Consumer complaint received 2018-07-19
Company: WELLS FARGO & COMPANY
State: OR
Product: Checking or savings account
Sub-product: Checking account
Issue: Managing an account
Sub-issue: Funds not handled or disbursed as instructed

Complaint:
This past Sunday XX/XX/18, I called Wells Fargo to place a stop payment on a business check issued to an electrical contractor. I issued the check the contractor the previous day, then realized he overcharged me by {$1000.00}. I feel like I contacted the bank in plenty of time, because I didn't see where the contractor had cashed the check. That Sunday evening, the assisting banker placed the stop payment on my Check # XXXX, Amount {$2900.00} then issued me a reference # XXXX. My hindsight regarding that situation, is that I don't remember the banker clarifying which checking account the stop payment should be applied personal or business. However, I did provide him with enough background to understand that it was a business transaction. The next day Monday XX/XX/18, I checked my account and was glad to see the check was still not cashed. As I was thinking over the stop payment conversation, the bankers always introduce doubt regarding the effectiveness of a " Stop Payment '', even if you place it in plenty of time. Now I see why! So, I had an idea to move the money back into my savings account as an added precaution. I called back on that day to run the idea by a banker. The 2nd assisting banker said he saw the stop payment, but never verified the account number either. Yet, he assured me that it wasn't necessary to incur a {$30.00} NSF, and the stop payment was sufficient, because the bank would have my back if anything went wrong. I responded by stating " I'd much rather lose {$70.00}, than {$1000.00} ''. He also assured me that if anything happened, the bank would be liable, and step up. The next day Tuesday XX/XX/18, I viewed my account online and noticed that Check # XXXX was cashed and cleared. I called to notify a banker, now they decide to do the reverse verification checks to see what happened. They discover that the XXXX 1st banker placed the stop payment on the wrong account, and never verified it with me. He placed the stop payment against my personal account instead of my business account. The mistake is obviously the banks fault, the 3rd assisting banker realizes this and tells me she needs to escalate this matter to her boss. Her boss gets on the phone and does absolutely nothing but acts as if Im the problem and theres nothing he can do. Wells Fargo completely fumbled this transaction leaving me no recourse in my business situation. Everyone of the Wells Fargo employees that touched this transaction handled it like pure amateurs, and especially the supervisor. The lower level employees assured me there was recourse if the Stop Payment process fails. As theyre telling me this, it never occurred to me that the failure would be the direct result of their incompetency. So, the only thing the supervisor could rudely say to me was that, they had no recourse now. So, someone is either lying or poorly trained, because there seemed to be some hope until I talk to him. Especially when nothing had gone wrong, theres all kinds of pie in the sky. Apparently, he shouldnt be a supervisor if his staff doesnt know how to properly implement a stop payment or perform any checks to ensure the failure doesnt occur due to the banks negligence or instill false hope in a consumer if something goes wrong. Because what Im seeing here is there is no hope, even when the bank is clearly at fault. In this case, everyone knew the bank failed me, yet the supervisor tried to berate me. He spoke as if everything would have been fine if he were there to process the transaction. As if I knew or cared whether he was there. Im kind of crazy this way, when I call an establishment, especially my bank. I believe whoever answers the phone is qualified to handle my transaction? Because based on his response, I need to ask for a supervisor every time. His response indicates he utilizes an incompetent approach training his staff, as a supervisor your job is to make ensure your staff is thoroughly trained to function in the absence of his/her presence. The transaction was poorly handled from inception to the bitter end, not to mention everyones understanding of what would happen in the event of failure, because all his lower level staff comforted me by telling me the bank would claim responsibility for this if anything went wrong. Then I find out that even though the Wells Fargo bank employees were extremely negligent. Wells Fargo doesnt want to claim any responsibility. As I mentioned above, I had a feeling something might go wrong, and was willing to incur an additional {$30.00} charge, but no, the bank assured me everything would be fine. Guess what? Everything is not fine, its far from fine!

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 non-monetary relief