Consumer complaint received 2023-05-07
Company: UNITED SERVICES AUTOMOBILE ASSOCIATION
State: TX
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
This is a brief explanation of what we have been dealing with over the last 5 months. The attachments go into some more detail and I would be happy to review them more in-depth and provide copies of the audio recordings as well for anyone that would be willing to investigate our allegations. In XX/XX/XXXX, we purchased two scooters through XXXX from a third-party seller, XXXX XXXX. The scooters did not meet many of the specifications advertised in writing by the manufacturer and one stopped working completely. We initiated a return with XXXX 2 days after receiving the items. The third-party company reached out through our contact information provided by XXXX to speak on their behalf. XXXX XXXX had asked us not to return to XXXX but instead to go directly through them. In lieu of a return, they reassured us that if they were unable to fix the scooters to reach the manufacturer 's specifications then they would provide us with a refund, and we would not have to return the items. Before completing this cancellation, we contacted XXXX to verify that this was accurate as we did not fully feel comfortable with this. The XXXX representative stated that this was a common practice and urged us to collaborate with the seller to resolve the issue. We canceled our return and began to work with the seller continuously over the next 6 weeks. We have recorded all voice calls along with conversations ( attached ) in email and chat. Additionally, we paid {$300.00} to a local repair shop to help us isolate the issues with the scooters under the guidance of a XXXX representative 's suggestion to mitigate the process as we continued to keep them in the loop. We began to have some concerns again as our return no-later-than-date got closer and XXXX XXXX began to ignore our messages. However, XXXX sent them a message and again, they urged us to keep working with them since we had already begun the process and they had made promises to us. The final contact with XXXX was a three-way call with XXXX XXXX XXXX ( XXXX ) and XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX ) and both agreed to continue working with XXXX XXXX. He promised us again a refund giving us a direct phone number to their office. We reached a XXXX XXXX Representative by the name of XXXX, and they agreed to a refund and asked for a couple of days to process it. We were now outside of the XXXX return window. XXXX XXXX then sent us an email that they would not be fulfilling their promise and that we needed to return the scooters to receive a refund. The company stretched out its promises for weeks, repeatedly telling us that they were trying to reach their technicians and would be getting back to us. They thanked us for our patience and eased our concerns with no intention of helping us. We can now no longer return these to XXXX as we had intended 2 days after receiving the products and our children still have not received their XXXX Gifts of the scooters. 

The second part of this is the interactions we had involving USAA to dispute this charge. Before XXXX XXXX return no-later-than-date, we had contacted USAA to inquire about this situation with concerns about us not being able to complete a return nor get a refund and being stuck with two scooters that were essentially fraudulent products. Since we still had a few days to return the scooters to XXXX, we called and asked to speak with someone in the disputes department to explain that we were worried about this situation. We explained what we were going through to the representative we spoke with and asked if this would be a disputable issue had they not returned our money as promised. They stated that this sounded like a clear-cut case of fraud, and we could dispute it if it happened. Because of this, we decided to take the risk and follow through with XXXX XXXX. In XX/XX/XXXX, we opened a dispute with USAA when XXXX XXXX revoked their refund as instructed. They gave us provisional credit until the solution was resolved. We sent them all of the documentation that I sent over with this request and also informed them that we have all of the voice recordings available on multiple occasions. The USAA representatives that we have spoken with all stated that it was obvious to see how the company had been deceiving us and that it was a clear manipulation for XXXX XXXX to 'run out the clock ' until we were outside of the return window through XXXX XXXX They all agreed that it was apparent that we were doing exactly as instructed and that XXXX XXXX faulted on their product as well as their promise while being encouraged to continue forward by XXXX representatives. After not hearing from USAA for some time, we reached out and were told that they had not received our evidence about 1 month after we had submitted the evidence the first time. We submitted all of the emails and receipts again and we even had someone try to say a second time that they did not receive it. We, unfortunately, had to explain much of what we had been dealing with during every phone call as a proper note did not seem to be included in our case. While most representatives were very courteous and understanding of our situation, we did have one representative named XXXX that had contacted us with a vastly different demeanor. She had asked for some information and after explaining what we were going through, essentially felt like it was not a dispute after all. We attempted to explain to her the inaccuracies and her aggression and interruptions escalated to the point of her yelling at us for an extended period of time. It was so much so that we felt concerned that she would not be unbiased when overseeing our case and requested to speak with her supervisor. We explained the way that she had treated us and our concerns about her ability to complete her investigations appropriately and without her personal feelings interference. The supervisor apologized and reassured us that this would not be the case. However, it is difficult to feel as though this is accurate. Even though the representatives that we had spoken with all stated our case was valid repeatedly, we got a denial letter from USAA, and they proceeded to take back the provisional credit. USAA stated in their denial letter that " no error occurred '' and we called in because we did not understand why it was denied nor what the denial reason had to do due to the fact that this was reported as fraud and not due to an error. When we called in, we spoke with a representative, XXXX, the day we received the letter. She reviewed our notes and stated that she also does not know why it would say that or why it would be denied. She also agreed that it was fraud and told us we needed to specifically ask for a member from the MRT department. We have now requested to speak with the Escalations and 'MRT ' departments but have yet to receive any callbacks from any of our messages. 

At this point, we are not sure what is the best direction to go in to manage this and have started seeking legal representation. We are prepared to go as far as necessary to fight these charges as we clearly received faulty and/or misrepresented products as well as the company trying to manipulate us with false promises. This includes USAA being a party to this in the end as we asked about this situation before taking the risk. Because of the statements and promises that were made by these companies, we chose to go in the direction that we did. We are also more than happy to send the phone recordings from XXXX, XXXX XXXX and USAA or anything else that is needed as well as answer any questions. Ultimately, we went through diligent work to meet the seller 's requests for 6 weeks followed by another 6 weeks of waiting for investigations, and still have not received the product that we paid for.

Company public response: Company believes it acted appropriately as authorized by contract or law
Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation