BofA customer deposits finally restored to accounts after 10 days of angst

More than 170 Bank of America customers in Maricopa had deposits fail to credit to their account for more than a week, resulting in frustration, fees and closed accounts.

The error since has been corrected by the bank.

The deposits were in cash made at the bank’s Fiesta Branch, 20944 N. John Wayne Pkwy., in the Maricopa Fiesta shopping center. Funds deposited on Monday, Nov. 7, showed as pending in the customers’ accounts but did not actually credit to their accounts.

After seven days, the deposits dropped out of BofA’s system as if they had never been made, according to several account owners.

Gini Holland said she was told by Bank of America Senior Vice President and acting branch manager Mario Gonzales that the holds were due to a technical issue.

“At night they connect to a processing server and load batches of the deposits of that day,” Holland said Gonzales told her. “That day, the server never connected and on the eighth day it just drops.”

Holland said Gonzales told her the issue affected 171 customers in Maricopa and 83 branches statewide.

The situation came at the worst possible time for Holland, whose mother passed away on Monday.

“I’m furious,” she said. “This is not the day I should have to be dealing with anything like this. I’m furious and scared. Who knows how many people haven’t even recognized there is something going on with their accounts? They never notified us, I just found out because I happened to check my account online.”

Bank of America Senior Vice President and Media Relations Manager Britney Sheehan did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment but did send an email that said:

“We are aware of this isolated incident that impacted a small subset of transactions at the Fiesta Financial Center on a single day. We had been proactively working to resolve those transactions and impacted accounts now reflect proper credit and balances today. Additionally, any fees incurred will be waived.”

Sheehan added that Bank of America apologizes for the inconvenience caused to its customers.

Customer Pam Thielen said she understands technical issues happen but was upset by the bank’s reaction when she attempted to get her deposit refunded after it didn’t credit.

“Then they wouldn’t give me my money back. The acting manager said they couldn’t give me what they don’t have,” Thielen said. “But I told them they did have it. I made a cash deposit. If I didn’t have my deposit receipt, I don’t know what I would do right now. They said they were aware of it, and we should just wait for it to be resolved.

“The most frustrating thing is that we were not a priority for her at the bank. I expected the acting branch manager to take this seriously and she didn’t. She didn’t stop right then and go and make a phone call. She saw me and recognized me and instead of coming to me and giving me an update she made me come to her.”

Thielen, Holland and Rory Yates, another affected customer, said the bank’s response was as disappointing as the issue itself. All were directed to a Bank of America telephone number for updates, but none ever received an answer as to why the problem had occurred.

That was what upset Yates most.

“This had been going on for several days and when I went in to talk to the branch manager, I was told I’d get a call back with an update within two hours,” Yates said. “I never did. They never notified us in any way. And I never did get a call back. What made me so mad was the fact that she was more interested in the other customers than our group with the problem. It felt like she was just giving us lip service.”

Despite getting her funds restored and having the situation resolved, Yates said she has closed her accounts, and it all has left a bad taste in her mouth.

“The sad thing is there are so many people out there in the same boat as I am, with much larger amounts missing,” she said.

Thielen said the incident has soured her on the bank, as well.

“It certainly doesn’t invoke any trust in Bank of America,” she said. “I’m closing my account as soon as this thing is cleared up.”