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Review 11/2/2011
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Our nightmare with Bank of America continues --- stay away from this one! Even went through a 2 year process on Modification, then our house was lost to an electrical fire and of course excluded because it was damaged property.
Not sure how to make this really brief but I will do my best. I think the easiest way to summarize this is to include a letter that I sent a week ago to Brian Moynihan CEO and 4 other chief officers at Bank of America. There is much more to the story but this will give you a general idea. To add even more at this point there will be a small statement after the letter as well to update the status a bit more.
October 3, 2011
To whom it may concern: (And what I have to say should definitely concern you!)
As inconvenient as it may be for you, I have chosen to write you at your home residence in hopes that maybe someone will pay attention. We came about being a Bank of America customer, not by choice, but by circumstance. Bank of America bought our lender (Countrywide) out within a year of our purchasing our home. I am more than an account number/loan number, although your company gives a sense of nothing more than that. Please take the time to read my story and understand my heartache and frustration. I do implore a response of some sort from you, as to show that you do actually care & have listened to what I have to say. Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.
November 8, 2010 we lost our home and all of its contents to an electrical fire. Everything….gone. Baby books, baby pictures, wedding pictures, all the memories that we etched on material things…gone. As difficult as that tragedy was/still is at times, we had no loss of life. For that we are very thankful. Now, we live in Minnesota, so at that point there would be no work that could be done (affordably) because of snow etc. So we sent the insurance check into Bank ok America and waited until spring when we could start rebuilding our lives again. After much adversity that continued to follow, we finally were starting our prep work to rebuild in June of 2011.
July 7th I faxed in the Contractors information. July 11th I faxed in the draw schedule from the contractor. Then as they finally requested, the blue prints and layouts of the basement and modular home with the letter of intent were sent on July 25th.
Our first draw was requested and there were virtually no issues. An inspection was done on the basement to verify the work was completed so that we were able to request the 2nd draw. Here is where things got really messed up, at Bank of America. On August 18th the request was made for the 2nd draw which was for the modular home that was being delivered on September 5th. I thought I had plenty of time, as the turnaround for a draw is about 2 weeks. Well, I was quite mistaken, as we still sit here waiting. I still hadn’t received the check by August 31st, so I decided to call. At that time I was informed that they could not find the blue prints and letter of intent regarding the home. I have proof it was sent on July 25th, so why is it just now I’m being told they don’t have it? Why didn’t someone call as soon as the house was invoiced? Why is it I have to call, on average, 3 times a day to check progress? Because there is nothing personal about your customer service, that’s why. Because someone screwed up big time and wants to blame another department etc. No one is willing to be held accountable for what has happened. So, here we are August 31st and I’m RE faxing the blue prints and letter of intent AGAIN. It was “entered” into the system September 2nd and now the process becomes even more grueling!
I was told at this point that we should have everything resolved no later than September 23rd. Please allow 10 – 14 business days they said. Yet here we are, still waiting. On September 5th, our Modular home builder still came as scheduled and placed the home. They would wait to schedule the finishing crew once we had the money from OUR insurance. Thank God for their patience on this matter, as they still wait for my call to complete their job and get paid for their house. On September 13th, I was contacted by a broker to come do a B.P.O. on the house. She came the morning of the 14th and said she would have her report submitted the next day. A few days later, I received another call from a different broker and he stated he was coming to do a B.P.O. I told him I met with someone a few days prior and he said that sometime, they request 2 B.P.O.’s. I met with him the next morning and he said he would have his report submitted that night. Even as I continued to call the bank, sometimes, as I said 3 times a day to check the status, I would get nowhere. I even spoke to a supervisor on September 29th to see if that would bring me any further satisfaction. Although through my tears of frustration, she tried to reassure me, still nothing. I didn’t/don’t understand why this department can’t talk to that department and when it’s at the investors, no one seems to be able to communicate with them at all. It’s pending, I’m told. Waiting on the investor’s response, I’m told. We will have an answer by this day, oh no by that day, oh sorry it will be this day, oh now they say October 17th. No one seems to know what they are talking about, but I can reassure you every customer representative is always sorry, so sorry. My problem is anymore, I don’t want sorry, I want it fixed. I want to take my family back home. We could have been home a week ago had Bank of America found a way to communicate better.
IF I would have been afforded the accommodation of dealing with only ONE person throughout this process, that person would KNOW our claim/file. That one person would know if something wasn’t “ready” in the paperwork and the answers would be much quicker. Am I angry? Yes, a bit. Am I frustrated and disappointed? Yes, in a major way!
We still sit here waiting, dialing – hit option #2. Loan number please and last four of borrowers SSN. No answers. No resolution. Every time I am offered the opportunity for the “survey” after a call to rate the CR service, I do it, and not to belittle their handling of the matter but to make it clear when I am asked about BOA in general, would I do business again or would I refer them….NOPE. We are on a time frame now, we’ve been so lucky to have a place to stay for the past nearly 11 months, but the homeowner of the house we have taken temporary residence in, is selling his home and we need to leave.
Dealing with the trauma of losing your “life” in a fire is something I wouldn’t wish upon anyone. My hopes and thoughts would be that BOA would have some empathy towards that loss and do what they can to make the process smooth when trying to get back home again. In our eyes, it’s all about big company; we are just a drop in the bucket and have no true value within your very large company. It shouldn’t be that way; we should feel important even if you serve millions of customers. Each of us should feel like we matter. When will it be time to bring back “real” customer service?
As I close out my letter to you, I just hung up from my 3rd call to BOA today and yet again – waiting on investors. If I personally could contact these “investors”, I would and implore them to hold some importance to my request. But it seems these investors are unreachable by anyone even within the company.
If you would choose to actually discuss this matter with me (as I doubt you will) my phone number is 507-584-1237. On the chance you would like to resolve this for us or get the ball rolling, please do so. Restore my faith in humanity, restore my belief in your company, and try to help heal the scars that taunt me from this nightmare of an experience.
Help me bring my family home again……..we all need to start our healing and rebuild that house that sits there into a home once again.
Sincerely,
Gina M. Grundmeier
We were now actually told that our “investor” did not approve our home, although it was a structure change, an appraiser from ReMax in Rochester who came to do that BPO had stated to me that in his opinion, there should be no problem. So now the home we put a down payment on and that sits on our foundation, we have been told is not satisfactory. We are soon to lose our temporary residence, and have an absolutely beautiful home waiting for us *although it’s not put “together” all the way yet* - we are soon to have no place to go because we have been misled and mistreated by Bank of America – a drop in the bucket I say, but that drop can still make waves. Hopefully you are interested to go through the story entirely and bring some attention to this matter.
Thanks so much for your time.
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