Consumer complaint received 2018-05-28
Company: Netspend Corporation
State: IA
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: General-purpose prepaid card
Issue: Problem with a purchase or transfer
Sub-issue: Charged for a purchase or transfer you did not make with the card

Complaint:
They're customer service is beyond a disappointment. Other than activating cards or transferring money between users I have yet to run into troubles they have answers for. They have no escalation protocol, no accountability for consumer inconveniences, and no escalation procedure or any way of getting you to someone who CAN ACTUALLY FREAKING HELP U WTH ANYTHING THE APP DOESN'T ALREADY COVER. So if you have real problems, the are sorry to hear about them, can understand your frustrations, but there is ALWAYS going to be NOTHING THEY CAN DO. Their script runs out of " click here if yes '' " here if no '' options before the real problems even start. Is this even legal? A bad business model, horrible for return business or referrals, but. is it against the law? I certainly hope so. Here is my experience. I'll keep it short and to the point. Facts are : I made a claim for transactions I state were unapproved and made without my knowledge. 

I state my card was stolen and the pin was in my cell which is missing as well. The phone had no screen lock and my acct info/code were stored in an app called XXXX keep. 

The claim totals XXXX I left one transaction out in error and sent in a claim for it by itself a few days later since the original claim was already recieved. 

The XXXX claim was denied. 

The single claim from the same incident was paid. 

I lost my home, got stuck halfway across the country from my friends, family, and children. 

I found myself homeless on the streets of XXXX XXXX due to financial hardships this scenario brought about I repeatedly called customer service expressing to them my situation and how serious things were. I even called on the day they declined me while being kicked out of my hotel bc I couldn't pay. I got the room from someone I met in hopes my claim would be paid the next day when they said I'd have a decision. I lost everything I owned, well what I had left ( which wasn't much by this point in time ) that day. I was inconsolable. I had nothing. No way to get to IA where my children were, no way to even keep a phone they could call. Starving most days and the dirtiest I've ever been. I just got home to the Midwest thanks to a good Samaritan this last week. The money was stolen just before my birthday the end of XXXX. I was so desperate I attempted to drive a vehicle that didn't belong to me home to get to my children I hadn't seen in months and wound up in jail for 30 days and have a stolen car on my record. There isn't much I haven't been through at this point and I still can't get a manager, different phone number, next step to take, or even a reason why from anyone at netspend 's customer service headquarters that is as far from it's customers and their problems as they are from reality or an acceptable level of service. I'm in debt and my family hasn't even begun to recover from what this preventable disaster has done to us. My situation is so common. I can't believe they were unequipped to solve the simple everyday problem the XXXX that stole my card left me to turn to them to help me straighten out. I blame the thief for the inconvenience of having to call customer service, but I blame netspend 's negligently incompetent customer service facade for what transpired over the last few months. To say they are unaware there's a problem wouldnt just be absurd, it would be sould crushing. XXXX NetSpend. Ask a sales associate what they've heard about people 's experience with NetSpend cards as a whole. Ask anywhere they're sold. Stick your head out your front door and yell " anyone have any issues with NetSpend out here? '' Someone will warn you or share a story of headaches and unfulfilled needs regarding whoever it is answering these calls. NetSpend knows ... they probably knew before we even smelled trouble. They just didn't care. And THAT is where NetSpend became not just disappointing, but criminally negligent. And while XXXX customer service isn't technically against the law. That definitely is. Words like fraudulent, misleading, and predatory are like flashing neon signs with arrows pointed right at this XXXX   company we still allow to do this to our fellow consumers. Although I can think of a lot of words to describe NetSpend as a whole, fully operational, profitable, and available as banking option to American 's everywhere shouldn't be on that list. I've attached all the documentation I could find. Please let me know if there's anything else I can provide you with. Shut this company down. Make them pay their debts. They promised to keep our money safe. When they don't I count on my country 's leaders and my justice system to demand better and keep me safe. Although my story is probably hard to believe, I wouldn't have believed this would be me before I landed here. It took one mistake. One careless act on my part and one immoral act by the thief to leave my world unrecognizable. It took under a minute to put my future, my stability, and my children 's well being in the hands of the company fell through in every promise that led me to them in the first place. I trusted them. Obviously! They had every dime I had. Thousands of dollars of money I couldn't afford to keep somewhere it wasn't safe. I think that's what sucks the most. I trusted them. And I should've known better. 

-- -- -- -- -- Forwarded message -- -- -- -- - From : XXXX XXXX XXXX Date : Mon, XX/XX/2018, XXXX XXXX  Subject : NetSpend needs to be accountable To : <XXXX> Show quoted text

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