Consumer complaint received 2020-04-06
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CT
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Opening an account
Sub-issue: Didn't receive terms that were advertised

Complaint:
I opened a new checking account with an advertised bonus of {$400.00} Application Reference number : XXXX. 
Bonus Requirements : To receive a {$400.00} bonus, open a new, eligible Wells Fargo consumer checking account with a minimum opening deposit of {$25.00} by XX/XX/2019. All account applications are subject to approval. 

Within 150 days of account opening, receive a total of {$3000.00} or more each month in qualifying direct deposits to the checking account opened for this bonus offer for three consecutive months. During this time your new account balance must be {$1.00} or more. 

Bonus Payment : We will deposit the bonus into your new checking account within 45 days after meeting all the offer requirements. The new checking account must remain open in order to receive any earned bonus payments. 

I completed all offer requirementsnamely, I had over {$3000.00} deposited in my account for XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX. In XXXX, after my third month of {$3000.00} direct deposits, I called Wells Fargo and spoke both with a first level support agent and a supervisor to confirm I met the terms of the offer. Both assured me that I did and that I would receive the {$400.00} bonus within 45 days. I did not. 

On XX/XX/XXXX, 45 days later, I called Wells Fargo to complain. The agent at first stated I did complete the terms, but that I would have to wait until 45 days after the 150 day qualification period. I pointed out the terms are 45 days after the deposit requirement is met. He then agreed, then said three consecutive months means account cycle months. I asked him where the word cycle is in the terms, or where the terms state that month does not have its normal calendar meaning. He said the terms do not state this, but nonetheless, that is the meaning of month, and I do not qualify. I escalated this both to the Executive Office and the Promotions department. 

I was given Reference Number XXXX for the Promotion Department and XXXX for the Executive Office. I also received the case number is XXXX from the Wells Fargo Line Of Business Resolution Team. It has now been 7  days, and I have received no resolution. 

This is unacceptable. I fulfilled the terms. Every major dictionary defines the word month : as a calendar month as the primary definition. The XXXX XXXX XXXX defines the word month as Each of the equal portions into which a year is conventionally divided, approximating in length to the period during which the moon completes a cycle of its phases ; esp. each of the twelve named divisions ( XXXX, XXXX, etc. ) in the modern calendar, deriving from those of the reformed Roman calendar ( see note below ). 

It is obvious that the lunar month is not meant, as that would be nonsensicaltherefore, the standard definition of month must apply as it is the calendar month. Alternatively, as Wells Fargo intentionally left the terms ambiguous, it should honor the terms under any definition of the term month, not one arbitrarily selected by the bank retroactively to deny bonus payments. 

I know from online forums that many other customers have had this same issue, based on the same reasonable interpretation of the word " month ''. Wells Fargo repeatedly and systematically refuses to honor its own terms, based on the calendar month as the terms are written, and only after an escalation and lengthy delay is the bonus honored. 

Additionally, it appears that Wells Fargos own agents cant even decipher their own terms. If Wells Fargo itself does not understand its terms, they are per se unfair, misleading, and deceptive. The agents make conflicting statements about the meaning of the terms and change the definition until they have one that confirms the denial. 

Finally, a Wells Fargo agent on XX/XX/XXXX said he could see the bonus on my account but that he could not see the bonus code and insisted there is a code, demanding it from me. Wells Fargos computer systems are faulty and negligently operated as is the bonus code system, another method used to deny bonuses and claim they do not apply. 

It is an unfair, misleading, and deceptive trade practice to use the term month without further explanation, and then retroactively claim it means billing cycle month. Moreover, I called in XXXX to confirm and was told by two agents that I qualify.

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