I've been looking at banks to secure a new car loan with, and one that came up on my list was Bank of America. I have to admit that I'm disappointed with the customer service from Bank of America because despite having a customer service line you can't actually talk to anyone. By the end of the phone call, I was pretty much told to go into a branch office, which is the thing that I was trying to avoid since I don't have a lot of time.
Admittedly, there may be a lot of people calling Bank of America regularly who have loans and bank accounts, but judging by the way the phone service is set up I have a feeling account holders probably get better service than I did. This is ironic because you'd think they'd offer better service to new customers, but that wasn't my experience. I called during a normal time in the afternoon as well, so I don't think that this was some atypical experience.
When I first called, an automated voice answered and said, "Welcome to Bank of America. This call may be recorded. To get started please enter your telephone access ID, card, or account number." This is where the problem started because I don't have an account and wanted to talk to someone about a loan. I attempted to say I didn't have an account number and was told, "For security, you must provide the required information to speak with an associate or use our automated service. If you need time to get that information, please press 1." Then when I said I didn't have an account again, it circled back. Finally, I just said "I don't know," and that prompted the system to respond, "To get you to the right place, in a few words, please tell me what you are calling about. "
That seemed to get me on the right track so I said, "Bank loan" and it didn't recognize my entry. I tried again and stated, "Check on an application," which got the system to ask if this was a new loan (yes) and then if it was for a business (no). It then asked if the loan was for a car or a home. I answered that it was for a car and thought I might get to talk to someone, but instead, the voice assistant said, "Bank of America offers competitive auto loans. To learn more please visit our website or stop by one of our branch offices. Thank you for calling, good-bye." I literally was no closer to getting any help when I ended the call versus when I started it!