My horror story about TD Bank.
My company opened a business account with TD Bank. After some time in business, we had some vendors that we leased equipment from. However, a certain vendor kept overcharging and re-charging us for services not provided, and kept charging our business bank account card, which was in my business partner's name and the only card this vendor had on file. So, of course, after many times having the same problem with the vendor, we decided to discontinue using the vendor. Also, to make sure that our business could never charge our our business card (which was in my partner's name) again, he cancelled the card with TD Bank and specifically told them why: we did NOT want this particular vendor to make any further charges on our business bank account with TD. He was told that the card was cancelled and, naturally, we believed that our problems with this vendor were therefore over, since it could never make unauthorized charges to our account again. Happy ending to this story, right? ... Not so fast!
TD Bank did NOT cancel my business partner's card (whose card was on file with the now-fired vendor) but instead cancelled MY card. So guess what happened? More than a month after we discontinued our business relationship with the vendor, we got a whopping charge on our bank account from the same vendor for services never provided and more than a month after we discontinued our relationship with the vendor. How could this happen, do you ask? Simple. TD Bank did not cancel the card it assured us it had cancelled, giving the vendor the opportunity to charge us for services never provided.
Of course, we directly contacted the vendor, who has given us the runaround about what the charges are for in the first place. But when we also immediately contacted TD Bank and said, "hey, you told us you cancelled the card that was on file with this vendor, how did the vendor then charge us on a cancelled card?" TD Bank's initially assured us that this matter would be resolved. Now, after a month, TD Bank's position is now, "Well, yeah, we did screw up and cancelled the wrong card, and even though you are the victims of an unauthorized charge on your account by this vendor, and even though the money could never have left your account if we had cancelled the card you asked us to cancel, well, too bad, that's your problem."
"How can this be?" we asked. And this is the lame response we got after being assured for a month by TD Bank that the funds would go back into our account for unauthorized charges: since our business PREVIOUSLY did business with this vendor, a future unauthorized charge is neither "unauthorized" or "fraudulent" in TD Bank's world and, therefore, it's our problem and the money will not be credited back to our account.
So let's recap: (1) TD Bank made a clear mistake (which it ADMITTED TO MAKING) by not cancelling our business card on file with this problematic, former vendor; (2) the money left our account because of TD Bank's mistake, but (3) TD Bank is taking no responsibility for it!
We now have to incur the legal costs of suing both TD Bank and the vendor for a situation that would have been altogether avoided if TD Bank employed competent, literate people who are capable of honoring simple, clear requests to cancel a certain business account card.
Word to the wise: if you have money in a TD Bank account, you should take it out before you become a victim like us. Thier 7 day per week hours at TD Bank and low-cost deposit requirements mean nothing to me and only resulted in my company being left vulnerable to an unauthorized charge and then crudely disregarded by TD Bank and its incompetent staff. read more
