Consumer complaint received 2021-01-30
Company: FISERV INC.
State: KS
Product: Credit card or prepaid card
Sub-product: Government benefit card
Issue: Problem getting a card or closing an account
Sub-issue: Trouble closing card

Complaint:
On XX/XX/2021 I received the XXXX XXXX Payment Card enabled by MoneyNetwork in the mail. I will refer to it as the EIP card. I followed the instructions in the letter under How to get started that say that I should read the full Cardholder Agreement at XXXX. I went to the website and read the agreement. I found the following Important Notice right at the beginning of the Cardholder Agreement : 5 ) BY ACTIVATING OR USING THIS CARD, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS CONTAINED IN THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THESE TERMS, DO NOT ACTIVATE OR TRY TO USE THE CARD ; YOU SHOULD CANCEL THE CARD BY CALLING CUSTOMER SERVICE AND REQUESTING YOUR FUNDS IN THE FORM OF A PAPER CHECK. 

Please note that the same notice is available on the following webpage : https : //www.eipcard.com/cardholder-agreement I decided that I did not want to be bound by the terms of the agreement and went ahead to follow the instructions. I called the Customer Service ( XXXX ). This phone number is on the website and also on a sticker on the EIP card. The system is a voice-automated system. I tried getting an option to cancel the card and request the funds as a paper check but no such option is not available. My call kept being terminated automatically by the system. I called several times in order to search through all of the possible options to make sure I wasnt missing it. There was none that could be reached to allow me to perform the above instructions. I kept searching through the menu and eventually ( by sheer luck ), one of the options said that I should press " one '' to talk to a representative. I did and started talking to a very nice person called XXXX. She asked for the number on the EIP card. I gave it to her and at the same time I said that the card had not been activated and that I DID NOT want to activate it. She acknowledged it and asked for my social security number and to confirm my address. I provided the required information. XXXX then asked my how she could help me. I informed her about me receiving the card in the mail, reading the Cardholder Agreement and that I had decided I wanted to cancel the card and request my funds in the form of a paper check as stated in the said Cardholder Agreement. I explicitly said that I had not activated or tried to use the card and that I was calling Customer Service as instructed. She asked me to confirm three question of multiple answers to establish my identity. I complied and she was satisfied with it. These questions, XXXX said, were required to authenticate me with the IRS. She then put me on hold. After a few minutes and a second hold, she said I would have to request the check through the automated system. I said there was no such option. I had been very thorough while searching for it. She said I would have to call the automated system and type in my card number and my PIN number in order to get that. I asked her that I did not have a PIN number, and that I would think that in order to get a PIN number I would have to activate the card. She put me on hold to verify that information. Eventually she said that that was true, and that there was no way to request the funds in paper check form unless I activated the card through the automated system. I informed her that this was in direct contradiction with what the Important Notice in the Cardholder Agreement stated. 

She apologized and said there was nothing else she could do. She suggested I called the IRS to ask for a check. I pointed out that it was not what the Instructions given in their Cardholder Agreement said. She agreed and dropped the suggestion. I know she was trying to help. She said I am a simple agent. I understood that. But a company should not offer something and then simply not honor it. 

I was frustrated and said that I would like to place a complaint. She eventually said that the Complaints Dept was closed and I would have to call next morning through the same automated system. I said there was no option to reach the Complaints Dept through the automated system menus. She got confused. I said that this was all very unfortunate and that I would like a transcript of the call in order to make a public complaint ( I was thinking of using the transcript for this consumerfinance.gov complaint ). She could not give me that. I was polite throughout, and she was too, but I was sensing that she was feeling uncomfortable with my persistence. She eventually hung up. 

I was left without a possibility to achieve the goal of getting my funds in the form of a paper check without activating the card, as explicitly stated in their Cardholder Agreement. The described situation uses an automated system without required options in the menus and forces the beneficiary to accept and activate the card to receive the benefit. It is also explicitly contradicts the information provided in their own Cardholder Agreement. 

My call was placed at XXXX on XX/XX/2021, and lastes 35 minutes and 56 seconds.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation