Consumer complaint received 2020-02-21
Company: BANK OF THE WEST
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Problem using a debit or ATM card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2019 I noticed multiple charges from XXXX on my bank of the West Bank card. The charges added together was over {$1400.00}, Some were still in pending status. I called my bank immediately and they sent out a form for me to fill out and mail back to them. I received it about ten days later. I filled it out and attached as much information as possible to help my case. I then faxed, emailed, and sent it out on XX/XX/XXXX and XX/XX/2019. I emailed to a manager that Ive worked with previously, her name is XXXX XXXX. I also called the following week to make sure they received everything. I asked to speak with XXXX, but she was out to lunch and instead I talked to someone by the name of XXXX. XXXX was incredibly rude and should not be working with the public! However, she confirmed that they received it. XXXX informed me via email that she is forwarding the information to the person who was assigned to the case, his name was XXXX. She gave me no information about XXXX, I did ask for his email so I could send evidence directly to him. She stopped replying to my multiple emails so I never received his email. They gave me provisional credit for the funds lost. I started receiving multiple empty packages from XXXX. I took pictures of them and a close up to the weight of the packages that was listed. Just by the weight alone shows the packages were empty. For example, the small package stated that the items were body lotion, but the weight stated shows it being very few ounces. I went down to the post office to speak with them, they informed me about a scam thats going around from XXXX. They ship out empty packages so theres a tracking number to prove they shipped items out, which makes it harder to dispute. She also handed me a someone else package that was also from XXXX and you can clearly feel it being empty as well. I then searched the internet to find cases similar to mine. I sent the articles and all the other evidence to XXXX XXXX  email. I never received a reply from her. I finally was able to get a hold of XXXX and he was impressed with the amount of evidence I had sent them and he couldnt see a problem that would deny this case. I never heard from him again. I checked my bank account shortly after and I noticed it was very low so I got online to see why. The reversed my provisional credit, bounced my bills back and charged me {$35.00} per transactions they sent back. I never received any notice saying that this was happening. I called and left messages with the fraud department and no one would return my calls. I finally was able to talk to someone by the name of XXXX days later, I think that was his name. He informed me that they denied my claim and that I will receive a notice as to why, in the mail. I received a letter from them shortly after, but it wasnt information on the case. Instead it was a notice saying they are closing my account with them. I again continued to call them and it would send me to voicemail, and no one ever returned my calls. I went down to my banks branch to ask questions but they couldnt find a reason why they were closing the account. She thought maybe it was due to the amount of claims I had filed. Each one of my case were valid and I had overwhelming evidence to back up each claim. To this day, I havent received a reason as to why they denied my claim. I contacted them quickly after noticing the charges some were still pending and couldve been stopped. It takes about two weeks for the sellers of XXXX to mail out orders. They had a huge window to stop this before the packages were sent out, but instead they let the orders continue and imply that it was me committing fraud! I even tried calling and emailing the company and all they did was close my XXXX account. Ive shopped with them for years and this was the first time something like this has happened to me. My mistake was that I saved my credit card information to my account on XXXX. I  have so much proof to help this case.

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