Dmitri M.

Cannot be trusted for currency exchange. They told me they give a market rate by phone and then again in person---which is how they lure you in, but then (1) markup on it, and (2) add a processing fee. The overall result ended up being worse for me than what the local bank offered.

I had many different types of accounts with the Bank of America since opening my first account in year 2008. To date, all accounts operate and have always operated exactly as advertised. Never seen their web site down. Never had any problems with any transactions (plastic card, electronic transfers, checks, etc.). BoA is quick to resolve fraudulent charges. Staff members across multiple branches I visited in those years have been welcoming and professional. I believe I am a tough rater, but I cannot think of anything else to even wish for. Through those years of 100% proven reliability I have gained a great confidence in the bank.

They attract the customer by small upfront fees ($79.95 for a visit) to rip off on other fees. They charged me $150 to replace a small piece of burnt wire---a job that took 5 minutes. Not sure how much of $150 was labor and how much was parts...

Since recently, Amazon adopted the practice of cancelling parts of purchase orders. You order 10 items, but if you get 7 of them, you'd better believe you are very lucky. After so many items that failed to deliver, I believe this is a pattern and a conscious business decision. As a result, if the item you are purchasing is a necessity, Amazon is no more a reliable enough place to order there. I am sure there are a number of reliable vendors on Amazon, but overall it is no more nearly as reliable as it used to be.

Paypal is particularly vulnerable to electronic fraud. I have had more fraudulent transactions happen with my one paypal account then on all of my credit cards combined.

Their help center is a joke. They do not reply to emails (I mean at all), if you call they will tell you "we are unable to help you, sorry", including their 'supervisory' level employees.

Paypal's close business relations with ebay appear to be exploited by paypal in a malicious way: having put a bid on ebay resulted in paypal limiting my paypal account, and the inability to complete ebay purchase. One may say this was an unfortunate coincidence, but the timing was too perfect for me to easily believe in such a coincidence.

Had to write them 21 emails and make numerous phone calls to make just one transaction happen. Can you afford wasting this much time?! Their replies would slow down significantly after I sent them my money (and before they transferred the currency). Isn't this great and satisfying to work with a company that goes silent after you give them your money?!