The Rochester Hills woman was absolutely thrilled when she opened the letter from the Bank of America. Her nightmare of being scammed by those horrible DTE impersonators appeared to be over.
The letter, which arrived in late June, gave her hope that she might recover the money she lost to the utility shut-off scam in late April.
“I was like ‘Oh, my God. Oh, my God,” she told me, thinking things had turned in her favor.
“Your claim has been resolved,” the bank proclaimed in its bold greeting.
“We’re happy to tell you that we’ve credited your account for $1,324.85. We appreciate your patience and are happy we could resolve this in your favor,” the letter stated.
It was all there in black and white. All there, except the green.
Will she or won’t she recover the cash?
When she went online to look at her bank account, she couldn’t spot an extra $1,324.85 in her checking account. Worse yet, a bank representative later told her that the letter was sent in error. No money would be showing up — ever.
That phone conversation with the bank lasted nearly an hour, the woman said, as she tried to get the representative on the phone — who was very polite — to explain how in the world the bank could send a letter one day saying they’re fixing the problem, then never fix it and claim they aren’t required to do so.
A mistake? Oh, never mind? You won’t get more than a thousand dollars back after all?
“And I lost it,” she told me frantically by phone. “I said ‘Do you know what…
