Twitter and the Customer Experience at Bank of America
What’s the typical career choice for a Poly Sci/French major-the U.N.? The U.S. State Department? Well, for me it was banking. Not the typical choice, but one that has proven to be extremely rewarding for me over the last 14 years. I’ve had the opportunity to learn everything from operations, marketing, project management, and now creating the customer experience.
During my time in banking, I’ve learned that most importantly customers want to trust us. Customers have given us the responsibility to help manage their finances, and they expect us to get it right, every time. So whether it’s getting an address updated, a check card issued or understanding why a fee was posted to the account, we have a team of service professionals that want to get it right for our customers. However, in those instances where we don’t meet their expectations, we want to understand what went wrong and more importantly, fix it.
With the advent of social networking sites and blogs, companies have the opportunity to listen and learn from their consumers in ways that were not possible before. Companies can gain powerful knowledge on everything from product enhancements, customer service interactions and unresolved problems–but only if they listen. Social networking sites like Twitter enable that listening in real time. According to Matt Dickman, VP of Digital Marketing at Fleishman-Hillard, “Twitter is the ultimate customer service tool. It’s live, instantaneous, community driven, open, two-way and multi-way, unfiltered and predictive. “
As of last week, we are now listening AND responding to customers on Twitter. You can find us at BofA_help.
So we are entering a new territory. A place that is not familiar to many in financial services-but a place with tremendous opportunity. I look forward to the journey ahead knowing that for each and every tweet we engage in, we are looking to maintain and grow the trust you have in Bank of America.
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January 15th, 2009 at 2:02 pm
Congrats on a Twitter presence. It’s about time. What I don’t understand is why it is not branded and why you chose someone in Phoenix and not Charlotte to anchor it. Both actions tend to make it look unofficial… as if a well-meaning, but not appointed customer service rep took this upon himself to champion the cause. With Twitter phishing now starting to emerge, I just don’t think Twitterers are going to feel like David is the real deal. I enjoy official tweets from Home Depot, ADAGE, CNN, CNet and the like… but I can’t decide how much value I place on someone so far removed from the official brand voice. Can you explain your strategy? Thanks.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
I’m encouraged so far - after exchanging tweets, David contacted my by phone, got some info on my problem, helped me identify another one (which he fixed), and said he’ll be forwarding my info to support people local to me who will contact me later today. This approach seems pretty reasonable for non-critical problems that wouldn’t drive you to the phone for immediate results. I don’t see this replacing that level of support… yet.
January 15th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
[...] a comment » As noted on the BofA Future Banking blog, they are now alsl seeking out customers, or others needing assistance on twitter. This is [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 4:48 pm
Congrats on moving into twitter. These moves are consequential for a Bank, but also essential to learn about the medium, and to participate in the conversation with the community.
January 15th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
John- Thanks for the note and congratulations. We have associates serving our customers from across the U.S. as well as abroad, and our choice of David was actually pretty easy. His background is with our operations groups, and he leads our executive customer relations team. He is the perfect fit to take this next step in the bank’s proactive outreach to our customers. With the authentication process we have in place, i.e., never asking for account numbers, social security numbers, etc., we think that our customers will realize that we are who we say we are through their engagement with us. Thus far, of the 29 customers with whom we’ve engaged to solve problems, we’ve had 24 respond. That’s a pretty strong contact rate, we’re excited about it. Having completed our first week on Twitter, we’re now making updates to David’s profile and branding. We are balancing the feedback to better brand the site with ensuring that we keep it personal. We don’t want to create just a corporate initiative, but to demonstrate through our people that we are committed to helping our customers. Admittedly, we are in a territory that is new to us, but our guiding strategy has been to make it authentic, ensure responsiveness, listen, learn, and act. Hope this helps!
January 15th, 2009 at 10:12 pm
@Holly those words are key and music to my ears - “authentic, ensure responsiveness, listen, learn, and act”.
Good luck.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:36 am
Holly, congratulations on your initiative!
I’m really impressed that BofA have dared to provide customer assistance through Twitter; I knew of other few banks already twitting, but mainly with informative purposes. I guess that security concerns like phishing are deterring other financial institutions from going beyond.
But I’m not very sure about your personal approach for the service. I mean that once you engage with your own sales associate at your branch, your future expectations are always based on the history of your personal relationship; even more, rotation in staff can produce rotation in customers. Same can happen in Twitter if your customers create a strong relationship with David. So, shouldn’t it be better to set it up as an impersonal service, kind of call-center or help-desk?
January 16th, 2009 at 6:43 am
[...] concludeert Holly Hastings, National Customer Experience Executive, Bank of America op haar weblog. Over de strategie achter de inzet van social media schrijft zij: “With the advent of social [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Holly, thanks for further insight into your strategy. I’m sure David is great and very capable or you wouldn’t have chosen him. My point was really about “Phoenix”… anyone with a slight knowledge about BofA would wonder about the authenticity of that locale. My other observation was the lack of branding which you addressed. The whole legitimacy issue on Twitter is interesting… I’ve often come across celebrities and sports stars and always wonder if they are the real thing.
And I think Gerardo makes an interesting observation about a help desk versus a named individual. Where’s the balance between trying to personify the brand with a David versus him potentially moving on to a competitor and taking the “face” of the brand with him?
All very interesting as we feel our way through these unchartered waters. I will be following the conversations as you embrace and evolve and I’m sure I will learn from listening and watching. Best of luck.
John Mathes
January 16th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
Cliche, of course, but business is about relationships. Customer support in this day and age is so important, especially for large institutions like BofA where there is so much already being said (both bad and good) about you. It’s essential for you to harness this stream of feedback, and convert it into constructive, actionable improvements to your services and offerings.
I’m incredibly impressed with companies that are trying hard to find new ways to connect with their customers in this time of great need.
In any case, welcome to Twitterland…we hope to hear and see good things from you.
January 16th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
[...] noted on the BofA Future Banking blog, they are now also seeking out customers, or others needing assistance on twitter. This is [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
You should have this page under https. Moreover, this is a page for the Twitter folks - they can’t be bothered with the self-congratulating prose of Holly - it should be made clear in 140 words (I gave you a break characters > words) that the BofA_help twitter account is legit and that any exchange with the person behind this account should NEVER mention anything about act info, SSID (you name it).
Kudos on starting this. thank you David and Holly.
bigkafka
January 16th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
[...] concludeert Holly Hastings, National Customer Experience Executive, Bank of America op haar weblog. Over de strategie achter de inzet van social media schrijft zij: “With the advent of social [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 5:55 pm
John & Gerardo- you are asking the same questions we are asking ourselves. Why Phoenix and not Charlotte? Like our customers, Bank of America associates are spread across the U.S., so the specific location of the right associate for the job is not usually a primary consideration - especially when it comes to social networking, which of course transcends location. Thus far, we seen that having a real, individual person as the key contact has been been favorably received. I envision at some point increasing volume may require that we involve more associates, and identify them by our brand. We are watching volume closely to be sure we can continue to meet service levels. Over time, we will learn more, and modify our approach as necessary to ensure we are getting the desired results for our customers, with a keen focus on security in this new customer service medium. I will continue to make updates here, so be sure to check back.
http://danielpatricio.com/2009/01/09/bank-of-america-doing-big-things-for-the-little-people-on-twitter/
http://www.weeklyseo.com/post/873433/bank-of-america-is-on-twitter
http://thefinancialbrand.com/2009/01/13/bank-of-america-twitter/
January 17th, 2009 at 9:03 am
It is good to see BofA on Twitter. Congratulations and let me know if I can assist in any way.
January 19th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Great move from BofA to add Twitter to their customer communications!
For Dutch companies, including a large bank, i’m investigating the use of Twitter. Barriers i stumble on, are mostly compliance issues/questions, that discourages the company from replying on networks like Twitter. How did the Bank of America deal with this?
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:55 pm
[...] to a blog post on the company’s Web site, the bank opened up shop on Twitter last week. “We are now listening AND responding to customers [...]
January 24th, 2009 at 2:21 am
Until very recently is had over ten years of perfect service with Bank of Ameria. But with its recent acquisition of MBNA credit card service has gone off the rail. I have made six visits to straighten out problems with creadit cards and how they appear on my online banking. The first three times i thought, ok so the company has been perfect so long they deserve a little slack. But I am well past that place now. In dealing with errors in billing me online the first problem was with an original MBNA bank card that was so hoplessly wrong in the information it gave that i closed it. Today I was dealing with problems in my regular Bank of America card and I talked to the very same person, and her boss and got the same wrong information I had gotten on the other card. The people at the branch were as frustrated as i but diligently solved every problem though it took several hours. May I suggest you not use the old MBNA folks for credit card services. After all there was a reason you were buying them and not the other way around.
January 24th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Thank you for your comments. As a reminder, the purpose of this blog is to discuss innovative ideas with the public at large. To report a customer service related issue, please contact us on Twitter at BofA_help, or visit the Contact Us page on bankofamerica.com
January 25th, 2009 at 12:21 pm
[...] Twitter and the Customer Experience at Bank of America | Future Banking Blog [...]
January 25th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Awww how cute is this?!
Let me tell you something. Copying Comcast’s Twitter model will not help BoA. You guys have a larger problem to contend with and I’d highly suggest staying out of the cutesy “How can i help you in 140 characters of less” model as it will ultimately backfire.
Surely the Twitterati think this is a cute idea (OMG! BoA woke up and jumped on Twitter! Yay!) but once the sound money crew gets a whiff of this, you guys will not be prepared to handle the backlash.
People are angry (rightly so).
Have you read Craigslist lately? Rants and Raves are half BoA and the comments aren’t pretty - glad to see our FAILout money is going towards improving customer service
I’ll be happy when you guys collapse. Have fun on Twitter.
January 25th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Wow, Jr. Who said anything about Twitter solving all the problems w/ BoA, or the economy for that sake? Who would use Twitter to do that?
Personally, what BoA WAS able to do was use Twitter to solve my one problem this time, and I am a happier customer. I hope they can help others in the same or similar ways w/ social networks and such.
January 29th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
[...] to a blog post on the company’s Web site, the bank opened up shop on Twitter last week. “We are now listening AND responding to customers [...]
February 3rd, 2009 at 3:50 pm
As an often frustrated BofA customer…and an experienced customer experience management consultant deeply immersed in social media I applaud your initiation of a Twitter communications channel. Congratulations on being forward thinking in a business world that still cannot clearly understand the voice of the customer from within organizations. @msatterwhite
February 12th, 2009 at 10:29 am
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February 21st, 2009 at 8:03 am
I am puzzled as to why B of A is punishing its “good customer” who have there credit cards. I have never paid late and have been lowering my balance over the past 18 months. Last month you lowered my limit by 75%. In my work space alone, three other customers have had the same experience. These friends have paid off or transferred out. Shame on you. You took goverment money and punished you customers who have been loyal and followed the rules.
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Hi Jude,
Glad to hear another fan of Bank of America. I have a four year perfect payment record and I was reward with my credit limit being lower almost to my balance. I am making arrangements to pay off my account and I will never give them the pleasure of collecting one more penny of interest from me. I have met four other people who have had similar experience.
I wonder if their outstanding business practices and appreciation of good customers will make them the first bank to be nationalized in US.
February 23rd, 2009 at 11:04 pm
I think it is great that you haven’t deleted anti Bank of America posts. That can build trust. I look forward to watching this unfold.
February 28th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
[...] Bank of America twitter representative. To learn more of the bank’s efforts, please visit Twitter and the Customer Experience at Bank of America | Future Banking Blog :Bank of America, BofA_help, [...]
April 24th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Bank of America and Twitter are awesome. I received a positive resolution to a sticky problem. This really is the future of banking! Thanks David Knapp and team at BofA_help.com
June 17th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Twitter really is great to add to a customer’s experience and trust. To follow all the twitter feeds and banking discussions please visit http://www.banktwitter.com/
June 27th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Virginia,
Have you been contacted? If not, please provide an email address so that I can contact you.
Holly Hastings
August 11th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Tweet on this:
Being on Twitter will not help you lack of customer service! Bank Of America and their credit card division raised my interest rate and when called about it said there was a cut off to complain about it. What a crock! Don’t trust B of A they are a bunch lying crooks that should be put out of business and you can take that to the bank!
August 28th, 2009 at 7:10 am
[...] Twitter and the Customer Experience at Bank of America | Future Banking Blog futurebanking.bankofamerica.com/twitter-customer-experience-bank-america_696 – view page – cached What’s the typical career choice for a Poly Sci/French major-the U.N.? The U.S. State Department? Well, for me it was banking. Not the typical choice, but one — From the page [...]
September 6th, 2009 at 8:28 am
I RECENTLY HAD A VERY BAD EXPERIENCE WITH , BANK OF AMERICA I’AM A CUSTOMER OF BANK OF AMERICA. AND I FEEL THE BANK IS NOT SOLVENT AND THIRSTY AS WE SAY IN THE HOOD . RECENTLY BANK OF AMERICA TOOK $40.00 DOLLARS FROM MY ACCOUNT ON SEPT 3 2009 AND GUESS WHY BECAUSE I HAD A 4 CENT OVER DRAFT THAT’S RIGHT PEOPLE I SAID IT I WAS 4 CENTS OVER MY LIMIT AND THE SO CALLED BANK OF AMERICA DEBITED MY ACCOUNT A WOPPING 40.00 NOW I ASK WOULD A PERSON IN THERE RIGHT MIND WANT TO DEAL WITH SUCH A PETTY INSTITUTION . AND CAN YOU TRUST A BANK THAT IS SO DESPERATE FOR MONEY THAT THEY WILL GO TO THE LOWEST OF LENGHTS TO OBTAIN IT 4 CENTS PEOPLE HOW RIDICULOUS IS THAT WHAT THE HELL CAN ANYONE DO WITH 4 CENTS IN THIS DAY AND AGE. AND TRUST ME I’AM CLOSING MY ACCOUNT WITH BANK AMERICA . THER NAME SHOULD BE FRAUD OF AMERICA. BECAUSE I DIDN’T SEE ANYTHING AMERICAN ABOUT THEM WHEN THEY TOOK $40.00 DOLLARS FROM ME FOR A 4 CENT OVERDRAFT. DO YOU AS CONSUMERS WANT TO TRUST YOUR MONEY TO THESE PEOPLE I THINK NOT. NOT IN THESE TRYING ECONOMIC TIMES. IF THEY DID THIS TO ME WHAT WILL THEY DO TO YOU IF YOU HAVE A SMALL OVERDRAFT. THINK ABOUT IT IT’S FOOD FOR THOUGHT
September 8th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Ms. Dee
We will contact you to discuss your experience. Our fee structure is different than the one you described, so we will need to review your account to see what happened. Thanks for sharing your thoughts, and again- we will contact you tomorrow to bring this to resolution.
Holly
September 18th, 2009 at 8:54 pm
my husband our bank of america but are looking for bank with better customer service and after see the recorded news from ABC this week please visit the website for the article how bank of america rips off our american soliders WOW that was eye opening when debit fees happened too us we wrote a letter and got a generic letter and the customer service over the phone was worst ….we are long time customers but we refuse too bank with a bank that takes bail out money and then turns and robs those whose fight everyday for our freedom thats the thanks they get,,, FYI i follow on TWITTER and that is useless have sent several direct messages no response
thanks
September 21st, 2009 at 6:18 pm
B of A has had my short sale file in review for 9 months!!!! I can’t believe how bad they are. I have had to sell the property 4 times because the buyers won’t wait and each time it sells for less!! So frustrating my agent said Realtors are boycotting B of A short sales..
September 21st, 2009 at 6:31 pm
I am going to BOYCOTT B of A. I am closing my account today and going to Well Fargo…….. What jerks they forclosed on an 82 year old couple on my street. Made them wait and wait for a loan mode, then said NO and forclosed next week with out even trying to let them do a short sale.. They lost there money in the Maddoff scam. So So sad.. They had 30 days to vacate after telling them for month that they would help ….. THEY WERE YEARS OLD lived in the property a long time!
September 22nd, 2009 at 2:02 am
Nice step taken by you. I absolutely agreed with you that you have more chances to get more reviews and feedback from consumer on social networking site and tweeter is really famous world wide as Mr. Obama and many stars are also member of it. I think you will improve your performance more. I am also member of tweeter of it. So looking forward.
September 22nd, 2009 at 9:45 am
BANK OF AMERICA HAS NO THOUGHT OR COMPASSION FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS!! I RECENTLY DEPOSITED A CASHIERS CHECK FOR $3800.00..THE CHECK WAS SENT TO ME OVER NITE U.P.S. FOR A ROOM I HAD FOR RENT. THRU NUMEROUS E-MAILS I DECIDED TO RENT TO WHO I THOUGHT WAS A LEGIT YOUNG LADY GOING TO SCHOOL HERE. HOWEVER, FOUND OUT IT WAS A SCAM!! I COUNTED ON THE BANKS TO LET ME KNOW IF THE CASHIERS CHECK WAS GOOD OR NOT. THEY LET ME KNOW ALRIGHT!! WITH THE THREAT OF PLACING ME IN THE NATIONAL CHECK REGISTRY!!I NEVER RECEIVED ANY MONEY FROM THE CHECK NOR WAS IT EVER CASHED. EVEN AFTER WENT TO THE BANK WITH PROOF OF THE EMAILS, THEY CANCELED MY ACCOUNT FOR SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY (CASHIERS CHECK FRAUD) . I HAVE SINCE E-MAIL THE BBB THE F.T.C. ALSO SENT COPIES OF SOME OF THE E-MAILS TO BANK OF AMERICA IN HOPES THAT THEY DON’T VICTIMIZE ME A SECOND TIME BY PUTTING ME IN THE REGISTRY FOR BAD CHECKS!!TALK ABOUT CUSTOMER SERVICE!! I ALSO CONTACTED MY LOCAL POLICE TO INVESTIGATE THE CASHIERS CHECK.
September 22nd, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Can someone please contact me at my email address? Thanks!
September 23rd, 2009 at 11:41 am
Bank of America is a disgrace to our nation and to all our service members worldwide. Plz DO NOT support this Bank in any form and I ask you plz, take your business and your talents elsewhere. They are a disgrace!
http://scotteallen.net/?p=224 ( watch the vid )
Scott
September 24th, 2009 at 7:10 pm
I guess we all need to post our grievances on U-Tube per Ann Minch. If you haven’t checked it, you should do it. Wish I had thought of it.
September 28th, 2009 at 9:47 am
BOFA should also be sued for the way they have treated many of their long time customers. We are pulling all of our business out of there due to the way we were treated trying to refinance our home. We are not the only ones this has happened to. We have many friends who have already left them before we did. Our credit rating is excellent and we should never have been treated this way for over 5 months as we have been loyal customers for over 10 years.
September 29th, 2009 at 6:44 am
What a joke! Who cares if you are on Twitter? The real point is what are you going to do about your Customer Service and Credit Cards mess? Don’t see corrections going on here for that.
Recently, a friend of mine requested a credit line increase. BoA responded by lowering her line after she had words with a CS rep w/o telling her, putting her at risk of going over her limit, and dropping her credit score. Come to find out, there was a charge back on her credit report that did not belong to her and has now been removed. Great customer service BoA! You tell the customer they have BAD credit (648 qualified for this remark) and didn’t bother to speak with a long time customer that had excellent standings with your bank before jerking her around.
God I HATE we had to bail you guys out! DOWN with BoA and all banks that are screwing taxpayers!
October 9th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
I made an offer on a short sale house and the owners accepted it April 3rd of this year…B of A has been working on getting a decision since then on whether to accept the offer. 6 months, really? 6 months and still no answer?
October 10th, 2009 at 4:18 pm
I have had a business line of credit for 2 years. I have always paid better than on time, and pay more than required. I am a Real Estate Broker and have continued being successful through this recession. I recently closed a relatively big deal and paid down my business line of credit. The Total line of credit was $25,000.00. I paid it down to $6,000.00. Today I received a letter that BOA has cut my line of credit down to my current balance. I have a successful business, and I have never been late on anything. I have a 750 credit score. So much for helping the small business. I am a women with my own business. I have been with Bank of America since they were Barnett Bank, they were a good bank then!
October 11th, 2009 at 8:48 am
Interesting, I posted a response to poster here and it still says it is awaiting moderation. Why would they keep it hidden? See below
joker commented: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
October 5th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
October 11th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I closed on a 203k loan on the 8th of July of ‘09. Receipts for the remodel were sent in weeks ago but This institution has yet to order an inspection or even return calls to me. Anyoine else attempt to contact 203k department? This has all the earmarks of a bank about to fold.
October 12th, 2009 at 7:04 am
How many people have posted here and returned to find the note that your comment is awaiting moderation? If it says that, then people are not able to read your post. Why would they hide posts from people when all they do is offer information. I will try posting some information that might help you guys again. Let’s see if they allow it to post this time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America
Also, check out the FDIC website: http://www.fdic.gov/consumers/index.html
October 16th, 2009 at 11:56 am
For those of you not to familiar with the shady business practices of the corporate monster known as Bank of America let me fill you in. First thing is the slogan of this bank is bank of oppurtunity when it should actually be bank of oppression. Since they have recieved there bailout money they have put over 20,000 people out of work by closing more than 1800 businesses. When will this stop? I am a recent victim of the economic terrorism that they are getting away with it is absolutely criminal. They have everyone in there pocket from high ranking political officials to congress people all the way down to judges in your local county courthouse! They decided that rather than ask our company to repay a loan that it would be more beneficial for them to seize our property, both personal and company related, change the locks on the doors and tell us we have 15mins to vacate the property or else they would call the police. So know maybe the bank of america ceo can purchase a $10,000 soap dispenser or maybe a $15,000 toilet paper holder. You may say that sounds outlandish but its not to far fetched considering this man spent $27,000 dollars on a toilet. I dont know about you but that is more than I spend on a brand new car. So while he buys diamond encrusted items for his restroom I will continue to worry if I will be able to purchase the essential toiletries for my house. So I encourage all of you to take a second look where you are putting your money. Lets not continue to support the people that at a drop of time will rip your entire life away from you. Take it from me we can make a difference please visit our facebook page at savepremierkia. Thank you to everyone for all of your support to stop this economic terrorism from continuing to happen!!!!!!!!
October 16th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Regarding Bof A and now you are listening to your customers. I guess I am in the minority. I am very knowledgeable about customer satisfaction and customer experience and BoA is NOT in the top 10, no, not in the top 1000.
You have very regid customer service, change rates and policies to good /loyal customers during bad times and are very non customer oriented. Explain to me why because of Bof A mismanagement , Bof A takes it out on thier customers. No way to build loyalty and good PR
October 20th, 2009 at 10:36 am
I am currently refinancing through Bank of America and I have to say the customer service has been HORRIBLE! If I can offer a suggestion to anyone DO NOT Refi with Bank of America. I am stuck with them now because they have my nonrefundable home inspection fee so I have to see the process through. If there was anyway I could get out of doing business with them I would. Please Learn from my mistake. I have been through this process 4 times and have always had a great experience but have used other banks.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:23 am
BOA is the most user unfriendly buinees I have ever had the unfortunate opportunity to deal with in my busines life. They are slow to respond, do not follow through, and never take responsibility for their mistakes. Their web site is slow and basically an advertising site. No I do not want another credit card.
October 25th, 2009 at 11:56 am
If you can, I urge you all to LEAVE BofA. I just did and it feels good, and I am staying with the banks where my experience as a customer is at least average to good. I just experienced the “last straw” with this company and cancelled my credit card (despite possible negative FICO impact) and cut it up. This was the absolute last tie I had with this firm, as I had been paring away at my exposure to BofA for some time now. Every touch point with this bank over the years, from mortgages, to the teller windows, to credit card servicing, has been difficult and frustrating, and getting worse. Banks are difficult to deal with during these tough times, but there are so much better institutions who don’t seem to go out of their way to be nasty and under-handed to their customers – like BofA and several other large banks(mostly the TARP recipients) are doing. BofA just doesn’t deserve my business (twitter or no twitter!), and if more people can vote with their feet, just maybe BofA will either re-shape its appalling customer service culture, or become so weak that it is broken up and acuqired in pieces by other banks better able to actual conduct banking business with customers.
Free at Last!
October 28th, 2009 at 7:10 am
We need some help with a short sale. BOA is the 2nd lender. BOA gave us a Payoff amount which we agree on but since they got our new contract no one is calling us back and only thing we get in response it will take up to 2 month again … we are waiting on this since almost 7 month now and thought we can move before the holidays. Hope you can help. Please let us know. Thanks.
Regards, Marc
October 29th, 2009 at 6:52 am
No reaction no help as of yet. hope someone from BOA will read this here … let me know if you can help and if you are relly willing to help … Thanks ..
Marc
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 am
Okay we have now Now 2nd .. and NO REACTION .. not even here in this BLOG … Bank of America REALLY SUCKS MAN ..
November 5th, 2009 at 8:15 am
Hi,
We put a bid on a home in Seekonk, Ma that was in “short sale” back in July, 2009. The bid was accepted immediately by the sellers and went on to BofA. We waited for over 4 months only to be told yesterday that the sellers were going into foreclosure. It seems that BofA had the opportunity to both sell the house and keep that from happening, but simply took too long. The Internet is full of horror stories with short sales and specifically your bank. We want the house. I’m assuming you want to sell it. Why can’t we just get this done????
November 5th, 2009 at 8:22 am
Oh nora .. i’m sorry to hear that .. i hope this won’t happen to us .. we are waiting now since 7 month on the short sale .. BOA is the 2nd lender on ours .. the first one is fine with our offer but needs to wait until our FRIENDS bof sign off as well. We are going to pay boa what they asked for as payoff .. and we still need to wait .. boa is the worst bank ever. they never should bailed them out .. they should go under ! Sorry .. even this blog is a joke .. no responce no help just BLA BLA BLA ! thanks for wasting tax dollars boa.
Nora i feel with you and hope you still have a chance. if there is a forelcosure date set you can escalate the case at the bank. in our case there is no date set that’s why we need to wait. The seller or the attorney of the seller needs to get in touch with boa asap to escalate your case and to force them to look into your offer. WHY THE HELL IS HERE NO HELP … they got help from the government .. and no one is helping us. GOOD LUCK NORA !
November 5th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I am not happy with BOA right now!!! What can someone do to help me!!!
For the last few months I have been trying to lower my interest rates!!! The dept department at BOA told me to close all my accounts before I start the dept reliefe process because it would look better on my account… After I did all of that… Guess what!!! BOA dept relief management told me that I could manage my accounts but to pay BOA double payments!!! I went through the whole credit check (which BTW lowers your credit score when any bank checks your credit score). Now BOA turned off my online access so I can’t see me balance on my credit cards. I had to call BOA to ask them to send me the paper statement just so I can pay my bills on time. HELP!!!!! ALL I ASKED WAS TO LOWER MY INTEREST RATE ON MY CREDIT CARDS AND I GET THIS!!!
November 7th, 2009 at 1:34 am
I was a good customer for ten years. Then one day, one of the horrible people in B/A’s credit resolution department, wiped out all my credit.
Just because she thought she knew better than I what I was capable of doing with my financial information. She didn’t bother to check that I was a good reliable customer with a credit score of 858, no she did not care about that. She talked to me for all of two minutes, said “hold on please” and then came back to tell me my credit was gone, and that it was $300 above what I owed. I had to cash in a CD to get the cash to create a gap between what I owed and what my limit was, and they just did it again. They are a bunch of thugs, and should not be working at any bank, as they are incompetent fools who are ruining B/A’s reputation throughout the country. Whoever is hiring these thugs, ought to be fired.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
BEWARE HIDDEN FEES FOR INSUFFICIENT FUNDS.
UNLIKE FROST BANK AND OTHER BANKING INSTITUTES…. YOU DO NOT GET CREDIT FOR DEPOSITING FUNDS INTO YOUR ACCOUNT BEFORE THEY ARE TAKEN OUT.. YOU GET A HIDDEN FINANCE CHARGE OF 35.00… THEN YOU GET ANOTHER
FINANCE CHARGE FOR NOT PAYING THAT FINANCE CHARGE…OH AND IF YOU ARE BUSY , AND YOU DON’T CHECK YOU ACCOUNT FOR 5 DAYS AFTER YOUR FINANCE CHARGES HAVE BEEN POSTED, YOU GET ANOTHER 35.00 CHARGE FOR NOT PAYING YOUR FIRST FINANCE CHARGE WITHIN 5 DAYS…
SO BEFORE YOU KNOW IT YOUR DEEPER IN DEBT THAN YOU EVER HAVE BEEN AND YOU HAVEN’T EVEN SPENT ONE SINGLE SENT…
NO WONDER BANK OF AMERICA HAS TO PAY THEIR CUSTOMERS TO BANK WITH THEM.
November 12th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
I have had a horrible experience with BOA just this morning. I admit that I over drew my checking account with not allowing enough for my house payment. That was one overdraft fee. But, somethings that were marked clear on Friday were changed to clear after the house payment on Monday. I was charged with 5 overdraft fees. When I called the 1-800 number, I was talked to like a DOG. I asked for a supervisor and was treated even worse. I hung up and went to my bank. When they pulled up the account. The 1-800 people had blocked the fees where NOTHING could be done about them. I am now out $105.00 and was told by the 1-800 people that another $35.00 will be deducted tonight. Don’t you think the millions of tax payers money was enough. They are not customer service. Nor was the people at my branch. THey all had this \deer in the headlights\ look.
November 13th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
I called BOA today and asked to speak with a supervisore, Lance (RLC) got on the phone and started talking. I was pleasant and interrupted him once. His comment was “Mam, I will let you talk when I am finished”. He was so rude I got off the phone crying. I asked to speak to a supervisor because normally they resolve a situation. BOA has caused me to lose 4 shortsale cash offers on my home because of the length of time they take to process. Lance(RLC) told me it can take up to 6 months. He would not let me speak so I hung up on him because I was in tears. What upsets me is that with all the people in our country that do not have a job men like him have a job and shouldn’t. I am going to an attorney on Monday, to file a lawsuit against a bank that does not care about their clients. It is because of a person like him. I am a professional that deals with clients everyday and would never speak to anyone like he spoke to me.
November 14th, 2009 at 2:58 am
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November 16th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
Sure, Lewis pulls the D-ring on his golden parachute, pulls the rug out from under his Chief Counsel, and names a protege as Chief Counsel and Heir Apparent.
How many times do you have to be punched in the face before you realize the other guy doesn’t give a damn as to what you think?
November 16th, 2009 at 4:45 pm
“Holly Hastings is National Customer Experience Executive for the Consumer and Small Business Bank at Bank of America, one of the world’s leading financial services companies.”
Have any of you tried to contact Holly? Impossible to do. She is just another in the long line of hired mouthpieces who know little but are thrown into the breach as cannon fodder by upper management in a vain attempt to posture themselves as “Responsible” executives…
November 20th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
I have had an experience today that leads me to believe that BOA is not customer centric and is more interested in forcing its polices than taking care of their customers and does not allow anyone to make an exception. As the director of the Customer Relationship Management Institute, I am very aware of this area and the stories of good and bad companies and the end result. When you take care of the customer you will have improved margins etc.
If anyone is interested, my problem is my small business account was having the monthly fee waived. They started charging it and I didn’t realize it until I received a notice I was in default. I understand that my small business account is not a money maker for the bank with low activity since it is tied to a part time job doing photography work with nil activity for awhile now. I am a premier customer for personal accounts with lots of active and have a good balance including a brokerage account.
I went to the bank today and talked to the branch manager and he will not will not waive the fee again - new policy. So I started looking at other banks on the internet when I got home. I found that Citizen bank as a green business account with no min balance requirement. I found TD Bank no bal for the first year then $300. I believe the min for BOA is 3,000. I know I can avoid the fee if I use my debit card for the business about once a month. But this is just another hassle for me since I don’t carry this card, I use my personal BOA debit card ( a lot).
While on the internet and check BOA also, a chat window came up so I tried it. Chatted with Olivia, at least she was polite and thanked me for being a customer but couldn’t help. She indicated I should contact my Premier Banking specialist and she gave me the number (800 444.8660). It is nearly impossible to get through the tree to get a person. Finally got Mary, told the story again but she could not help me wrong department. She give me another number 800 444.8660 and finally get a person, Elizabeth. Indicated we don’t have Primier it is preferred now and asked if I have a brokerage account - yes I do. She needs to update my profile even though it is in my bank statement. Ok so let’s get it update and now I am in Wealth Management that is another number but she will dial it for me. Wait…. Now we find out you need 250K bal to be in wealth management - so that’s not me. Elizabeth tries to help but can’t so I talk to her supervisor Dan, he is nice too but can’t help with waiving the fees going foreward. I ask for who the Customer Experience Officer is for BOA and was told they don’t have one but he does have a channel to provide feedback. I asked what happens with it
- they roll it up and look at what they may want to do next year.
I don’t get it why someone can’t look at the situation and understand here is a good customer been loyal and can’t credit $12/month??? Then on top of that BOA is not competitive, others have no fee for small business. One should look at the full customer not look at by account.
This is my last try, if you can’t help, I may just need to start a relationship with another bank, the key work being relationship not a number - policy.
Bill