Bank of America
PO Box 982234
El Paso, TX 79998

Re: Your letter of January 7, 2020
Fraudulent charge by Home Advisor

Dear Sir or Madame:

First, we reject your office’s attempt to impose a ten-day deadline for my response to your letter. My wife advised your office that I would not be able to respond until after my return from an out-of-town trip on January 22. Your deadline is of no force or effect, so far as we are concerned; and we interpret your refusal to allow a reasonable extension as a hostile act by Bank of America, with whom we’ve had a credit relationship for many years. Please be advised we will NEVER pay this fraudulent charge.

In early November 2019, I contacted Home Advisor by using a form found on their website. I requested the services of a local handyman to hang several African animal trophies on the walls of my home. A few days later I received a telephone call from a Home Advisor representative who offered to complete the job for $183. I informed her it would take two people to do the job, and asked how she could quote it without ever seeing what had to be done.

The rep insisted that Home Advisor would hang the trophies for $183, so I said yes. I provided her with my credit card number only after she assured me that I would not be charged until the job was complete and I had signed off on it.

Two men claiming to be from Home Advisor arrived at our home a few days later, and I took them into the garage to show them the crate of trophies. I also showed them the walls where I wanted the trophies hung. They said they needed to get their ladder from their truck, went out of our front door, and never returned. When I went on the porch to check a while later, their truck was gone. They never returned or contacted us.

When I didn’t hear anything further from Home Advisor, I waited a week or so and then hired Fisher Services, LLC to perform the work. Fisher performed the work to my satisfaction, and gave us his invoice (copy attached) and we paid him by check #350 in the amount of $225 (copy attached).

The next thing I heard from Home Advisor was a form email inquiring as to my satisfaction with the job! There was no individual’s name on the form, and no email or other address by which to reach them. In reply, in the spaces allotted on their form, I informed Home Advisor of the facts and that they had never performed the work; and I returned the form via internet as instructed.

We were quite surprised to see Home Advisor’s charge on our Visa statement, as I had never signed any acceptance of work or the charge.

This is not a complicated case of alleged defective goods or services. It is a simple case of FRAUD, of a charge knowingly imposed for services that were never provided.

We hereby exercise our right to back-charge this FRAUDULENT amount to the merchant. Please be advised we will never pay this amount. If Home Advisor (and/or Bank of America) persist in collecting this charge, or do anything to impair our credit rating, we will SUE in Alaska District Court for credit slander, breach of contract, statutory and common law penalties for FRAUD, court costs, attorney’s fees, and any other damages that may apply.

My wife and I hope we’ve heard the last of this dispute.




James Sarafin

Good for you. I read it and agree 100%. Stick it right back to them in no uncertain terms.

Great letter.

Can we see those trophies?

Good going!

I'm sure they'd refund your money..........just give them your bank account #.......

B of A wont lose any sleep over your rant. Trust me!

Don't know how old you are James but threaten them with elderly abuse too if that applies!

X2

Might want to go into the branch office where you normally do business and talk to someone. Nothing easier to do than blow off a letter when it's unlikely you will suffer any personal consequence. Probably circulating around the water cooler right now.

X3

Wow! Excellent response!

I think you should pay them, Jim.

you know...re-distribute a little of your wealth.

Great lawyerease in there -- there always has to be a threat to sue. -- I do completely agree with you though no services no payment. Sometimes lawyerease makes people much less maleable though.

Nice letter and great trophies!!

From left to right: a sable from Zambia, Alaska mountain goat, gemsbok (S. Africa), nyala (S. Africa), Alaska Dall's sheep, puku (Zambia), and kudu (S. Africa).

Jim

Nice

Bruce Banner got nuttin on you James!

Boy was I off...when you said trophies I thought you meant for debate Team!

Those are mych Nicer!

Nice mountings -- looks like the people you hired got the job done for you too. Any more in your future? might have to get a bigger wall.

I think you should concentrate your effort on Home Advisor.

Great looking mounts/trophies and nicely composed letter!

Chris

Nice mounts took a lot of work to get all of those.

I looked closer and that sure is a dandy Dall Sheep! What is the story behind that and has it been scored?

Chris

I never had the sheep scored, no. It measured 38.75" with the tips broomed-off.

I took him under a drawing permit in the Chugach Mountains just outside of Anchorage in 1995. We were in a dense fog and I had to get within forty yards for the shot.

Jim

Very nice trophy!

Chris

I'd of let most of them walk at least another year or two...
(Sorry man, I can't let a thread go this long without someone giving you 'the business.')

Very nice. You left just enough room for the Homeadvisor and bank of America heads..........

Yep , worst bank ever

btw -- i won't do business with b of a or us bank. they are not american anymore

Awesome James!

cool pictures. great letter

I hate B of A, the only reason I darken their doors is to pay my Alaska Airlines Visa card (B of A).
I always pay with a check from a different local bank, the B of A tellers always ask me if I'd like to switch my accounts to B of A.
Wrong question to ask me, I give them an ear-full, you'd think they would stop asking.

My only question is why are you blaming Bank of America for Fraud committed by Home Advisor whom which you provided your credit info to willingly? Unless you contacted them to stop the charge how are they supposed to know the charge is fraudulent? Isn't like its a case of a stolen credit card you provided the info. I think I would have contacted Home Advisor to let them know that their subcontractor took off with out completing the job.

I gave BA the facts when I first saw the charge in December.

Mainly I'm mad at them for refusing to give my wife an extension of their ten-day deadline for us to provide them with "documentation."

Jim

Home Advisor gives no way to contact them other than their forms at their site. I did advise them that way, as stated in my letter.

Jim

I almost got sucked into the HomeAdvisor stuff when I was working as a contractor. That little voice inside your head that says don't do it I finally listened to it.

I suspect BAC will have no problem denying the charge to Home Advisor. Over the years I have disputed a few charges and all were resolved in my favor. The bank wants to maintain your business more than they care about Home Advisor.

Have you checked if BBB about other complaints against HA ??

Maybe you should contact an internet company that offers legal advice? Lol

What's that old saying? "Live and Learn"

Very nice wall and that sheep needs to be moved a little to the left.

I have had run-ins with both B of A and Home Advisor and will never EVER deal with or recommend them to anyone.

Garry-

REALLY ?? Who do you think owns them ?

Nah.

I have no way of knowing it, but I bet those two guys HA sent claimed they'd done the job. But they were HA's agents when they came here.

They gave me a bad vibe. Did not instill me with confidence they could even do the job, which I knew would be difficult. I was actually glad they took off and didn't return.

Jim

Left the sheep where it was because its hair is fragile.

The animal heads are different sizes, so a bit of asymmetry doesn't bother me.

Jim

I'm surprised folks like that would even be out trying to run a scam in the winter

Dishonest people no longer surprises.

Guess you told them.hahaha,,

When I get mad I don't write letters.

I think that is an impressive wall. I like the distribution of the mounts. But I have to ask, James.........is it appropriate for a democrat supporter to be a sport hunter and have taxidermy heads in their house?
mt

No, it probably wouldn't be. I'm sure they'd freak out.

Jim

Its right within the democrat mantra of " do as I say and not as I do " Hypocrisy at its finest. ... Like Bernie flying with a private jet from rally to rally telling us lower mortals how bad those nasty fossil fuels are while maintaining 3 villas plus jet etc.
Plus flying their personal bodyguards around with them while telling us how bad those guns are ..... Sick of it myself by now and am thinking that tax evasion is nt a crime but a favor to humanity , seeing what our tax dollars are being spent on

Nice trophies. Of them which was the best eating?
I love oryx. I think it's the best meat of big game.

James
They are about the most butt ugly whitetails I have ever seen.
Did you get your corn you used for bait from Chernobyl or Hal ?

Adam, the oryx was good, but the kudu was better. The sable backstops were awesome.

They don't bait animals where I hunted in Africa, except the big cats. Why would you bait plains game, when they're thick as flies just about everywhere you go?

You never know what animal you're going to see next. Africa is truly hunter's heaven.

Jim

Nice trophies, James.

That's awesome. That sounds like an amazing time(s) in Africa.

I would love to hunt out there. Maybe one day I can go hunt in Africa with my kids.

NM has oryx and I'm hoping to finally draw a tag this year.

Let’s us know the end result of your letter.

Excellent letter, James. Hopefully you have heard the last from them. Great mounts you got there!

Besides which, we wanted to mount each head in a stud, in order to withstand earthquakes.

Jim

Thanks for the compliments on the letter, but now--as is usual when I write something when I'm angry--I wish I'd toned it down a bit.

Jim

I've Been there.
Thats called Passion, sometimes you sleep on it and that happens!
They needed to hear it.

nice on both accounts

That's why I hate giving those card numbers out.I use PayPal when I can and there's no numbers to show and you can control the amount because I send it myself.

Hahaha^^^

Wellll, you do choose to do business with anti-gun/ anti-second amendment Bank of America. Not feeling much sympathy here.

Your sympathy is not required.

Jim

But I'm curious what BA has done to be labeled anti-gun.

Jim

For those in Alaska that don't have Google, here is one of many articles:

https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/11/news/companies/bank-of-america-guns/index.html

I don't blame you James, wouldn't require it either.

Nice looking mounts.Congrats.

Thank you, nramemb and Bruce.

The goat and sheep were up there by themselves for years; and now the wall looks full.

I still want a good whitetail trophy. If I ever shoot one, I'll have to find a different wall.

Jim

The big whitetails are out there.Good luck.Scored net score 190.

We are always hearing about the companies we should not be doing business with because they support this or that.
A link that list what the different companies support or are against should be out there somewhere. How'bout a link to the one that is best?

Wow, that's a whitetail, Bruce.

None of my trophies are as exceptional as your whitetail.

The sable ram, on the left, is a very good trophy at 41" for his longer horn.

The mountain goat, 8.7 inches, is little better than average for a billy. But the hunt almost killed me, so the goat is a trophy to me.

At 34.5" the gemsbok (oryx) is just an average female.

Most Alaska hunters like my sheep because it has heavy-horned and thick for much of the horns' length.

My puku is an average ram, so far as I can determine. These are rare, since only found in Zambia and a few other small places.

My kudu ram (Cape kudu) rated a silver medal from the South African Hunter's Association.

Jim

James, if you want a trophy whitetail I'd recommend one of the Canadian provinces.

Thanks, Steven, but I'm already planning to hunt them in Ohio this year.

Jim

You don't think any of your business goes to what we would consider anti gun businesses?

Thanks.Those are still nice trophies James and stuff I have never gotten to hunt.They take some big bucks out of Ohio.Good luck hunting.