Consumer complaint received 2023-08-15
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose credit card or charge card
Issue: Problem with a purchase shown on your statement
Sub-issue: Card was charged for something you did not purchase with the card

Complaint:
SUMMARY OF COMPLAINT XXXX, XXXX Mishandling of credit card fraud claim. Within minutes of receiving a text alert from Wells Fargo about a charge being attempted on my personal Visa card for nearly $ XXXX, I called them to report the unauthorized charge. They cancelled my card, but failed to file the fraud claim and let the charge go through on my new card. After many, many calls to them over the following XXXX days and receiving much misinformation from their customer service representatives, I found someone who agreed to file the fraud claim. She cancelled the card again and reissued another. Now XXXX weeks since my initial call, a temporary credit appeared on my account offsetting the charge. Then my claim was denied and the charge reappeared. I filed an appeal and provided a great deal of details, but they denied it again giving no explanation outside of sending me an unsigned letter that again stated the charge was valid. I was never given a case number, information about their procedure, information about my rights, how to appeal if needed, details about their investigation/denial, or the name of the person handling my case in their frauds department. All communications were in the form of a boiler plate letter with no signature that took XXXX days in the mail to be received on my end. My husband and I have been Wells Fargo bank customers for over 30 years with excellent credit. 

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... TIMELINE & DETAILS : XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX  I received a call from a local Wells Fargo Bank branch located in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  XXXX Our business is in XXXX XXXX. I verified the caller I.D. # to be sure it was the branch calling. The rep, XXXX claimed to be from their fraud detection department and they noticed some suspicious activity on our Visa card ending in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. He provided our full card number and sent a verification code to verify his identity using the same SMS short code text used by Wells Fargo. Note I did not give him any personal info except that we were home while the suspected charges were being attempted in XXXX XXXX, XXXX. He agreed to cancel the card and file a fraud claim. See more about this in our appeal letter to Wells Fargo. 

... ... ... XXXX XXXX XXXX  - While on a bicycle ride in XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX my husband and I received a text alert a charge for {$7900.00} from XXXX XXXX XXXX was being attempted on our Wells Fargo Visa card XXXX Within minutes of receiving the alert, I called Wells Fargo to report it. The rep said she'd cancel our card and report the fraudulent charge. When I asked why the card wasnt cancelled the day before, she could not say. We received new cards ending in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX NOTE : Our original card had never left our possession, nor had our phones and most importantly, we DID NOT nor have we ever authorized anyone else to use our card at any time. 

... ... ... XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX The charge remained on our account. I called WF again, but the rep said to wait for a refund from the vendor, which didn't sound right. Then another rep said the same thing but also said to be patient. After nearly another week of being patient we still hadnt heard from them in the form of a call/email/or letter and the charge remained. 

... ... ... XXXX I called WF, but this time the rep, XXXX agreed our fraud claim was not properly filed and she filed it again. She said a mistake was made and they needed to close our new card now and issue yet another new card. A few days later, we got our new cards ending in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX  and found a temporary credit on our account was made offsetting the fraud charge. But heres the thing. they back dated the credit to show as if it posted on XX/XX/XXXX. Were now on our third credit card. 

... ... ... XXXX Meanwhile, we received another letter from WF dated XX/XX/XXXX about our first card XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX stating, " ... the unauthorized transactions that were reported did not post to your credit card account ... your case is closed '' Of course this was not true as it was posted, but to our new credit card number ending in XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. We assume this letter relates to the earlier fraud claim that was never properly filed. 

... ... ... XXXX Received letter from WF dated XX/XX/XXXX stating they havent been able to reach me and I have 10 days from the date of the letter to respond. Turns out they did call from an unknown XXXX XXXX, but didnt leave a voice message. I called back the moment I got this letter and spoke with XXXX. XXXX asked if we always had our cards in our possession or authorized its use to anyone else. I answered the cards never left our possession and no one else was authorized. Nothing more was asked, no details were given about the investigation, nor were we offered a way to submit any statement online. 

... ... ... XXXX We found the credit was removed from our account and the charge remained. I then met with a local banker, XXXX at the XXXX XXXX, XXXX. branch. She called the same tel # I used, and found out they denied our claim. She said they told her the perpetrator used an electronic wallet to make the charge and they believe it was authorized by us. I asked how is this possible unless the thief had our card or one of our phones ; that WF must have the cell # associated with that e-wallet and couldnt they see its wasnt our cell numbers? XXXX questioned their decision and said they agreed to reconsider. Our case was reopened. 

... ... ... XXXX - Received letter from WF dated XX/XX/XXXX confirming the denial. The letter stated, " We found that no fraud occurred ... Now frantic we were getting nowhere with WF, I filed a police report with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX. I also wrote an appeal letter and faxed it to Wells Fargo Claims & Recovery Credit Card Fraud Claims, plus mailed it to them at XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX, XXXX  XXXX. See that appeal attached showing a timeline and proof of our location at time of the fraudulent charge. Next, I filed a fraud claim and froze my credit with the 3 credit reporting agencies. NOTE : In our appeal, I request a copy of their recordings of my calls and the details of their investigation/denial. 

... ... ... XXXX WF Credit Card Executive Office Case Specialist XXXX XXXX called me at our office. She said she was calling to handle our complaint and didnt know anything about our fraud case. She agreed to let me email a copy of the same appeal to her directly. While on the phone, she confirmed receipt and promised to forward it on to their fraud department. 

... ... ... XXXX - Received letter from WF dated XX/XX/XXXX stating, " ... we are continuing our research... '' Nothing was mentioned about our appeal letter. 

... ... ... XXXX My husband and I discovered we took cell phone photos of ourselves while at the beach that day and those photos are date/time stamped XX/XX/XXXX XXXX XXXX  with our location in XXXX XXXX. Further proving we were not in XXXX XXXX, I emailed copies of these photos to XXXX at WF and requested she forward them on to their fraud claims department. Her email response stated shes away till XX/XX/XXXX and she gave no alternative contact. 

... ... ... XXXX Received letter from WF dated XX/XX/XXXX denying claim again. The very same day, we received another unsigned letter from WF dated two days later on XX/XX/XXXX stating, As you requested, we are continuing our research... ..I called XXXX department and asked to speak with her supervisor, Forand. WF rep, XXXX said shed forward the message. 
Again, no mention of our appeal/photos and the charge still remains on our account. 

... ..I left a message with the Officer at XXXX XXXX XXXX who took my report, to ask if he was able to get the surveillance footage from XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX 

... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...... PLEASE SEE ATTACHED APPEAL WITH PROOF OF CALLS, EMAILS, TEXTS, VENDOR RECEIPT, PHOTOS, POLICE REPORT, CARD STATEMENTS AND ALL BANK COORESPONDENCE RECEIVED TO DATE.

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