This is Round 45 in our Worst Company in America contest, Bank of America vs Monster Cable!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies...
Bank of America:
"Can u say overdraft? Lets take billions from the poor every year and feel good about it!"
"I've been a Bank of America customer for about 3 years now and have not had any major issues with them at this point. But I know sooner or later they'll find their opportunity to screw me, I can't wait."
"Bank of America has be bad since they were founded. They invented the West Coast evil bank. They make Countrywide and WaMu look like amateurs."
"BoA is not just "a" bank, they're a bank with some of the least customer-friendly policies in America. Re-opening closed accounts then charging $35 for it? That's not a courtesy, that's fraud."
"BOA = Satan's Bank."
"To say nothing of BofA buying MBNA, then stealthily sending their credit card customers 8 different letters, all inconspicuous, all 10pp affairs where, buried in the fine print, BofA tries to make the credit card deals even MORE screwed than they were to begin with.
Things like, "If you wouldn't like your APR to go from 9% to 32% next month, send a snailmail letter with the following 4 pieces of information to this special address within the next week." Only buried on page 4 and written in 50 words of well-neigh incomprehensible legalese. And repeated for changing ave daily balance, binding arbitration, etc.
Evil!
On a different note, I have to crack up at the posters that say, "Since nothing personally happened to me, I'm going to ignore reams of factual data and vote for EvilCorp."
Since if nothing directly impacts them while they obliviously trudge thru their pale, sad life, it obviously doesn't exist.
Jeezus - develop you empathy muscles, guys: we're humans, not cockroaches."
"I find it hard to believe anyone still uses Bank of America for anything. I closed my accounts and tore up their visa card right after I heard they were giving mortgages to illegal aliens."
"My vote went to BoA because of the like 5 bucks I pay to them for ATM transactions. I fucking hate that on top of the random ATM fee, I have to pay BoA because they didn't have an ATM within like 20 miles. Fuck you BoA."
"BofA: Cash Deposits Post Immediately! After midnight. After we post debits. And bounce your checks. And take our fees."
"BoA for that stupid "we're gonna make lots of money" video. f them."
"Ugh, BofA is a complete joke. I switched to HSBC a year ago and I am very happy with my decision. BofA charges you death, and their high yield interest rate is a joke.
At least I can that the branch manager at my branch was awesome, and closing the account wasn't a hassle, except they charged me a $2 fee. "
"Band of Assholes is right. We briefly had a BOA credit card, but I quickly sized up this was a stupid move on my part and cancelled it. Got a relative in the business of cyber security at an international level and I asked her afterwards "what's up with BOA?" Without hesitation she said, "Besides PayPal, the least amount of interest and budget spent on securing their platform. Get Away From Them.""
"My BOA troubles started in a little state called Rhode Island. Pre-1984, the largest bank in RI was called Industrial National. In 1984, they change to Fleet. Now anybody in Rhode Island would tell you never bank with Fleet. Awful fees, etc.. etc..
Fleet in the early-mid 90's then buys Bank of Boston become FleetBoston which then buys Shawmut and host of whole other banks. And then finally gets bought out a few years back by BOA. Geez, I thought Fleet was bad after they took over my Bank of Boston (or was it BayBank account).
BOA made them (FleetBoston) seem like my local friendly credit union."
"Take that Band of Assholes! Raising that rate to 20.99% from my nice MBNA 7% - we'll see you in the Final Four of the Worst!! "
"Late to this particular voting party, but of course it's BofA.
Every time I would deposit a check, they would clear it in the branch only to put it back on hold at midnight. I escaped them by moving to a city where they're not around, but even then they held on to my relocation check for EIGHT business days!
PNC Bank has non-local checks cleared in 2... "
Monster Cable:
"Their entire business is based on lies about the superiority of their product and is then sold at very high prices to cement the illusion of higher quality."
"can't top trying to compare your component cables to diamond jewelry"
"Their markup is insane, and their cables aren't anything special above what you can get for a 1/3 of the price."
"My father bought a $200 Monster Cable brand power strip at Magnolia Hi-Fi a few years back. I tried to convince him why it was a bad idea, but the salesman hooked it up to some kind of meter to show the "noise" in the power between a standard power strip and the Monster one, and he was persuaded after being told that standard power would result in a worse picture."
"Monster conspires with every electronics retailer to rip off unsuspecting customers. We can avoid Monster, but that doesn't make what they do to everyone else right."
"They're as bad as the audiophiles for spreading nonsense and hokum about electronics."
"All I need to hate Monster Cable (although all the rest helps) is what I discovered when building a Monster Cable Demo Station when I worked for CC. The station had two speakers hooked up side by side and then to a DVD surround sound system with a switch to choose between the two and demo what the station called "Monster XRS Speaker Wire" or something against "Offbrand speaker wire."
Sure, the Monster sounded better... until you cracked open the back and found that there was about a 1 foot length of the Monster Cable wire running to one speaker and about 100 feet of the thread-thinnest, poorest-quality wire I have ever seen ziptied and sitting in a coil.
I'm not surprised at the misleading way Monster promotes their product because every company does the same thing, but it still amply bolsters what we all already know about this company. "
"Monster Cable's entire business revolves around a lie."
"I bought one of their "wireless" transmitters for my iPod so I can use it in my car, after 3 months the thing just fell apart. Talk about your shoddy merchandise. I will never buy a Monster Cable again."
"Just because someone is rich, doesn't mean they should buy overpriced products. Rich people can stay rich by saving their money, not blowing it."
"I voted Monster Cable, because they sue everybody"
This is a post in our Worst Company In America 2008 series. The companies nominated for this honor were chosen by you, the readers. Keep track of all the goings on at consumerist.com/tag/worst-company-in-america
STILL OPEN FOR VOTING: US Air vs Microsoft, Time Warner Cable vs American Airlines, Time Warner Cable vs American Airlines, Home Depot vs Wellpoint, Wal-Mart vs Citibank, Capital One vs ATT, Sallie Mae vs eBay/Paypal, TransUnion vs Diebold, Best Buy vs CompUSA, DeBeers vs Verizon, Exxon vs United Airlines, Sony vs Ticketmaster, Comcast vs The American Arbitration Association
