EXCLUSIVE: Bank of America’s horrid “customer service” scandal

[unhappycamper]

http://www.salon.com/2014/10/09/exclusive_bank_of_americas_horrid_customer_service_scandal/



"It's hurting the customer, it's hurting us," a whistleblower says. How the bank's neglect reached a tipping point

EXCLUSIVE: Bank of America’s horrid “customer service” scandal
Sarah Jaffe
Thursday, Oct 9, 2014 06:58 AM EST

Tony (last name not included for fear of reprisal on the job) has worked at Bank of America for 11 years as a customer service associate. He takes phone calls from customers whose needs range from a simple change of address to a family crisis that leaves the caller unable to pay their bills, and he tries to help them solve their problems. And Tony and his coworkers are organizing.

Bank of America has had more complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau than any other American financial institution, according to a July report from Mother Jones magazine. And according to Tony, many of those complaints could be fixed with better training for workers, who instead feel squeezed, wanting to provide good service to the customers they talk to daily and on the other hand scapegoated when something goes wrong. Tired of the inadequate training they receive, tired of watching associates get fired for mistakes they didn’t know were mistakes, tired of feeling like they’re hurting customers rather than helping them, a group of around 40 workers got together to try to make, in Tony’s words, a positive change.

“We started the group because we were tired of seeing good people walked out,” Tony says. “It’s tough when you’ve got to work in an environment where they tap you on the shoulder, say ‘Can you come to a meeting?’ and as you walk away, another manager walks up to your desk with a box and starts packing your stuff. If you look over your shoulder, you see them packing your stuff as you walk away. And we all sit there in shock saying ‘What did they do?’”

~snip~

For example, he says, associates received just a brief training on doing balance transfers in the computer system that they use to manage customers’ accounts. For a while, he wasn’t aware that at the end of the call, a disclosure statement would pop up that was to be read to the customer, a legal statement of how the interest would accrue and what the fee would be for the transfer. Instead, he says, they were told that they should never end a call until the customer is finished, so if the customer ended the call, the next call would come in without the disclosure ever appearing. One of his coworkers, he says, was fired when the quality control department, which listens to two recorded calls from each worker each month to make sure they’re doing their jobs correctly, caught her not reading the disclosure. “This disclosure where the customer can say ‘I don’t want a 4% fee,’ this favors the bank when we don’t read it to them,” he says. “You’ve already got the balance transfer, we can’t do anything about the fee.”

[dixiegrrrrl]

1. Employees were "given bonuses for putting accounts into foreclosure"

BOA has had my ire for years, and I won't rest till they sink like a rock.

[DesertDiamond]

2. The have a contract with the state to receive my UI deposits for me, and that IRKS me!

I use the debit card to get my money out, and that's the ONLY business I will ever do with them!

[Uben]

3. I quit using banks 20 yrs ago

It's legalized extortion with all the fees these bastards try to impose on you. I'll never use one again.

We all probably have stories, here's mine-

Had an auto fender bender. No big deal, damaged bumper and grill. Called the adjuster, he came out, I got a check for like $1200 a week or so later. Took it to my bank and deposited it. Went and bought a bumper and a grill, installed it myself, all is fine....I thought. A few days later I start getting calls about checks not clearing, causing ME to have to pay returned check fees. WTF?

So I go to my bank and asked what the deal was. They said the check from the insurance company I handed to the TELLER was supposed to be endorsed by me and the person who repaired the vehicle. IT WAS, I fixed it myself! But since there was only one signature, they kicked it back. I was livid. They eventually made it right, but I took out ALL my money except for $3.95. I left it there for about 15 years so they would have to send me a statement evry month. I had to even claim it twice since there was no activity on the account for so long.

So much wrong here. The error was really on the teller for not noticing the co-endorsement needed. Then, they should have contacted me before returning the checks, since the error was obviously theirs. That would have fixed the problem. Then, I encountered a smart-assed lady in accounting who I could not seem to make understand what had transpired. So, I went to a bank VP and let him have it! HE agreed the error was theirs and apologized.

I made them call the four businesses who had received the returned checks and tell them the error was theirs.

I've been using a credit union ever since. Not one single problem, or fee, since.

[Doctor_J]

4. I am confident that Holder will get on this, as soon as ISIS and the pot growers have been dealt wit