Monday, February 20, 2012

Why do companies behave this way? Bank of America...

Bank of America, oh my gosh. They are quite possibly the worst company to deal with that I've ever encountered. If you remember, or you've been reading back, our house in Albuquerque had a mortgage on it that was bought by BofA one week or so after we bought the house. We have never been huge BofA fans, but when a mortgage company buys your mortgage, what is there to do but deal with the fact that you may not like the company that bought it? Unless you want to continuously re-fi, that is.

Anyway, I called BofA way back in September because our credit reports still show that we own the property in Albuquerque, despite its closing in March of 2011. They said that file was still open because it was showing incomplete, and when I explained that there was no way the sale was incomplete as someone else CLOSED on the house and LIVES in it, she said she'd forward it to the managers, and they would close it out. (I posted about all this on Sept 30). She also told me they would send me a letter verifying that the mortgage was closed. I gave her our address at our apartment as they had our PO box on file, and we don't have anything going to the PO box anymore, as we haven't had it since September. And then, we waited. And we waited some more. Nothing came. I called again in early February, because I'd begun doing our taxes, and found out that we needed some tax forms relating to the sale of the house. Apparently they were non-essential, but I did want to enter them into TurboTax anyway. The person I spoke with said the forms had gone to the PO box, and they would resend them our current address. They told me they couldn't be faxed or emailed, and that I could expect the forms to be mailed in 15 days. Seriously? Wow. But ok. So we waited.

A week and a half, maybe two weeks passed. I knew we were still a little early, but we had seen NOTHING from Bank of America. They'd promised a credit dispute form, too, and that hadn't arrived despite the fact that it was promised in 5-7 business days. So I called back again to ask why we hadn't received our forms, and to find out what address they'd been sent to.

When I called, I got immediately routed to the delinquent mortgage department because of the short sale. That dept told me I had to speak with customer service and that he'd transfer me. He also gave me the phone number. As I sat on hold awaiting transfer, it dawned on me (I'm a little slow) that the customer service number he had given me was the SAME one I'd called in on. Apparently putting in our information when prompted automatically directed me to delinquent mortgage. So after my transfer, and explaining the whole situation AGAIN, I was told that I needed to be sent to customer service. I was starting to lose it. I told the rep to put me directly with someone, not reroute me because I didn't want to be in an endless loop. She direct connected me. The rep I spoke with advised me that everything had indeed been sent, and that I could expect it anytime. I asked what address. Can you guess? It was the PO box. Again. Then I REALLY lost it. I became the phone jerk that everyone who has ever worked in a call center hates, only without the swearing. (Side note, most reps in call centers actually love it when you swear at them, because most companies mandate that the rep can hang up on a caller that gets profane, so keep it clean.)

I told her I'd given the updated address twice at least, more likely three+ times, as I'm fairly sure I gave them our new address when we moved, and also our closing paperwork all had our new address on it. I told her that the person who now holds our PO box has returned mail to sender after opening it, so I know for a fact that our personal info may be compromised. I told her that I wanted the forms expedited, and I wanted to see them within the week to my current address. She promised that I would see them in 3-5 days, and that they would send them right away. She was apologetic and helpful, and I am a little slow honestly believed that this time, we would get the documents. That was Monday. Friday came, and we didn't get anything. Saturday came, and we didn't get anything from them. 3-5 days? Come and gone. So today, I try to call them. Guess what? They're closed for President's day. Seriously.

I am so fed up with their crap! I've got to call first thing tomorrow morning, and MAN will I be an unhappy camper at that point. I actually am right now, but there's nothing I can do about it. I guess my next step is asking for a manager right off the bat, which is not something I love doing, but seems necessary in this instance, if they've sent another round of documentation to a PO box that we haven't had in 5 months, have repeatedly advised them of, and can't get them to accept. I don't understand what's so hard about changing an address. I do know one thing though - I will not be pacified this time. I want a fax or an overnight of this paperwork. I'm done screwing around here.

The moral of the story is, avoid Bank of America at ALL costs!!! They will screw you repeatedly. But you probably already know that, since even the government doesn't trust BofA. How are they still in business? Sigh.

(Site note: I've got some personal updates that I want to publish, but I don't want to overload you when I haven't posted in a month. So I'll put those in a couple different posts. Just wanted to rail on BofA here for a minute because I'm so frustrated I can barely stand it!)