Bloodsucking Cons (Bank of America)
F.H.
kicked around a few times but Bank of America has hit a new low.
They include with your statement, (in a way that you can't *possibly*
miss it) a little card that looks like a lottery ticket. It has three
gold bars that if you scrape off the gold, reveal an amount, ($10.00).
If you include the scratched off card with your monthly payment, you get
$10.00 dollars credited to your account. You've won!!! What could be
sweeter?
If you turn the card over and read the *very* fine print you find that
by doing so you have just joined "Great Fun" (whatever that is) at a
cost of 199.99.
Also in *very* print is a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo that basically states:
BWHAHAHAHAHA "try to get out of this one."
Did a Google on "Great Fun" and came up with:
http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/323/RipOff0323061.htm
and:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/tlg-great-fun-c54502.html
Where would the creditor industry be without the business model of the
Mafia to copy?
RonG
"F.H." <conn...@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:nAXKj.3721$3w2.841@trnddc05...
It is unreal and mind boggling how these people can perpetuate these
scams and be able to get away with it.
Last month or so I got a call from some guy, (no phone identity on the
caller id) and he asks to speak to the person who handles the "business
phone account" which was the immediate tip off. When I asked him who he
was instead of answering, he told me he was with the phone company
(Verizon) and they were changing the billing procedures for their
business accounts and were required to inform me of this new policy.
Then he kept asking me if "I understood" what he was telling me. He was
attempting to solicit a "Yes" answer from me which would have made it
legal for him to switch my phone carrier to different carrier for long
distance service on my business line.
To get hooked into one of these phone switches, all you have to do is
answer "yes" to any question they ask you and "bingo" they can switch
you over to their carrier at higher prices. Slimy fucken bastards and
they get away with this time and again.
RonG
Troia
=================
Typical BofA.
They've lost 15 deposits of mine, for varying lengths of time from 2
days to over 3 weeks to permanently, in the last few years. Each time,
the check(s) deposited have already cleared the drawing bank within a
day or so, but BofA denies the deposit until provided proof.
If it were just me, I would take it differently. However, almost
everyone I know who banks with them has had them lose deposits. They
lost $23,000 in checks put in a night deposit, for one business I deal
with. Similar stories from others. They shrug their shoulders & tell
you to go get the documentation from each and every person who wrote
those checks, but in the meanwhile they don't want to make the funds
available.
They are the very essence of what gives me the shudders in the push
towards paperless banking.
The scheme you describe is one that I've seen time & again. Portland
(OR) puts on an annual food showcase festival each year. One year,
there was a raffle for a car. On the raffle slip, in very fine print,
was an agreement that by signing up for the raffle, you were also
agreeing to be charged on your phone bill for a "long distance" service
costing a minimum of $19.99/mo.
It's an overt scam. I know it could take time, but I hope BofA finds
themselves the target of a very costly class action lawsuit. One thing
I believe I was told in contracts class years ago is that the print used
on a contract has to be obvious and readable, not hiding clauses that
the signer might overlook. Another that I know still holds true is that
if there is doubt about the terms of a contract, the interpretation will
be based on the party who did NOT write the contract; bias is against
the party who wrote the terms, if they are in question.
Your comments about them are kind, given the number of questionable
things they do, often enough.
http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A344539
http://www.my3cents.com/showReview.cgi?id=10420
http://news.lp.findlaw.com/andrews/bf/bll/20070613/20070613_retail.html
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=ar&vol=appeals/2005a/20050309/e04-142&invol=2
etc.
and misc. issues
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America_controversies
http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/bank-of-america.html
http://rrichanimish.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-struggle-for-my-money.html
This one is similar to what I went through:
http://bank-of-america.shoulddothis.com/
> Bank of America should integrate all their state account systems
>
> I set up an account with Bank of America in North Carolina. I
> currently live in Washington. An important deposit was put into my
> account in Massachusetts.
>
> For some reason or another, this deposit went missing… and it took
> Bank of America over a month to find it and put it in my account. After
> they charged the crap out of me in overdraft fees which wouldn’t have
> happened had the deposit appeared in the account as it should have.
>
> They should also apologize to me.
freedumb
> etc.
> and misc. issueshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_of_America_controversieshttp://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/bank-of-america.htmlhttp://rrichanimish.blogspot.com/2006/07/my-struggle-for-my-money.html
>
> This one is similar to what I went through:
>
> http://bank-of-america.shoulddothis.com/
>
>
>
> > Bank of America should integrate all their state account systems
>
> > I set up an account with Bank of America in North Carolina. I
> > currently live in Washington. An important deposit was put into my
> > account in Massachusetts.
>
> > Bank of America over a month to find it and put it in my account. After
> > they charged the crap out of me in overdraft fees which wouldn't have
> > happened had the deposit appeared in the account as it should have.
>
>
> - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
I was a kid and homeless.
I was being beaten in my sleep by police with guns pointed at my head.
It was all to good to be true that the government would rehabilitate
my back after being abducted by George Bush and the Secret Service.
I signed for the *job training* with a 98% hiring rate. Little did I
suspect that this would ruin me and doom me until I die.
Decades later I am still unemployed with a ballooned debt and a wage
garnishment if I ever do get hired. No back rehabilitation in sight
and secret service agents hitting me with baseball bats.
Department of Education must be destroyed.
F.H.
Heh, who again are our elected official supposed to be serving? ;)
> Last month or so I got a call from some guy, (no phone identity on the
> caller id) and he asks to speak to the person who handles the "business
> phone account" which was the immediate tip off. When I asked him who he
> was instead of answering, he told me he was with the phone company
> (Verizon) and they were changing the billing procedures for their
> business accounts and were required to inform me of this new policy.
> Then he kept asking me if "I understood" what he was telling me. He was
> attempting to solicit a "Yes" answer from me which would have made it
> legal for him to switch my phone carrier to different carrier for long
> distance service on my business line.
>
> To get hooked into one of these phone switches, all you have to do is
> answer "yes" to any question they ask you and "bingo" they can switch
> you over to their carrier at higher prices. Slimy fucken bastards and
> they get away with this time and again.
>
> RonG
I did a Rob, (slight typo), it was only (only) 119.99. :) This
particular BofA account is for a zero interest (for one year) balance
transfer. I will pay it off in full within one year and have the last
laugh. I quit doing business with Bank of America a long time ago but
decided to take advantage of this offer. Of course their hope is that
you will fail to make a dent in the balance during the year and they
entice you toward that end with really low minimum payments.
Did you ever see the movie "The Prime Gig?"
Tex
wrote:
I still say Shell Oil Co. has the best one....they stop sending the
bills to PO Boxes after doing so for years...then claim you are late
etc. when you don't get your bill and pay it on time.
When I called about it when my card wasn't honored at the pump I
called ....Was told I had an outstanding balance and hadn't even made
the min. pmt....she told me they had sent the bill to 3xxxxx and it
had been returned....I then said yeah sure...we don't have street
delivery here and if it doesn't have the PO Box # it gets sent
back...she went into lecture on how it is the customers responsibility
to notify them of any address changes...I then told her there hadn't
been an address change ...that they had been sending the bill to the
PO Box for close to nine years...that if she looked at her screen she
would see I pay the balance 99% of the time...
In the end she agreed it must have been a mistake on their part...and
if I wanted to pay the balance with an electronic check she could take
the payment right now...she rattled off the charges..plus the late
fee...plus the $10.xx electronic check processing fee and gave me a
total and asked for the check info to proceed.
I said...Wait I have a better idea...What's that sir...How about you
send me the bill to the PO Box...then cancel the card.
She said...Could you hold for a moment....comes back and says Mr. X I
have managed to get the late fee waived and the electronic check fee
waived...because you have been such a good customer in the past...
Turns out they did this to others locally...so if they did it across
the country to places where there isn't street delivery and say 50% of
the people go along with it ... they make a pretty good chunk of
money!
All of them...Credit Cards, Phone Companies, TV outfits, ISP's ...all
of them are blood suckers....I think I'll just sell everything off
...close all my accounts and go strictly cash or money order...well
that's what I'd like to ....do...but won't cause I ain't got the balls
or they have me by the balls .... whatever....I just hope the balances
are all maxed out when I die....
jimbo
I think I'll just sell everything off...close all my accounts and go
strictly cash or money order...well
That's what I did. I use one card with a 3K limit and I use it mostly
to shop on line cuz prices here are still generally higher than in the
U.S. In Montreal I use cash and many will give me a 5 to 7% discount
for cash. I haven't paid a cent in interest for credit use in 8 or 9
years.
When I negotiate with the bank I get interest rates from 3 different
banks and then tell them to match it or I'm gone. The consumer has
power and can use it if the don't put them selves in a position where
they lose it.
Jimbo
Randy D
Especially designed for suckers like the folks at ARAA. One always
needs to consider the circular file. So I receive this shit with my
statement because of dumbfucks like you? Lesson for the day: take out
your statement and the return envelope and throw everything else away.
Duh, but beyond duh! Randy
Randy D
Every bank and credit card company in America does this shit.