Does Bank of America Have The Worst Customer Service? My Latest Experience


Bank of America Customer Service Experience

My Bank of America Customer Service Experience

I have to admit that the last few times I have contacted Bank of America (BOA) their customer service has left a lot to be desired.  Not to mention they are stuck in the 1980’s and offer no way to contact them electronically (live chat, secure message etc.). My latest Bank of America customer service experience really drove me crazy though.  It took me multiple calls, long hold times, and some terrible procedures to simply close down a few credit cards.

RELATED: Bank of America $66 Million Class Action Settlement

Background Info

As some of you may remember I recently called Bank of America when the annual fees posted on my Alaska Airlines and Virgin Atlantic cards.  I wanted to see if there were any retention offers like what I had previously received on my Alaska card.

After hearing their offers I decided to close the accounts.  This was in part to increase my chances at getting a more desired Bank of America product.  The other part was my desire to simplify my life and reduce the need to track so many accounts.

After closing the accounts the agent said my my annual fees should be credited within a few days.  I had 3 weeks or so before the due date so I was sure the annual fees would be credited in time.  It takes American Express all of one day to get this accomplished most of the time.

Not So Fast

After 2 weeks the accounts were still showing a balance so I decided to call in again.  There was a 50 minute wait time but they were willing to call me back.  I can not tell you how INSANE it is for a bank customer service line to have an hour wait time but I thought it must be an anomaly.  Maybe adding a secure message feature for your customers would help with that…just an idea.

I received the call about an hour later and was told my accounts were closed but I needed to pay the annual fee.  I asked why they weren’t credited in the first place. She said I needed to pay the fee and then they would be credited.

At this point I knew this would require another call to BOA to get the refund. Since they don’t have any other way to contact customer service. I really wanted to avoid that.  She said she could not credit them herself since it wasn’t done properly when the accounts were originally closed.  I don’t know if this is true or not. I can not remember if I needed to pay the annual fee before getting a credit in the past with other BOA cards.

Giving In

There really was no other option at this point so I paid the annual fees. The very next day a credit balance showed on my account, how stupid is that?  So I of course had to call Bank of America again to take care of my negative balance.  And wouldn’t you know it, the hold time was once again over an hour.  What is going on with this bank?

After finally getting my call back, over an hour later, I was able to get the money deposited into my checking account within a few days.


There are so many things wrong with this situation.  Why did I have to call so many times to cancel two credit cards?  I shouldn’t have to call in at all to cancel a card.  Why couldn’t they credit the annual fee when I called in instead of making me pay it and then call again for the credit?  Lastly, what is with the 1990’s Ticketmaster hold times?

I have no idea how a bank can operate like this but it is beyond frustrating.  What a waste of time and energy for something I can do in two seconds with American Express or Chase etc.

That is my latest Bank of America customer service experience have you had anything similar happen lately?






  1. They are TERRIBLE! I have only had to call in a couple of times, but both times it was complete misery. It makes me think twice about signing up for one of their cards.

  2. Mark,

    You’re not alone. Bank of America is the WORST! It’s like they are stuck in a time warp and refuse to utilize the newest technology. Their website sucks. It’s EASY with any other website (Chase, Citibank, American Express, etc) to set up auto bill pay but it’s impossible on Bank of America.

    I keep the Alaska Airlines card as I still get value each year renewing it. I’m set up on automatic e-statements. Well, back in late August my card came up for the annual fee. Only they did NOT send out an e statement/email. I only figured out by accident that the bill was late. Something was wrong with their e-statements. I not only didn’t get any statements but didn’t get any email that the bill was not paid/late.

    Well the payment was now past due and at this point I was really angry because in 25+ years of credit history I never was late for a payment. I called in and reported that I never got an email or e-statement. The lady on the phone was nice (I also had to wait almost 45 minutes to talk to someone). She said she would remove the late fee. But I was more concerned about them not reporting it late to the credit bureaus.

    She said they didn’t. But sure enough 2 weeks later it hit the 3 credit bureaus and my FICO took a 50 point hit overnight. I called and asked them to correct it with the 3 credit bureaus since it was their mistake. They agreed to do it but it took TWO MONTHS for them to update with the 3 credit bureaus. My score went back up after they deleted it but not to the level that it was at before this.

    Setting up autopay is super slow. They have to actually mail you out a letter that you have to fill out to handwrite in the account you want to debit. Then you have to snail mail it back in. And they say it takes 2 billing cycles to update. WTF? Why can’t they upgrade their website to utilize technology.

    They are the worst!

    • Their website is like a local credit union’s site. And the business cards…you have to manually enter in the card info to pay…what is that? Also why do they issue you a new account number for the business account and then the card account under it. They make it so much harder than it needs to be.

  3. This is the result of “too big to fail”. The customer service sucks in the branches, too, at least in mine. I’d leave tomorrow if my wife would agree.

  4. Here’s my opinion: I have been with Bank of America for maybe 20 years, and I’ve been saying for YEARS they are the worst IN THE WORLD. The representatives RARELY know answers to the questions you ask. The wait times to even get a hold of someone is crazy long. The computer prompts are inaccurate or misleading. The computer voice asks for you to enter information, and then it says it doesn’t work. They take FOREVER to verify your identity, going to the extreme. They give you a password and say it will be easy the next time, but it isn’t. They seem to spend plenty of money to grow themselves to extraordinary size, and then, spend little to provide positive customer satisfaction. I just can’t remember how many times its been a bad experience with them, but I’m guessing 90% or 100 times. I say all this from dealing with THOUSANDS of companies, big and small. And it’s easy to compare them to a GOOD company. Whenever i call American Express, my calls are answered immediately. I ALWAYS have a representative that knows the answers to my questions. Their website (Amex) is perfect. Its easy to pass their security measures (wonder why, do you thing Amex takes it less seriously than B of A? — I doubt it). It’s just a pleasure to work with AMEX. But when I go to call Bank of America, which I do a few times a year, I cringe. I had my credit cards stolen, which included Bank of America. In the midst of a panic, and having to call many other credit card companies to report stolen, all while the thieves were running around charging up my cards, Bank of America took 40 minutes just to cancel my cards! The only reason I don’t switch is because it would be too long to set up my 100 bill pay accounts.

    • That last sentence is what I think they count on. Just too much a PIA to change over to another bank. But they do leave a lot to be desired.

  5. When they fold (or probably merge) much lamenting about loss of choice and consolidation will occur. At this point, let’s still send praise that we have more banks left than airlines out there.

    • They already merged with Merrill Lynch so I don’t see them doing it again anytime soon but choice is always good.

  6. They are terrible, dumped them about a year ago as well, never got some incorrectly charged fees back, etc.. The day I closed all my accounts, do you think they asked why I was closing a 10 year + relationship with them? I was in and out closing my accounts in 10 minutes, they have zero care for their customer base…

  7. I am sorry guys. Chase banking and credit is the absolute worst bar none. I cant elaborate now but they are the worst. Followups…LOL.

    • To be honest I have never heard people bag on Chase much before. They always respond quickly whenever I call or SM them. Sorry to hear you have been having issues with them.

  8. I used to like bank of America because they had a one of a kind virtual, teller assist that was open until 10 pm most days . Sure they charged a stupid fee but I could go in and cash a check after bank hours which was the saving grace for someone like me who is always at work during bank hours. Now though they only have teller assist during bank hours !!!!! Wtf is the point of teller assist if you can just go to a bank? Better yet wtf is the point of going to the bank if they just direct you to teller assist.


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