Hebapotamus42

Hi. In addition to the hell I'm going thru with my husband's
immigration case, I've got another major headache that I'm trying to
focus on right now. To make the story brief, I obtained a cash advance
of $850 back in October but my bank's customer service approved a second
identical charge that had never actually gone thru. So I was charged a
total of $1700 while I had only gotten $850. I sent a letter to the
billing disputes department and a few weeks later got a stupid response
back that basically said I had no case. Now I'm going to write a very
detailed complaint letter with all appropriate proofs and send it to the
bank but I want to know what other courses of action I am able to take.
I've been with this bank since 1997 and they've never had a problem with
me, so I'm very upset about how very easily they dismissed my claim. I
know I can take them to small claims court, but I would like to file a
complaint also against this bank if they don't resolve thi issue. I'm
not sure what agencies I can contact about a complaint against a bank.
I would like suggestions please. BTW, my credit card is a mastercard.

Andrea874

    > Hi. In addition to the hell I'm going thru with my husband's
    > immigration case, I've got another major headache that I'm trying to
    > focus on right now. To make the story brief, I obtained a cash
    > advance of $850 back in October but my bank's customer service
    > approved a second identical charge that had never actually gone thru.
    > So I was charged a total of $1700 while I had only gotten $850. I
    > sent a letter to the billing disputes department and a few weeks later
    > got a stupid response back that basically said I had no case. Now I'm
    > going to write a very detailed complaint letter with all appropriate
    > proofs and send it to the bank but I want to know what other courses
    > of action I am able to take. I've been with this bank since 1997 and
    > they've never had a problem with me, so I'm very upset about how very
    > easily they dismissed my claim. I know I can take them to small
    > claims court, but I would like to file a complaint also against this
    > bank if they don't resolve thi issue. I'm not sure what agencies I
    > can contact about a complaint against a bank. I would like
    > suggestions please. BTW, my credit card is a mastercard.

Yikes, no suggestions, but my deepest sympathies. That really sucks. My
bank is currently screwing me over as well. Whoohoo!

Hypertweeky

    > Hi. In addition to the hell I'm going thru with my husband's
    > immigration case, I've got another major headache that I'm trying to
    > focus on right now. To make the story brief, I obtained a cash
    > advance of $850 back in October but my bank's customer service
    > approved a second identical charge that had never actually gone thru.
    > So I was charged a total of $1700 while I had only gotten $850. I
    > sent a letter to the billing disputes department and a few weeks later
    > got a stupid response back that basically said I had no case. Now I'm
    > going to write a very detailed complaint letter with all appropriate
    > proofs and send it to the bank but I want to know what other courses
    > of action I am able to take. I've been with this bank since 1997 and
    > they've never had a problem with me, so I'm very upset about how very
    > easily they dismissed my claim. I know I can take them to small
    > claims court, but I would like to file a complaint also against this
    > bank if they don't resolve thi issue. I'm not sure what agencies I
    > can contact about a complaint against a bank. I would like
    > suggestions please. BTW, my credit card is a mastercard.

Oh my gosh Heba, I am so SORRY to hear that:( poor you, why does
everything have to be so complicated??, a consumer lawyer will know what
to do, In Spain we have consumer lawyers we can go to for free, but I
have the feeling it is different over here.
One thing is for sure, once you have got out this mess OPEN AN ACCOUNT
WITH A DIFFERENT BANK:mad:
Here is a huggie for you!! (((((Heba)))))
Keep us updated!!

Andrew DeFaria

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Subject: Re: Totally O/T - Complaining about a bank
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Hebapotamus42 wrote:

    > Hi. In addition to the hell I'm going thru with my husband's
    > immigration case, I've got another major headache that I'm trying to
    > focus on right now. To make the story brief, I obtained a cash advance
    > of $850 back in October but my bank's customer service approved a second
    > identical charge that had never actually gone thru. So I was charged a
    > total of $1700 while I had only gotten $850. I sent a letter to the
    > billing disputes department and a few weeks later got a stupid
    > response back that basically said I had no case. Now I'm going to
    > write a very detailed complaint letter with all appropriate proofs and
    > send it to the bank but I want to know what other courses of action I
    > am able to take. I've been with this bank since 1997 and they've never
    > had a problem with me, so I'm very upset about how very easily they
    > dismissed my claim. I know I can take them to small claims court, but
    > I would like to file a complaint also against this bank if they don't
    > resolve thi issue. I'm not sure what agencies I can contact about a
    > complaint against a bank. I would like suggestions please. BTW, my
    > credit card is a mastercard.

You might find more help in the news group
news:alt.comp.software.financial.quicken. It's Quicken related but
there's a lot of knowledge there about banking.

Let me see if I got this straight. You took a cash advance on your
Mastercard that your bank issued for $850 but got double charged $1700?
It's not just banks that dismiss things very quickly now a days. Many
businesses treat you like a criminal and require that you prove to them
that they made the mistake instead you asking them to prove to you that
honestly do owe. Customer service ain't what it used to be.

Case in point, somebody other than me apparently set up a service call
with SBC for my house. Suddenly I got a voice mail message from the
service technician stating that he was at my house but I was not there
and there would be a $55 visit charge. Problem is I never requested a visit!

So I had to call, at least 4 times, to SBC to attempt to get this off of
my bill. They said that they would put it into their "billing dispute
department" and I would be notified in one to two weeks. Time goes by. I
never get any notification. Instead I get billed and I pay all but $55
of the bill. I refuse to pay for some fee that was assessed on my
account for a service I never asked for! Then I get a disconnect notice.
Call SBC up again. They said the denied my "claim". (Funny they never
told me anything about the denial) I ask on what basis? They kept
telling me that a service man came out so I owe them. I kept saying
"That's his problem! I never asked him to come out". They would say "but
an order was placed" and I'd say "that's nice but I didn't place it" and
they'd say "but an order was placed" so I told them "OK, prove that it
was me". Eventually a supervisor called me back and said that they
would, as a courtesy, waive the fee. Yeah right, a courtesy - like they
are doing me some sort of favor! Well there's no guarantees - that's
what they said last time.

The point here is that you should use your leverage and that is: They
want the money from you - your not in a position of having to get your
money back. Never give money to anybody for something you rightfully
believe you shouldn't be paying for. It's your only leverage. Once they
get your money and you are in a position of having to get it back they
will be much less responsive.

So I would write that detailed explanation with proof and send it to
them along with verbiage to the effect of, "... unless you can show me
convincing evidence that I do indeed owe you that other $850 I will not
be paying it" then don't. Keep your evidence and any and all
correspondence WRT this issue and if they go to make a bad mark on your
credit rating then dispute that too and attach your paperwork. Do not
let them screw you!

Bob

    > Oh my gosh Heba, I am so SORRY to hear that:( poor you, why does
    > everything have to be so complicated??, a consumer lawyer will know
    > what to do, In Spain we have consumer lawyers we can go to for free,
    > but I have the feeling it is different over here.
    > One thing is for sure, once you have got out this mess OPEN AN ACCOUNT
    > WITH A DIFFERENT BANK:mad:
    > Here is a huggie for you!! (((((Heba)))))
    > Keep us updated!!

Post it in the US lifestyle section, you might get a lot more
help....there's a few money smarts out there :)

Noorah101

    > Post it in the US lifestyle section, you might get a lot more
    > help....there's a few money smarts out there :)

Hi Heba,

I don't have any concrete advice, except keep on them and don't pay it.
It's so frustrating when this kind of thing happens!! :(

Hang in there...
Rene

Hypertweeky

    > Hi Heba,
    > I don't have any concrete advice, except keep on them and don't pay
    > it. It's so frustrating when this kind of thing happens!! :(
    > Hang in there...
    > Rene

Rene let's send our girlie some love, 1, 2, 3!! LOT OF GOOD LUCK AND
LOVE FOR YOU HEBA!!

Hebapotamus42

    > Hi Heba,
    > I don't have any concrete advice, except keep on them and don't pay
    > it. It's so frustrating when this kind of thing happens!! :(
    > Hang in there...
    > Rene

Thanks Andrew, I'll be checking out that newsgroup. And thanks to
everyone for your support. I don't know if I should even say this or
not but I already paid the charge. I obtained the cash advance in
egypt, and to avoid accumulating finance charges, I put the money into
my credit card account a day before I actually went to make the
transaction. :o (Don't hit!) I realize now that it was very stupid,
giving them the money then asking for it back. I wanted a $1700 cash
advance actually, but at the time of the transaction the only amount
that went through was $850. I tried to obtain an additional $850 but
that transaction failed. However I called my bank days later to ask why
the tranaction wasn't going thru and they gave me a good explanation and
said that problem would no longer happen. But I discovered afterwards
that the customer service rep stupidly approved that failed transaction
- days later, without telling me of course. The egyptian bank told me
that was my bank's fault and that my only recourse was to dispute the
claim with my bank. I won't go into detail about the exact details of
that dispute except that they denied any responsibilty. The fact that I
had only 1 receipt for $850 didn't mean anything to them. They treated
the matter as if I had been charged for an extra hamburger. Their
attitude is definitely "prove it's our fault." BTW, the bank is MBNA,
just in case any of you are a customer.

Noorah101

    > Thanks Andrew, I'll be checking out that newsgroup. And thanks to
    > everyone for your support. I don't know if I should even say this or
    > not but I already paid the charge. I obtained the cash advance in
    > egypt, and to avoid accumulating finance charges, I put the money into
    > my credit card account a day before I actually went to make the
    > transaction. :o (Don't hit!) I realize now that it was very stupid,
    > giving them the money then asking for it back. I wanted a $1700 cash
    > advance actually, but at the time of the transaction the only amount
    > that went through was $850. I tried to obtain an additional $850 but
    > that transaction failed. However I called my bank days later to ask
    > why the tranaction wasn't going thru and they gave me a good
    > explanation and said that problem would no longer happen. But I
    > discovered afterwards that the customer service rep stupidly approved
    > that failed transaction - days later, without telling me of course.
    > The egyptian bank told me that was my bank's fault and that my only
    > recourse was to dispute the claim with my bank. I won't go into
    > detail about the exact details of that dispute except that they denied
    > any responsibilty. The fact that I had only 1 receipt for $850 didn't
    > mean anything to them. They treated the matter as if I had been
    > charged for an extra hamburger. Their attitude is definitely "prove
    > it's our fault." BTW, the bank is MBNA, just in case any of you are a
    > customer.

Ouch, sorry Heba. Just keep disputing it. Hopefully they'll get tired
of your nagging and give up :)

I used to have an MBNA credit card, and last year when I consolidated
debt, that one was one of the first to get cancelled and cut up. LOL
No real reason except I rarely used it and didn't want it on my
records anymore.

Good luck and keep us posted!
Rene

Bob

    > Thanks Andrew, I'll be checking out that newsgroup. And thanks to
    > everyone for your support. I don't know if I should even say this or
    > not but I already paid the charge. I obtained the cash advance in
    > egypt, and to avoid accumulating finance charges, I put the money into
    > my credit card account a day before I actually went to make the
    > transaction. :o (Don't hit!) I realize now that it was very stupid,
    > giving them the money then asking for it back. I wanted a $1700 cash
    > advance actually, but at the time of the transaction the only amount
    > that went through was $850. I tried to obtain an additional $850 but
    > that transaction failed. However I called my bank days later to ask
    > why the tranaction wasn't going thru and they gave me a good
    > explanation and said that problem would no longer happen. But I
    > discovered afterwards that the customer service rep stupidly approved
    > that failed transaction - days later, without telling me of course.
    > The egyptian bank told me that was my bank's fault and that my only
    > recourse was to dispute the claim with my bank. I won't go into
    > detail about the exact details of that dispute except that they denied
    > any responsibilty. The fact that I had only 1 receipt for $850 didn't
    > mean anything to them. They treated the matter as if I had been
    > charged for an extra hamburger. Their attitude is definitely "prove
    > it's our fault." BTW, the bank is MBNA, just in case any of you are a
    > customer.

then I'm afraid your probably f@cked....this is a company that did a add
advertising English rugby credit card during the six nations, yet
doesn't actually have a rugby card in the US, never mind in the UK....