Bank of America Gets Slammed for Losing Death Certificate Three Times
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In what sounds like an astounding lack of decent service, Bank of America has given the son of a deceased woman more than the usual run around. Matt, a college student, lost his mother on October 1. Since then, he has been fighting with the bank to deal with the mortgage on her property.
According to Matt, as told to The Consumerist, the bank has lost several copies of the woman's death certificate:
"The first call ended after the associate we were speaking to told us that the only person they could talk to was the person who was listed on the mortgage: my mother.
"Since she was deceased, that's obviously not possible, so we explained 'death' to the person we were speaking to. They said they had to talk to my mother, we decided it was hopeless, and gave up.
"We later got on the phone with someone else who said to send them a copy of the death certificate. They lost that one. Then they lost the next one. Then they lost the third, hand-delivered, death certificate. They finally managed to get the death certificate to a filing cabinet on the fourth try. They sent a letter acknowledging they had received the death certificate, but still they asked to speak with the person on the mortgage."
Curiously, Bank of America was criticized recently for requesting a death certificate of a customer who isn't dead. A filmmaker created a short video explaining that "Bank of America wants you to die before you modify" a mortgage loan.
This could explain why, on the Customer Service Scoreboard, Bank of America is rated 25.91 out of 200 (compared to Zappos, rated 186). The site includes 1131 negative comments and 46 positive comments-not a great showing.
Discussion Starters:
- What gives the consumer credibility in his assessment? In other words, how do we know that Matt is likely telling the truth about what has happened?
- As of this writing, I don't see a response from Bank of America about the situation with Matt. If you were the head of customer service for the bank, would you write a statement about the situation? If so, what would you include?
