with customer service
Company: BANK OF AMERICA, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION
State: PA

Complaint narrative:
On XX/XX/2024 at XXXX, I called Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite Concierge to submit two flights to their NDC program, whereby they provide a statement credit for airline tickets purchased on the credit card. The points are applied using a 20 % discount, meaning a {$1000.00} ticket would cost XXXX points rather than XXXX points ( full price ) to cover. During the phone call, which was recorded by the Concierge service, the agent told me that the XXXX flights I requested to submit were eligible for the program and gave me instructions to forward the receipts to their e-mail address. The XXXX submissions were processed for statement credits and, as had been the case with prior submissions, I waited for the XXXX XXXX points discount to be returned. After more than a week had passed without the points being returned, I called the concierge number again to ask the status of the points. The person informed me at this time that BofA had determined my flights were not eligible due to their policy for this program changing, and that they would not give me the XXXX XXXX  points back for the XXXX flights. I asked for the request to be escalated to a supervisor for review, given the original call was recorded and their agent directly told me the flights were eligible prior to me submitting them for reimbursement. After reviewing the recording of the initial phone call, Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite Concierge determined that their agent did tell me that my submission would be eligible. When I followed up to ask the status, they informed me of this review and that they initiated disciplinary action for their agent ; however, they determined that they would not be providing me the points refund. I asked why they would not honor the eligibility that the original agent described, and they responded saying both the system wouldn't allow them and that Bank of America 's team covering this flight process would not allow it. If the agent had correctly told me the flights were not eligible for the program, I would have saved my points and applied them to a future flight. The approximate loss from this submission is approximately {$180.00} that I could have saved on a future flight if I had these points available toward booking an eligible flight in the future. I explained this to the Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite Concierge Supervisor today on XX/XX/XXXX and she agreed that the agent gave me bad information and that doing so caused me to lose the economic value of the points in this system, but that she was not able to help me as the decision had been escalated as high as it could go. XXXX reason she offered is that their policy changed, and that they had informed me of the policy change in XXXX ( more than a month after these flights had originally been booked ). I asked at this time if she could reverse the statement credits and refund the points so I could apply them to a future flight and she said no. As an aside, at no time have I received the policy regarding discounted airfare in writing nor have I received any communication in writing regarding changes in the policy. It is a key feature of this credit card and a major reason for justifying the high annual fee, so it is a relatively important feature to change without notice. 

At this point, I feel like I have been deceived into making a decision ( submitting the flights for credit ) that has caused me economic harm. Bank of America has acknowledged, following review of a call they recorded, that I was given bad information. Despite acknowledgment of this, they have not made me whole for the issue and are not willing to do so. Thank you for your time. 
-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bank of America responded to this OCC complaint in a way that made it clear they had not reviewed the underlying program. My response was as follows : Good morning, Can you please confirm that you have reviewed the following pieces of information in making your decision? 
XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX on a recorded line, I ( customer ) asked a Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite Concierge agent if XXXX flights that I booked and paid for outside of the Bank of America XXXX XXXX were eligible for the NDC program, which exists to provide the XXXX XXXX  points discount when purchasing flights directly from the airline when the travel portal had incorrect flight pricing. The agent confirmed on the recorded line that the flights were eligible and provided instructions on how to submit the flights via e-mail XXXX ) The flights were processed for statement credit, but the Bank of America team that processes flights via the NDC program declined to provide the XXXX XXXX points discount as a refund of points XXXX ) The NDC program exists because the travel portal is not capable of correctly applying the XXXX XXXX points discount to flights- which is a key marketing feature of the Premium Rewards Elite credit card. The NDC program covers that gap by providing a means for a dedicated Bank of America team to apply the discount for fares purchased by customers directly from the airlines. 
XXXX ) In follow up e-mails and phone calls, I asked for a review of the original recorded phone call, given I had been unfairly given bad information by a Bank of America agent that had caused me economic harm XXXX ) On XX/XX/XXXX, after multiple e-mails and phone call follow-ups, a Bank of America Premium Rewards Elite Concierge supervisor on a recorded line admitted that the review had occurred and confirmed that the agent had incorrectly confirmed the eligibility of the flights I submitted for the NDC program XXXX She confirmed the agent had been disciplined, but stated that Bank of America 's system would not let them fix the issue and reward the points discount back to me OR to unwind the statement credit submission to make me whole. 

I understand your stance that you are referencing policies regarding the required use of the travel portal, but you seem to have chosen to ignore that Bank of America implemented a policy that allowed for redemption of points with the XXXX XXXX discount outside of use of the travel portal for more than a year while issues with the travel portal were resolved. Not only have I used this policy multiple times to submit fares via your NDC program, the Bank of America concierge service agent confirmed this policy of redemption and additionally confirmed that my submission was eligible for this policy. Multiple agents, including supervisors, confirmed the agent made this promise and that this policy approach was in place. They also confirmed the policy is still in place for when the travel portal isn't able to price flights appropriately in real time. Your agent confirmed after review of the recorded line that all of this was in place. 

This is a simple case where an agent of Bank of America deceived me, by means of providing false information, into submitting XXXX flights for credit via the NDC program. If she had not told me the flights were eligible, I would not have submitted them for the NDC program. I would have used the points toward future flights that I plan to purchase following the policy in place. Bank of America seems to be running a deceptive practice in which the credit card 's marketed features ( XXXX XXXX  discount for airfare purchased via points ) is applied manually due to system issues- but via a policy that exists off the books and is applied differently based on whom you speak to on a given day. 

Can you please ask a supervisor to review this communication and series of events? At this point, I will also be submitting this as a UDAAP complaint to the CFPB. 
Thank you, XXXX

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