Me and BofA (Part 4): My local representative tries to help me

Ok, so no help from the online customer service for sure. I went back to my local representative that opened up the account and emailed here asking for help:

HB June 26, 2006:

Dear Anie,

I have had nothing problems with my BofA account this far.

Transactions from my PayPal account to my BofA account bounces, because BofA replies to PayPal that the given account number does not exists. It does exist and I am 110% sure I enter the correct information. I have verified that it perfectly matches the digits on my checks including branch code and account number excluding check numbers. I see the same numbers when I log on to my online banking. I don't want to try the same from my Swedish account until I know it works.

I started to suspect problem with my account information, so Amanda, my flat mate, have then tried to transfer funds to me, but when she tries to add me on her BofA online banking, she gets:

"We were unable to find a match for the information you provided. Please resubmit the request or contact the account owner to verify the information."

We have tried all combinations of my first and last name (in case they've been swapped in the system). We tried both my checking account and my savings account. We have tried both 5 and 9 digit zip codes. We tried on different computers with different web browsers. Nothing works! Note that I can without problem transfer money from my account to Amanda's account doing exactly the same procedure.

As a last resort, I then tried to do a transfer from myself to myself, but I also get same error message as above.

I have tried to ask online-banking support, but the help I get from them, even if I beg to get a helpful answer, is beyond words. They talk about an international address on my account, then another person say there is no such, then they say my address is the correct one (the same as I enter), then they say I enter the wrong zip code (although they just confirmed my address is correct) but they don't say what zip code their records shows. Then "D. Pagtakhan" says I need an international address to *change* my American address because of the USA Patriot Act(!). Is he/she trying to say I need an international address registered in order to transfer money to my account?!? :( :( :(

CAN YOU PLEASE HELP OUT AND SOLVE MY PROBLEM?! I hope you have the contact to help me out. I am in Sweden until end of July so it is not possible for me to come in to the office. I have probably already wasted hours of troubleshooting and emailing back and forth. I NEED TO BE ABLE TO TRANSFER MONEY TO MY ACCOUNT, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

I attach the communication (exluding phone calls) I had with BofA online banking this far (unfortunately does the online banking system truncate the first message). See below.

I appreciate your help

Henrik Bengtsson

Next I actually received a short phone call from BofA, but because I was in Portugal and it was to my Swedish cell phone I asked her to email me instead.

BofA June 27, 2006:

Hello Henrik
Please provide me your international address so I can update your profile. As I explained over the telephone we need to have a valid international address. What is entered in our system is; xxxx Nnnnnnnnn Nnn, berkeley, ca xxxxx, Sweden. Please email me your address in Sweden so I can update your address. ONce you try again to set up the online transfer I would talk to the online customer service department. There number is (800) 792-0808, option 0. I do
hope this helps. Good luck!

Anie

Note how they've added Sweden to my American address. At this point I am trusting no one, so I'm reply to just double check we're on the same base:

HB on June 27, 2006:

Hi Anie,

before changing my address, please be aware that the address where I live for the next 18-24 months is indeed nnnn nnnnnnnn nnn, Berkeley, CA xxxxx, USA. If you need an address in Sweden for the record, that is (as written on the envelope):

Nnnnnnnnnnnn xxx
xxxxx Nnnn
Sweden

That is the street is "Nnnnnnnnnnnn", the number is "xxx", the zip code is "xxxxx", the city is "Nnnn" and country "Sweden".

This is the address where I am registered, but please note that there are people living there. I want all mail from BofA to my Berkeley address!

I just want to make sure: you will now enter two addresses for my account, one US and one international? Please confirm this with me.

Thanks

Henrik

I get a quick reply telling everything will be fine:

BofA on June 27, 2006:

Hello again

I promise everything WILL remain the same and all your bank records will go to your Berkeley address. Do not worry about it, all we need is the physical address in Sweden to be on your profile, here at Bank of America. Hopefully it will make your online transfer easier.
Best,
Anie

Good! Do you think it works. No way! I tried to walk it through with the person I called at the customer service. Nothing works!!!

To be continued...