Consumer complaint received 2023-10-14
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: WI
Product: Money transfer, virtual currency, or money service
Sub-product: Domestic (US) money transfer
Issue: Other transaction problem

Complaint:
On XX/XX/23 I opened an online checking account with Wells Fargo. Account XXXX. In order to do this I approved a {$500.00} initial deposit to be taken from the savings account of my current bank, XXXX XXXX. 

After five days neither account showed a pending deposit or withdrawal & I received an email from Well 's Fargo warning me that my account had reached a XXXX balance. It had never left a XXXX balance because the transfer hadn't happened. 

I called Wells Fargo only to find that their automated voice system was doing everything it could to avoid putting me through to a person. After 15 minutes of trying I finally got it to send me to a human by entering a wrong PIN number. I was then told there was a 17 minute wait to speak to someone. When I finally got through I was frustrated and told them that after that customer service experience I now wanted to make sure the deposit was not pending and close the account. They assured me twice ( on a recorded call ) that there was no deposit pending. I asked what would happen if the deposit were sent and they said it would be rejected and returned. So I closed the account.

Of course, about four hours later I see that now the transfer is pending in my XXXX XXXX savings account. I didn't worry about it though because I figured it would be cancelled or returned. 

To date I have not seen this {$500.00} appear back in my account. 

My bank, XXXX XXXX, has at least been helpful to the point of providing me a screenshot from their end showing the money was transferred to Wells Fargo and providing a trace number ( XXXX ) and told me Wells Fargo would need to determine where this money wound up. 

Three calls to each institution over two weeks led me nowhere. Wells Fargo customer service just read from a script and kept saying if the account was closed they wouldn't have the money. I asked them to please take the trace number and try to figure this out, they refused. 

Finally I asked to talk to a supervisor who opened claim XXXX and said they would reach out to me over the next ten business days if they needed more information. Again, this person refused to take the trace number.

Roughly two weeks later I received a letter from Wells Fargo stating they were closing my claim and had determined they did not have my money. Never having reached out to me asking for any further information. 

This letter said if I wanted documentation on the claim and the investigation I should call them and ask to have it mailed to me, which I have done but have not yet received. 

I don't know if XXXX XXXX  or Well 's Fargo has my money, but it's somewhere and I have a trace number which you would think should make finding it easy. But NEITHER bank is willing to take care of the issue much less work with each other to resolve it.

Company public response: Company has responded to the consumer and the CFPB and chooses not to provide a public response
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation