While 3,000 miles from home and nowhere near a PNC Bank in August 2005, an unauthorized charge was posted to my checking account which I've had for years with this financial institution. As soon as I learned of this deduction from my account, I notified PNC both by telephone and online at their web site. I informed them of the charge and the fact that I would not be in the vicinity of a PNC banking location for another two weeks and therefore could not make a deposit to cover the charge from a merchant who had not been authorized to take such monies. Immediately upon returning home from the lengthy vacation, I deposited substantial sums into my checking account to cover not only the unauthorized charge but also the numerous NSF and overdrawn account fees that had accumulated in my absence as a direct result of this charge.

Although customer service representatives assured me that a dispute was being processed on my behalf for this issue, I later learned upon returning to the East Coast that the dispute had been improperly filed on their end and a duplicate dispute was refiled by another PNC representaive to correct this error in early September 2005. The disputed amount was temporarily and finally reversed on September 8, 2005 (one month after the original deduction!). I completed the requisite form immediately upon its receipt in order to launch an investigation, including reference to the multiple fees deducted as a result of this unexpected charge. The matter was resolved in my favor, and the amount of the unauthorized charge was permanently deposited back into my account.

Nothing more was said, and none of the fees charged to my account because of this unauthorized deduction were ever referenced nor returned. Once I noticed these omissions, I contacted PNC's so-called customer service department online and received the following response:

"I have reviewed your account and I apologize but since the NSF fees were not caused by a bank error and you have already received courtesy refunds in the past I am unable to refund you the fees at this time. Any time that a merchant debits your account in error causing you to go into a negative balance it's the merchants responsability to credit you fees since this was an error on their end. If you would like to escalate the refund of fees you may reach one of our Account Management Specialists at 1-888-762-2265 and they will be happy to review your account for you and credit and fees if needed. Please feel free to E-mail us back with any questions or concerns. Sincerely, Ben Wiker "

At first I was stunned that my bank would expect a merchant who accessed my account without authorization to refund PNC's fees!!! I then called the number above listed and was told that the instruction to call them was incorrect and that it needed to be handled by customer service. Of course, I went back to a customer service representative and was again told to call the 888 number for assistance because they could not do anything at this point even though a third customer service representative assured me that she had resolved the matter and the return of fees would be reflected in my account within the week. Calling the 888 number again, I was again advised by another PNC representative that this was a customer service issue and not their problem.

Understandably frustrated by this lack of action and concern by PNC, I today visited my branch personally and was immediately told that someone should have told me from the start to go directly to my branch in order to resolve problems like this. I was further advised to avoid customer service representatives online and on the telephone in the future since you cannot be assured that the person assisting you there has the knowledge or ability to do the right thing. The fees were reversed by the only competent PNC employee I've encountered in the last eight weeks. However, the account balance is again below zero because fees and charges were not returned in a timely manner as previously promised, and I therefore have completely given up, concluding that PNC loves to squeeze its customers for every penny and just will not accept responsibility for mistakes that have been made through no fault of the customer.

Threfore, I forwarded today a final, admittedly emotional appeal to PNC:

"CLOSE THIS ACCOUNT NOW! I am so tired of dealing with PNC morons who give me the wrong advice, and in the meantime I'm the one who continues to be charged with additional fees because of a mistake TWO MONTHS AGO that wasn't even mine. As it would appear the PNC representatives are incompetent and PNC Bank does not have any concern for its customers at all, I have taken my money elsewhere. Despite the fact that I have tried very hard to settle the matter of an unauthorized charge which was put through while I was on the West Coast (where there are no PNC banks since it is not one of the better financial institutions with national appeal), you have continued to charge fee after fee without justification, causing my bank balance to spiral downward uncontrollably. Additionally, your reps have given me consistently bad advice by telling me to have the matter handled through customer service by telephone and they referred to me to someone else and so on and so on. Not until today when I happened to be at my home branch did I learn that they are the only PNC staffers who have any idea about what's going on. All NSF and overdrawn account fees were dutifully returned to my account, and I am fed up with this entire organization because all of this could have been avoided if even one person had advised me to visit that branch IN AUGUST 2005!!!!!!! You are idiots, and I will definitely pass that opinion on to all clients and anyone who will listen. This entire situation is ridiculous, and PNC will not be defrauding me of even one more penny. Close the account! This will be escalated to the highest level possible, and I can only hope that PNC Bank improves its reputation in the banking community so that future customers will not have to suffer similar consequences."

Unfortunately, I have been forced to suffer the additional loss of monies because valid and authorized charges and checks were NOT paid by PNC because the account had been overdrawn due to the unauthorized August 8, 2005 charge and accumulating bank fees. I furthermore had to pay one merchant an additional fee for their bank charging them a returned check fee, and I did not even bother to attempt to address this issue with PNC since it doesn't even care about the direct losses suffered by their incompetence. Chances are slim and none that it would worry for a second about collateral losses which I've incurred in the past two months.

I recommend PNC to no one under any circumstances since their stated policy, as stated above by their representative, is that PNC is not responsible at all for any NSF/overdrawn account fees which result from a merchant's unauthorized charge and are unjustly charged to its customers. Ridiculous and unacceptable!

Recommended: No