Consumer complaint received 2022-12-21
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: CA
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Closing an account
Sub-issue: Can't close your account

Complaint:
My mom XX/XX/XXXXrecently. I am XXXX of the beneficiary of her accounts in Wells Fargo. In trying to close her accounts I have had so many frustrations dealing with several branches of Wells Fargo. 

XXXX ) Went into a local Wells Fargo. They told me I needed to set an appointment to proceed with closing my mom 's accounts. I said that was fine. They created an appointment for the next day. I went in the next day and they said I did not have an appointment. They forgot to put the appointment down in their records. They wasted my day. 

XXXX ) I filled out an " Request For Distribution of Eligible Assets From A Transfer On Death ( XXXX ) Account '' form and had it notarized and sent in. After a couple of weeks I called in and they said that form was filled in wrong and that I would need to do it again. So I said that is fine but that they would need to help me fill it out. They did line by line. I got this form notarized and sent in. I phoned back a few times and they said everything was good. Then after XXXX weeks they sent me an email saying they were missing the " Request For Distribution of Eligible Assets From A Transfer On Death ( XXXX ) Account '' form. I called back in ( which always takes XXXX hour or more ) and they said the form was not missing but was filled in wrong. They had originally told me incorrectly how to fill it out. It was missing some information about the XXXX account type. 

XXXX ) Wells Fargo said I needed a form notarized and told me to set up an appointment at Wells Fargo XXXX to take care of this. I set an appointment. When I got to the appointment a few days later they said they would NOT notarize the form because I was not a Wells Fargo customer. So they basically wasted my time. They could have done it as a courtesy but chose not to. 

XXXX ) I made an appointment with another Wells Fargo to close my mom 's checking account. I stayed there while they made the dreaded XXXX hour wait time call back to Wells Fargo estate processing. She was on the phone with them for about XXXX minutes and everything seemed to be good and complete. She then hangs up the call to finish the process. She then finds out for some unknown reason she could not close my mom 's account. So she needed to call back to estate processing ( another hour wait ). So she said I did not need to be at the branch and she would call me when she completed the call. She was going to go to lunch and get back to the estate processing after lunch. I did not get a phone call for the rest of the day. The next day at XXXX pm I go back to that branch. The person who helped me before was by herself looking at her phone. When I went up to ask her what the status was with my mom 's account she said she never made the call back to estate processing yesterday and today she had been very busy. She said she will call after her next customer. Eventually that same day she called me finally and said she tried to call the estate processing but could not get through and had to leave for the day. On the third day still no phone call from the banker. At the end of the third day they finally got it resolved. They went to cut a check for the amount in the checking account. The banker did not know how to fill out a check. XXXX said she had to run it again because the banker did not fill the check correctly. Eventually it got done and my mom 's checking account was closed. 

XXXX ) An indicator of what is going on with the banker. On day XXXX of our interaction she said she had to go to lunch. This was at XXXXXX/XX/XXXX On day XXXX I went back in to that branch. I spoke with that banker at XX/XX/XXXX She said she just got back from lunch. So what I can gather they seem to take XXXX plus hour lunches as the norm. Also in speaking with the banker she said she was very busy that day. And in trying to prove to me that she was busy she said repeatedly that she had to have " A back to back customer meetings '' today. I would think a " back to back customer meeting '' is normal and just part of the normal daily work of a banker. She was making it seem like that is extraordinary that she was doing a " back to back customer meeting ''. 

XXXX ) I phoned into Wells Fargo to lodge a complaint. They heard my complaint and then said they would get someone to help on my complaint. They asked if I could be put on hold for XXXX minutes. XXXX minutes later they did not come back on the call. I hung up. 

In none of these situations above did any Wells Fargo employee take the effort or extra effort to help me. Even though many of the problems I encountered was due to their own miscommunications and problems created by Wells Fargo. My overall sense is that they do not want to close any accounts so that it will make their books look better. Instead they will give the customer the run around hoping that the customer will just get frustrated and leave the accounts open. Also because XXXX of the accounts I am trying to close is an investment account they charged service charges to keep the account open. The investment account I am still wrestling with them to close. 

This has been going on since XXXX.

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 monetary relief