ACCESSING OWN FUNDS FROM SOUTH AFRICA
Complaint
RyanPieterse
Country: South Africa
Further to the below mail, to which I have never received a reply this is now the latest in the ongoing saga of trying to deal with Bank of America
After sending the below mail to every Bank of America email address I could find and not getting a response I eventually advised a consultant at the call centre to send the cashiers cheque to my address in South Africa. I wa told this would be done and a mail would be sent cofirming this. After 2-3 weeks of not hearing or receiving anything I again called the call centre and after a 45 min conversation with more than one person (at my cost!!!) I ascertained the following:
Someone???? decided that the balance in my account was too much to send via a cashiers cheque.
No-one felt it necessary to advise me of this decision either telephonically or via email
Now I have been instructed to get a notarized letter of instruction and post it to America and then a cashiers cheque will be sent to me. Once again I carry the cost of this and wait how long before I can get my own money
Is there anyone out there that is prepared to give me the correct information and assist me in getting my own money.
As can be seen by the numerous attached emails, I have had an ongoing problem with accessing my funds from Bank of America.
In summary:
I worked for Carival Cruise Lines for 6 years and in this time banked all my money with Bank of America
On returning to South Africa I advised BoA that I was leaving America and was advised that I could transfer my find via Wire Transfers
This was not possible.
Contacting the call centre was of no help
Eventually after many calls and emails I was contacted by Mr Eli Rodriquez.
After spending a lot of money on notarized documentation and fedex costs he eventually assisted me with transferring under half of my funds to South Africa.
I have now opened an off shore account in the Isle of Man, as I assumed this would be an easier destination to transfer the balance of my money to.
Unfortunately I was wrong - Mr Rodriquez is now just referring me back to the callcentre, and has advised me that the assistance he gave me in the past was a once off!
The Manager of the Offshore Banking Dept of Standard Bank in South Africa has tried to assist me by sending documentation to a Mr M Yassar in Miami.
Mr Yassar signed for the documents on the 30/08/2012 but on calling him he had no knowledge of receiving the documents and advised that he was not in a
position to assist me.
Essentially I am back to where I was 8 months ago!
On-line banking is not a solution as I do not have a American Cellphone to receive the Secure Pass Code,
Furthermore the transactional cost are exhorbitant to transfer 1000 or even 5000 US $ at a time.
The only other option I have been given to close the account is to request a Cashiers Cheque to be sent to my physical address.
This in itself presents the following problems:
1. How do I know I am going to receive the cheque - if it does go missing who will take reponsibility?
2. Once I receive it I have to send it to Isle of Man and it then takes a further 6 weeks to clear the cheque.
3. This means that I wait ~ 8 weeks for my money.
In this day and age of technology I find this totally unacceptable.
Eli Rodriquez has received notarised proof of my identity on more than one occassion
A bank transfer is effective within hours if not a few days.
I have been repeatedly told that if I come to a branch it can get sorted without a problem
The problem is I am in South Africa and do not intend coming to America any time soon, as well as not having the funds available to do so!
Why can this not be resolved by possibly doing a Skype call to whoever has the authority to effect the transaction?
Why must I run the risk of the Cashiers cheque getting lost in the post either from America to South Africa and and then from South Africa to Isle of Man?
Why must I wait 8 weeks for my own money?
I would really appreciate some assistance from anyone that is in a position to do so.
RYAN MICHAEL PIETERSE
After sending the below mail to every Bank of America email address I could find and not getting a response I eventually advised a consultant at the call centre to send the cashiers cheque to my address in South Africa. I wa told this would be done and a mail would be sent cofirming this. After 2-3 weeks of not hearing or receiving anything I again called the call centre and after a 45 min conversation with more than one person (at my cost!!!) I ascertained the following:
Someone???? decided that the balance in my account was too much to send via a cashiers cheque.
No-one felt it necessary to advise me of this decision either telephonically or via email
Now I have been instructed to get a notarized letter of instruction and post it to America and then a cashiers cheque will be sent to me. Once again I carry the cost of this and wait how long before I can get my own money
Is there anyone out there that is prepared to give me the correct information and assist me in getting my own money.
As can be seen by the numerous attached emails, I have had an ongoing problem with accessing my funds from Bank of America.
In summary:
I worked for Carival Cruise Lines for 6 years and in this time banked all my money with Bank of America
On returning to South Africa I advised BoA that I was leaving America and was advised that I could transfer my find via Wire Transfers
This was not possible.
Contacting the call centre was of no help
Eventually after many calls and emails I was contacted by Mr Eli Rodriquez.
After spending a lot of money on notarized documentation and fedex costs he eventually assisted me with transferring under half of my funds to South Africa.
I have now opened an off shore account in the Isle of Man, as I assumed this would be an easier destination to transfer the balance of my money to.
Unfortunately I was wrong - Mr Rodriquez is now just referring me back to the callcentre, and has advised me that the assistance he gave me in the past was a once off!
The Manager of the Offshore Banking Dept of Standard Bank in South Africa has tried to assist me by sending documentation to a Mr M Yassar in Miami.
Mr Yassar signed for the documents on the 30/08/2012 but on calling him he had no knowledge of receiving the documents and advised that he was not in a
position to assist me.
Essentially I am back to where I was 8 months ago!
On-line banking is not a solution as I do not have a American Cellphone to receive the Secure Pass Code,
Furthermore the transactional cost are exhorbitant to transfer 1000 or even 5000 US $ at a time.
The only other option I have been given to close the account is to request a Cashiers Cheque to be sent to my physical address.
This in itself presents the following problems:
1. How do I know I am going to receive the cheque - if it does go missing who will take reponsibility?
2. Once I receive it I have to send it to Isle of Man and it then takes a further 6 weeks to clear the cheque.
3. This means that I wait ~ 8 weeks for my money.
In this day and age of technology I find this totally unacceptable.
Eli Rodriquez has received notarised proof of my identity on more than one occassion
A bank transfer is effective within hours if not a few days.
I have been repeatedly told that if I come to a branch it can get sorted without a problem
The problem is I am in South Africa and do not intend coming to America any time soon, as well as not having the funds available to do so!
Why can this not be resolved by possibly doing a Skype call to whoever has the authority to effect the transaction?
Why must I run the risk of the Cashiers cheque getting lost in the post either from America to South Africa and and then from South Africa to Isle of Man?
Why must I wait 8 weeks for my own money?
I would really appreciate some assistance from anyone that is in a position to do so.
RYAN MICHAEL PIETERSE
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